Big Leap/Declaration...

Let the joyous news be spread -
Let the dreaded news be spread -

"our house"

The people who live in this old house will soon be finishing off their basement... making more room for the cubs to stretch their legs and wreak havoc upon themselves; (as well as an improved and more efficient laundry area, better storage area, a wash room and perhaps future bedroom -but don't mention that last part to my wife.)

We are embarking into the frontier. We are taking a step into the unknown and this has been no easy decision, especially in this economy and housing market, but the variables call for this action.


There is a bottleneck of toys in our front entry and living room. The pressure needs to be released and in so doing will alter the flow and function of space within this house. We hope that using our basement for more than storage will open the valve and release the pressure. That will be an important thing as the boys grow older and look for space to hang out.

Yes, I am motivating myself that this is the right decision.
And yes we are privileged people, as are most of us in America.

This is part of what is seen as a three step home improvement process:

1. Improve the basement (which has the potential) to allow for more elbow room and to prepare for future growth (of existing family members).
2. A completely new kitchen. (Yes, that will be a big deal).
3. Exterior improvements - sidewalk, driveway, masonry issues.

The 1920's kitchen has character, but is tiny. It is amazing what they thought of the kitchen space back when they built these houses. Like they were some afterthought or something just to fill in the spare space.

We will be moving the kitchen to a different corner of the house. It will become a larger kitchen, (once the tiny closets are removed) and will be directly above the basement laundry space. Honestly, our highly inefficient fridge is being held together by duct tape, our tile flooring is coming apart, there is no room for the big bags of Costco stuff we eat (just bein' honest) - so in addition to enjoying more room, the time has come for upgrading. We will keep the original kitchen as a mud room, and keep the original built-in cabinets for storage. Realistically, our new kitchen will be new, but still somewhat modest.

The sidewalk, driveway and masonry issues though important, are not urgent and will get their fixes in time.

We have wrestled with these decisions. They are like dominoes, and the time has come for them to fall. The neighborhood is convenient, the house and yard are nice, the school district is top notch, we can get downtown to work easily, we can get to family members easily... we wish our church was closer, and I wish there was a neighborhood park in our little four block by four block realm of the city.

The thought of selling the house through this interesting market to find something bigger didn't sound appealing.

So, we are going to take the leap and stay where we are and do more entertaining down under, in the basement - complete with indoor plumbing.