Back on Earth...

As we settled into Autumn last year, $10,000 poorer due to architect fees, we decided to “take a break” from the planning process, and we advised our architect as such. We were on board with the Colonial idea, but it made no sense to make revisions to the plan until a time when we would be closer to realizing the project. With a $400K - $500K price tag, that would not happen for at least a few years. Hubby’s business, which normally relies on a constant pipeline of business, was finally feeling the effects of the past year’s economic crisis. I had accepted a job on a writing project, but had no idea whether or not it would lead to further employment. Financially, we were up in the air, and the only thing we could afford to buy was time.

Around January, after the hustle and bustle of Christmas had waned, we settled back on terra firma emotionally and began to realize that our Colonial dream might really be a “pipe dream”. Practical to a fault, Hubby and I both began to have doubts about converting our home to a colonial. Aside from the fact that all of the work we had accomplished thus far would be destroyed, it suddenly dawned on us that we would be turning our cookie-cutter Raised Ranch into a cookie-cutter Center Hall Colonial, with a dining room to the left, a living room to the right, and a kitchen and family room along the back of the house. We would simply be adding another layer to our existing box. “What is so exciting about that?” I thought. It certainly would not be interesting enough to warrant the additional mortgage burden. We looked back at our plan to add onto the back of the house and realized that we could create a much more unique home (for much less money!) by modifying this plan.

The changes we came up with were as follows: The living room would remain the same; the kitchen and dining room would be combined to create a large, eat-in kitchen; an addition of approximately 12 feet (depth) behind the kitchen and hall bath would accommodate a family room and dining room. On the other side of the house, the hall bath would become a powder room, the two family bedrooms would remain the same, and a full bath would be added at the end of the hall, between the family bedroom and master. The master bedroom would gain a walk-in closet and get bumped out approximately six feet. The master bath would lose its shower to the walk-in closet but take over the bathtub from the original hall bath to create a new walk-in shower. A deck would be built that could be accessed from both sides of the house. Downstairs, we would create a fourth bedroom, full bath, laundry room and rec room.

In the end, we would create a four bedroom, three and a half bath house, with a powder room in the correct spot, a formal dining room, lovely kitchen and attached family room, master suite and deck. We would preserve our vista and not create as much redundant space downstairs. We would also have a “real” laundry room instead of sharing space with our utility room. The mouldings, archways, railings and solid core doors would be preserved as well, and the furnace could be tweaked to accommodate the additional space. While we had believed that we could do anything we wanted to our house, in the end, our practicality told us we should not make it into something it wasn’t. Not wanting to be “posers”, we would accept our house for its shortcomings as well as its advantages, and try to allow it to evolve into its highest and best use (for the least amount of cash!).

Of course, not long after we came to this conclusion, a neighbor’s Colonial went to market. This home, one of the largest on the block, had been renovated top-to-bottom by our architect, Paul. From all accounts (I have never been inside), every detail is beautiful, perfect, and magnificently finished. The price tag was $1,995,000, which seemed steep considering that the last two sales on the street were $1,385,000 one year ago for a similar size house renovated ten years ago, and $875,000 for a Raised Ranch half the size. Days later, we were informed that the house went to sealed bids with five bidders and sold for over the asking price. As you can imagine, in my mind I simply HAD to revisit the idea of making our house into a Colonial. As far as investment value, it would be a slam dunk, even if it cost $700K. However, given that we would still have to PAY for that $700K, it would not be possible. We did conclude, however, that there would be only two options for our house: knock it down and start from scratch to build a real Colonial with a basement, or add onto it as a Raised Ranch. As far as we are concerned, the "Colonial Conversion” project is off the table.