Before I begin the renovation saga, it seemed only right to give it some context...
I still feel overwhelmed when I think about our accommodation situation through COVID.
We built our “big house” in 2005 – two years after I moved to Canada.
It truly was a great place and could adapt to just about anything.
We billeted WHL Players for the time that the team was based here – then I had Lovecakes Bakery AND my Bed and Breakfast for 8 years.
I was getting jaded from the constant slog of housework and early breakfasts, so we listed. And waited. And waited.
After about a year, we decided that we’d Air BnB the house, and keep the basement suite as our “town home” and we based ourselves out at Thousand Trails at Lindell Beach.
There was a great community of people there and I worked on staff for a couple of seasons, which meant we could have a permanent spot. We made it feel like home. We loved it there and so did the dogs.
Then, amazingly, the week we were letting our listing expire, the house sold with a settlement of March 2021.
So I spent lockdown packing and everything went into storage.
I didn’t mention the upgrade.
One of our neighbors suddenly put a FOR SALE sign on their amazing, beautiful 5th wheel and invited me to have a look at it. I fell completely in love with it…the size of a small condo – with a pantry and proper toilet and tons of storage – a king size bed, double closet. OMG! I said to Jim at the time, and presented a case for “Plan B”, which went along the lines of: “if we don’t sell the house we can live in this”…not thinking for a moment that we would actually end up living in it for a couple of years.
After Covid, we were getting really frustrated with the park at Lindell Beach. When our sewer quit we were told to move sites because they had no plans to fix it. Seriously – we had just planted over 25 cedars and were not about to move sites.
So we bought a lot at Bridal Falls and lived there for a few months while we looked for a house to buy in the highly-inflated over-cooked post-Covid market.
I had literally given up hope of finding something we could afford or get our hands on, and we settled into a routine out there. Then, out of the blue I got a call from a friend telling me of a mutual acquaintance’s house which was going on the market as a private sale! So I approached her and we did a walk through. There were other interested parties who were also bidding – so we made an offer, and unbelievably won!
It was a little bungalow circa 1955 and was one of the original Fairfield Island homes. Originally built by Brian Minter’s father, it is well known in the area.
Part of the deal was that we would settle in March but we could not move in until July.
We sold the lovely 5th wheel and Bridal Falls lot almost immediately.
Part of THAT deal was that he wanted the rig straight away -so for THIRTEEN weeks we moved 13 times – from campsite to campsite and even had to stay in a driveway a couple of times.
We got the pack-down/move-in routine pretty slick in the end but it was exhausting and the only thing that made it bearable was knowing we were moving into our new old house at the end of it all.
In July we’ll have been here 4 years (which blows my mind).
The house needed EVERYTHING doing to it and at this point we’re about half-done – though all the major things like HVAC, Roof, Water Heater, Plumbing and Electrical are taken care of. Next up I’ll show you the “fun” bits…
to be continued
