We have been searching for well over a year for the perfect (forever) family home. Mike and I bought our first apartment together when we were 25 and then a townhouse when we were 30, right before I found out I was pregnant with Aliyana. We’d like to think the stars aligned for us because we’ve been trying to conceive for over a year and we were one week shy of our appointment at Olive. Voila! the weekend after we signed our papers, I got pregnant!
As much as we wanted to keep at least one of the places, it financially didn’t make sense for us so over this summer we sold both homes to help us get into a larger place that will be better suited for our young family.
With the current COVID effect in the real estate market, we felt completely defeated when nothing showed up on the market checked off our boxes or we lost out on offers. It’s a bidding war out there again. The process has been quite a hurdle but we finally did it! We bought a home in the cutest neighbourhood. I am really sad to be moving out of our beautiful reno’d Vancouver Special but I know that this property is everything I have dreamed up and can’t wait to get started.
A few common questions I’ve been receiving this weekend –
Q: Are you building a new home or doing a reno?
A: We are doing a full reno, top and bottom. The house has great bones so we’re going to work with it and rejig the layout throughout. Our master plan (5 years from now) is to build another level on top but that is absolutely out of the budget right now.
Q: Where is your new home?
A: We are moving to Port Moody.
Q: What is the first thing you’re going to do?
A: We will be replacing all the windows!
Q: How long until you move in?
A: Reno’s are unpredictable. It took us 8 months to renovate our current place and we did a full gut. I’m going to assume it might be the same or slightly less.
Q: What are you most excited about?
A: I get to design another custom kitchen, summertime by the pool, and the construction of my backyard studio.
Q: What was on your wishlist?
A: I know the list below is quite ridiculous….. My motto is always aim high and scale back, let the universe know what you want. The only negotiables are points 9 and 10. This is probably one of the main reasons why it took us so long to secure a property.
1. Large Lot. If I could have it my way, I’d get a few acreages so I can have a horse and a few chickens.
2. The backyard had to be big enough for my garden studio, long table dinners, a cutting garden, and green space for the kids.
3. Preferred a home to be in the original state/form with a solid foundation so we can renovate it properly with the right trades. We’ve noticed so many bad reno jobs when we were house hunting and we didn’t want to get into anything like that. Spend the money on good qualified trades, they are worth it and is very important to the longevity of your home!
4. I wanted a few trees but not enough to block light.
5. South facing yard.
6. Community-oriented and kid-friendly neighbourhood. I’ve always dreamed of block parties, Christmas light competitions, handing out over 100 candies on Halloween. These were things my old neighbourhood didn’t have so I wanted this for our kids growing up.
7. Basement
8. Charm and character.
9. No powerlines visible on the property.
10. A pool.
My biggest goal for our new home is to provide a warm and welcoming space for our families and be able to entertain all throughout the year. I’ll share more plans and inspiration once I get a little more settled. I’m still in shock that this is actually happening! WHOLLY SMOKES.
Wow! Congratulations!! Just the exterior and before renovations already look amazing. Cannot wait to see the finish product and all the new furniture your husband will build. I’m kind of curious, is there a reason why you want a South facing backyard ? And quite curious on what a backyard studio will look like!!! Congratulations again! Beautiful home for a beautiful family!
Hi!! Thank you so much for following along, I’m really excited to get started as well. A south-facing yard was a must because it gets the most sun throughout the day. With the studio going in the backyard, I want to be able to photograph without worrying about light xx
Amy how are you? I just learned today that you bought my wife Shelley’s family home.
That’s crazy! Do you have any idea how much time me, Shell and my boys spent time at that house, swimming in that pool.
I’m so happy that you found it and bought it. You will love Glenayre, it’s perfect for a young family. I actually went to the little school there when I was a boy.
When you can send me a message and tell me how you are.
Congratulations! We followed the same plan as you! Apartment then townhouse and now searching for our forever home but we have a big wish list too. Good points about getting something original to do your own renovations. I will be following your reno journey!