Karla here! I decided I'd leave a post before my residency. This new adventure is quite exciting, and knowing, that we don't have to worry about a remodel - it's fine with me. One thing we are trying to be conscious OF WHAT WE ARE "doing" in the process: reselling /repurposing what is in the house, building as environmentally friendly as "financially" possible (one thing is an airlock room before you enter the house - saves on energy costs...and in the future possible solar panels!), and keeping our footprint (maybe 1500 sq ft): SMALL, but useful! No cathedral ceilings, no rooms that remain unused or untouched...all spaces will be used. Used for our lifestyle: 2 studio spaces, open concept, no thrills, no fancy stuff...baring it down to what we NEED and not what we want. There are few "luxuries" I want in this process: a 2 flush system for our toilet, eco-friendly floors (probably cork upstairs), flat panel water heater, doors that close so the cats can't contaminate every inch, small footprint, 2 studio spaces, and a view of the water. 

We will be leaving a home that our heart has loved for a long time, so if you know of somebody that has loves a character home and has been maintained with loving care let us know! So, this is our new journey..and I'm so excited! We are both so excited! I've included two photos: our current place and the place that (with a little more tweaking) will be ours in a year to year/half. When you look at the plans...the top area is my studio to the north and open kitchen/living that walks out onto the top of our garage. (We will be working with an architect: Matt W. from Martin/Riley architects-engineers....he's a great guy environmentally conscious/ and pays attention to how you use space!) We decided to leave this to the professionals. Once the house is razed (we hoped to keep the structure but you can see from the previous photos it was not worth keeping. The city was close to razing the property because it's below grade....so it will be a process of waiting (but we are both good at that!). Well, hope you keep on watching the progress!