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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

First Appointment with the Builder

Thank you for your support on this new project. It means a lot to me.

When we purchased the house, we were told we would have 2 meetings with the builder. The first one to discuss the options regarding electrical and structural changes, and the second one to make the final choices: tiles, cabinets, flooring, colors...

We had no clue about what we could request the builder to add or to remove.

After reading the forum - bulidinghomes.ca - we understood it much better.

Basically, what we understood is that all these upgrades should be made by the builder to avoid warranty issues and we are not going to start breaking the walls of a new house, eh?!

Here is the thing: we don't have a big budget for upgrades so we can't spend too much. However, the builder only tells us the prices during  the meeting. And our decision must be made on spot.

The meeting took 1 hour and we didn't feel pressured to buy any upgrades.

Here are the things we decided to go with:
  • Central light and switch in living room
  • Additional receptacle and cable for TV above the fireplace (in case we decide to have a TV there)
  • 3 additional lights with one switch over the breakfast bar
  • Rough-in water line for fridge
  • Rough-in for OTR microwave
  • Valance light in kitchen cabinets
  • Frameless glass shower (master bathroom)
  • Shower light - recessed with waterproof trim

We didn't get pot lights (will be done later), sliding door to backyard (builder didn't allow), smooth ceiling on second floor and conduit from basement to attic (we thought that it wasn't a priority).

This was just the first meeting and we spent a little over our budget. Can you imagine the second meeting, where the fun begins?

For you to have an idea, here are some pictures to illustrate some of the upgrades:

3 pendant lights over breakfast bar - image from HGTV

Frameless shower

I really hope we have made the right choices, what do you think?

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Our New Home


Hi guys,...


Buying a new house was very important to us. It has been an interesting experience to be honest.


Putting everything together: what we wanted, where we wanted and what we could afford was not easy.

We made a wish list of some features we would like our house to have. Here they are

  • 2 - 3 bedrooms 
  • walk-in closet
  • open concept
  • storage space
  • backyard (at least a small one) to barbecue
  • 2 car garage
We toured a lot of model homes and sales centers, which was really important before making our final decision. Of course we had to compromise a couple of things, but we are happy with our choice.


This is our future townhouse:

1st floor



2nd floor

3rd floor


Our closing is on December 29. Now it is just a matter of waiting, planning and choosing the finishes.

This is the place where I will share all the steps of this process.