Canal House - Post 1

We bought a fixer-upper! It's my first time buying a fixer-upper, in fact, it's the first actual house I've owned. The last time I owned, it was a condo in Philly and I absolutely loved it. It was virtually perfect and the only 'fixing' I did to it was purely aesthetic - also fun!

This is a different story. Guapo and I purposely found a home that needed to be fixed up because he is a General Contractor and can manage the 'fixing.' This way we could buy in the neighborhood we wanted, pay less, and fix it up to our liking.

This fixer-upper is not an aesthetic fix-up, this is a plumbing -- up job. Yep - we are starting UNDER the house and working our way all the way to the roof, plus everything in between.

Some of the stuff, like the guest house demolition we did ourselves (see video) but a lot of this work is so big, we need full crews.

So you may be wondering about the plan. The plan goes like this: We have the main house (where we currently live) and we have a guest house that is attached to the main house. We also have an enclosed sunroom that is attached to both the main house and the guest house.

Step one is to demolish and completely remodel the guest house and the sunroom. This is the phase we are currently in. Why? A few reasons.

1. It's the easier of the 2 remodels

2. We can get the materials easier and faster b/c they are not special order items

3. Once it's finished we will have a really comfortable place to live while the main house undergoes its remodel

Here is a look at the sunroom progress thus far...

Since I've been posting the progress on my Instagram, I've received a lot of questions. Here are some of the answers:

Where will we live during the renovation?

- First the main house, then the guest house. We will be on-site through the entire renovation

Why didn't we move straight into the guest house?

- It was old, and there was a renter in there for a long time. It needed a BIG refresh

- We wanted to remodel it anyway to make it even more comfortable for our future guests

What's our 'style?'

- We both like super modern. Clean lines, whites, greys, concrete textures. I may even like a little more industrial than Guapo, but we are pretty much on the same page. I do have my moments of glam too, but that will come more with how we decorate

Is Guapo's team doing the remodel?

- You betcha! We are treating this the exact same way we treat all of his clients

Did we work with an interior decorator or designer?

- We worked with Guapo's favorite interior designer (different than an interior decorator) who helped us create the best possible plan for the home. We are making major changes like adding a walk-in closet (lol, I wonder why), adding a powder room, opening up the kitchen, moving the front door, etc. She helped us with the proper flow of the house. With that being said, Guapo really was the one who had the initial vision.

Are we adding a pool?

- Yes! This will be one of the last projects, but we have big plans for the backyard as we love to be outside.

So be sure to follow along if you like this type of content. This house will be virtually unrecognizable once it's complete.

And as promised, here is the rendering of what the back of the house will look like.

And yes, Guapo added me doing yoga on the roof deck...he's so cute.

Stay Tuned...