The adventure begins

A couple of months ago we bought a house in a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada that we really like. While the neighbourhood is great, there are, unfortunately, not too many houses in the neighbourhood that we would consider moving into. Most of the neighbourhood consists of 1950's era victory houses, supplied to returning war vets or bungalows of similar vintage. It was clear that if we were going to move into this area that we would have to buy one of the older houses and either tear it down and build new or renovate the existing house up to our standards. So, when a house that we thought we could work with on a great lot came up for sale, we jumped in with both feet. This is our story.

We thought we would record our story here for a couple of reasons. First, this is our first foray into this kind of adventure, so we wanted to record it. There is so much we have learned already in just two months, that we didn't want to forget it should we decide to do this again in a few years. Second, when we started looking at houses in this neighbourhood and thinking about renovation options, we found it very useful to read other people's blogs about their renovation work. However, there are very few blogs from Ottawa, so we thought this blog would help others in Ottawa who are thinking of undertaking a major renovation project for the first time. We intend to record all of our activities and the costs, so that if you are contemplating a similar move you will have a good idea of what your in for.

Here we go!