Our DIY House: The Progress (Taking It One Room at a Time)

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It’s hard to believe that a year and a half has gone by since we started building Our DIY House. What a long process, an exciting adventure, and a labour of love! I thought it was time to post a quick update on where we are now with our home. We’ve done a LOT, but there’s STILL so much to do!

(Sidenote: I can already tell that finding the time to write is going to be about a million times trickier now that Baby B is here. My quiet evenings have now vanished, so I’ll try to squeeze in posts whenever I can!)

Our DIY House: The Progress (Taking It One Room At A Time)

Our house build officially began in August 2012 (that’s when we dug the actual hole for the basement). We moved in the first weekend of July 2013. The majority of the build was done before we moved in, but we did leave some things for later (like the master ensuite, a lot of caulking and trim painting, finishing the walkout basement, the front porch, the landscaping, and a few more fiddly things).

Since I’ve been pregnant for the last while, I haven’t done as much as I would have liked to on the house, but I’m still proud to say that I’ve done a lot (and so has my hubby, by the way)!

Remember our house plan?

Our DIY House: Building a New House with Vintage Charm

I’ve decided to take the finishing of the house one room at a time. It doesn’t seem so ominous this way!

So… which rooms are completely finished?

Still to work on:

  • The Laundry Room
  • The Powder Room
  • The Dining Room (which will actually be a formal sitting room!)
  • The Master Bedroom (in progress!) & Master Bath (in progress!)
  • The Spare Room – which is now Baby B’s room and it’s in progress too!
  • The playroom/workout room in the basement (also in progress)

Our goal is to get the playroom in the basement ready within the next couple of weeks so that we can move toys and things down there to free up space on the main floor. Once I start to navigate life with three little girlies, I’m hoping that they’ll play down there as we complete the painting and finishing.

This has definitely been a long process, but both Hubby and I have been enjoying it so much. He’s enjoyed it so much in fact, that he has started his own General Contracting company! If you live in the Stony Plain area, you should definitely check it out – he is so very talented and he can help you with anything from a basement reno to a full house build.

It’s been an exciting leap for our family to be relying solely on our own business as our livelihood, but it’s been a fun leap so far. We’re both creative people, and it seems like entrepreneurship is just in our blood!

This past year, I’ve received several emails with questions about our house build from people that are thinking about doing it themselves. I’m considering writing up a FAQ post on DIYing your own house build. Would this interest any of you? If so, do you have any specific questions that you were wondering about building a house? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for coming along with me on this crazy DIY journey! I’ll keep you updated as we keep making progress. 🙂

12 Comments

  1. Your work (and Sean’s) is really paying off, Christina! The house is looking GREAT!

    I would totally be interested in a house-building FAQ post. I’d like to know what order you should do things in, things that you can easily save money on, things that are worth spending extra on, and any surprise lessons you learned (hopefully not the hard way). =)

  2. Your house is lovely!! I as well would be interested in a FAQ. My other half and I talk a lot about building our own home, but not sure where to get started! Would love to know how you went about it, your timeline, pros and cons, what you would do differently and more.
    Thank you!

  3. I would love an FAQ. If we are lucky to buy the house we are currently renting it will need some good up grades. We hope to buy it in a year or so with upgrades in 3-5. But who knows. Lol. I love your stuff and will totally get your advice in the future!! Keep it up ;).

  4. The house looks lovely, Christine! I adore that teepee in C’s room! How fabulous!

    This looks like it’s been quite the labour of love. How great that you were able to build it yourselves! I’m definitely awestruck of you and your husband’s abilities!

  5. Your house is lovely. Well done. I am wondering about your flooring. I saw in previous posts it is lamnate…which looks so great! My question is, how are you liking it upstairs in the bedrooms? I am considering a similar switch from carpet and I always worry about it being ‘cold’. I would love your feedback! Thanks, LL

    1. Thank you! I like it in the bedrooms, but we do have in-floor heating which keeps it feeling warm. In our old house, we also had laminate in the bedrooms but no in-floor heat. What helped was having area rugs (even small ones by the beds) to keep the room cozy.

  6. Such a beautiful beautiful house! And even more beautiful because you are DIY-ing it all on your own! Congratulations on baby #3 and enjoy your time as a mama to 3! 🙂

  7. WOW Christina!! I saw the preview on Instagram, but now that I’m getting a chance to look at all the work you’ve done inside, I’m just blown away! Your home is absolutely gorgeous! You’ve done/are doing such a fantastic job! Love the colors and brightness you have in your rooms!
    Congratulations (again) on your precious new little one! She’ll have a warm & beautiful home to grow up in 😀

    1. Thank you so very much, Pamela! We feel so blessed to be able to call this our home, and I’m happy that we built a four bedroom house now (at the time, I didn’t know Baby B was on her way)!

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