About The Project
Howdy. My name is Jeremy and in early 2007, after 5 years of living together in a quaint post-war bungalow, my wife and I decided it was time for a larger house.
Our story is actually pretty simple — We’re an average couple living in Toronto, who would like a little more room before starting a family. We spoke with real estate agents, and went to open houses, and lost in bidding wars. But instead of giving up, we decided to tear down our existing bungalow and in its place build a larger, more modern home.
We had originally planned on building a rather traditional home, however at some point along the way our priorities changed. While we still need the extra space, we’ve come to realize we should be building a smarter home and not just a bigger home. We’ve also come to appreciate our eco responsibilities and we felt it was important to document the realities that came with this decision.
So what started as a simple renovation, has blossomed into a true eco-challenge. How “green” can the average family actually be? What sacrifices will need to be made along the way? Is building “green” even worth it? I also think it’s important to show people that building green is indeed possible, but doing so requires a change of priorities.
This site was created to document every step of our adventure. From start to finish, I want to share our experience with complete transparency; finding a contractor, choosing an architect, defining our green strategies, and balancing the budget. In the end, I hope the site will stand as a guide for other would-be home builders. Something that will help eliminate the unknown and make a project of this scale more approachable.
Or so we hope.
More information on our green strategies can be found here.
The Webcam
Lets face it, we all prefer images to words. So we’ll also be documenting this endeavor with daily photos, all of which will be compiled into a timelapse video when we’re complete.
The webcam can be viewed here
The Book
Once construction is complete, the content of this site will be packaged up and made available in the form of a hardcover book. Each step of the project will be documented with its own chapter, complete with high resolution photos taken throughout the process, plus the posts taken from this site.
Questions
If you have any questions or comments, please email me and I’ll respond as quickly as possible.
The Location
360 Winnet Ave, is located in Toronto Ontario