Interesting idea, yaya...maybe I could print them up and hang them in the laundry room!

uroboros, I have to ask this, because I can too easily believe that you were just casually scanning the real estate listings when this decrepit charmer reached out and grabbed your heart. (This has happened to me, although with a less expensive and more readily fixable house, so I know it is possible.) Here's the question: When you fell under the spell of this enchanting crone, were you actively looking for a smallish house in an lively urban neighborhood? If so, and * the size of the overall investment could be made clear by consulting with a contractor before making an offer, and * anyone can conceive of a way to render the house livable without completely erasing its preserved-in-amber decrepit charm, and * your DH magically became sanguine about the feasibility of what is needed and why it would be not completely financially foolhardy in the medium term, WOULD YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE THERE? To me, it looks like urban nirvana. Having rooted around on Google Earth and various Montreal sites, I found a lively and lovely urban neighborhood with quite nice street trees and a Metro station only a long block away. Also, there is a restaurant nearby named Aux Derniers Humains, which has a menu as cool as its name. It looks as though the only room that is preclusively small (for someone used to rowhouse-scale spaces) is the kitchen. It is is a first floor-only extension off the back that is narrower than the body of the house, which is basically wide and shallow compared to other rowhouses in the neighborhood. The kitchen may only be a bit chopped up, as it is listed as 9 x 13, which could make for a nice galley design. If one did want to enlarge it, however, I see two options. Because the house is actually detached on one side, rather than part of a row, you could build out sideways to fill in the dogleg, which is exceptionally wide. Pop out some bricks, reinforce the new opening(s) with angle iron, et Robert est ton oncle. You would still have windows on the side of the house and if you created deep windows at the back of the new bit, you would have a nice perspective over what could be a charming garden. Alternatively, you could move the kitchen to the basement, having it go back further toward the front of the house and having clerestory windows. You might need a dumb waiter, but who wouldn't want one of those? I suspect that either of these options would not be extraordinarily expensive in the context of what needs to be done in the rest of the house, which to tell the truth is going to be more because you don't want to gut it. If Montreal is anything like DC, however, pictureseque urban neighborhoods are gaining value just because people are so tired of getting stuck in traffic. Sorry to be so pushy. This house is haunting my dreams. Cheers. hbk

I have a pretty good idea of the price of windows. 8k cheap - 20k mid/expensive. And the roof would be about 7k shingles and (not entirely sure yet) but I think around 10-11k metal. Gutters will be what we put into them. But we need and will use windows and a new roof and a painted house. I mean, it will take a while to pay back in heating costs, but in the winter sitting by the front window, there is a gusty cold zone. And I'm in a mid-atlantic area, I'm not going to start covering my windows in plastic like my VT relatives! But the porch would just be cosmetic unless we actually put enough into it that we would actually use it. Heating, cooling, more windows, bug protection, lighting, finishes. And I'd rather have that someday in the far future if we ever choose to invest in it in the back of the house which is very private. Believe me, I know, before we even closed I had mocked up this but we tabled the idea after much discussion: And the typical simple extended porch you'd see with with a colonial doesn't excite me either. Sure it might not be that expensive, but why should I invest in turning 'bleh' (to me) into 'that's ok.' I'd rather invest in something I really like. I'm not investing in curb appeal for future buyers, but in my own home satisfaction.

I once told a waiter, "I'll take an appetizer, entree, and a dessert, you pick" . . . does that count? I think you meant this as sarcasm but I do this all the time. Do you know what the beef delivery looked like, which were the best vegetables today, have you served several people a dish that they didn't like, or a dish they raved about? Have you tried everything on the menu, cooked by each chef? A good waiter knows all this and loves to hear - "What's good today?" Also if you really want a fun dining experience, go to a nice restaurant and ask if they do a chef 5 course. You will get smaller portions of the five things the chef does best. It is a great dining experience, especially when he comes to your table and says, "tonight I have prepared for you ....." To the OP - If he is a stronger designer than you, and you like his stuff and feel strongly that you would like to have most of the work he has done, then let him do it. If you have a strong vision and sense of design for your house, don't.