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Townsman, 1992-03, Page 8Reclaimed red brick adds a warm touch 10 the large living room. shine through but provides draft -free beauty. Off the living room is a small office. Upstairs there are three bedrooms. The smaller bedrooms at the front of the house are 10 by 17 feet, large enough so that even with two beds in the one of the children's rooms, there is still plenty of room. In each of the rooms a dormer with a large window is centred in the room, lending perfect balance as well as adding extra head- room and plenty of light. At the rear of the house, the master bedroom is even larger at about 14 by 18 feet, leaving room enough for it to be a living area as well as sleeping arca. There's also a large bathroom at the rear of the upstairs and perhaps the house's most unique feature: a second - floor laundry room. Having laundry facilities near bathroom and bedroom where most of the dirty laundry is cre- ated saves a lot of carting, Sharon says. Fear of the washing machine overflowing and leaking down to ruin ceilings of rooms underneath is what normally causes laundry rooms to be 6 TOWNSMAN/MARCH-APRIL 1992 located on the main floor or basement, Dave says. He solved the problem by creating a special containment area under the washer that will catch any water and funnel it through a drain that is located in the wall, to the base- ment. The couple moved into an unfin- ished house in 1980 after their mar- riage. The house has grown over the years since but nothing has been "added on", Dave says. It was always part of the original plan. It just took him 12 years to find the time to finish the project. "We built the size we needed rather than adding on later," Dave says. First, in 1981, came the two -car garage. To harmonize with the rest of the house it too has dormers and the style of the garage doors recalls times past rather than today's mass-pro- duced look. In 1989 came the front verandah. The spindles in the railing and the verandah posts were salvaged from other buildings. The porch manages to match the look of the rest of the house: traditional, yet modern. Last year came the final touch: the sun -room at the rear of the house. Large windows pick up the south sun and, with skylights, allow plenty of light for growing plants. Large beams hold the room, salvaged from a facto- ry he tore down. The room is finished with a soft -grey -coloured tile. Again the room balances a feeling of new and old: the old wood of the beams and the modern convenience of a large whirlpool. The sun -room brings the building of the house to a finish, Dave says. The temporary wooden decks have now all been replaced with permanent structures. They have tried to create a low -maintenance house, Sharon says. With the long days Dave can spend at work, they need to. His work takes him anywhere in southwestern Ontario within a 100 Stoddart Jewellers Canadian Award Winning Designer Specializing in one -of -a -kind 14K and sterling jewellery. Custom work, professional repairs, fashion jewellery. Exclusive designs in gold and silver. 72 The Square, [519] 524-4509 Goderich