Townsman, 1991-04, Page 18laborious task a try as well.
A couple of years ago the house was
re -sided and some grounds work com-
pleted. A new patio was built and a
patio door installed leading from the
dining room. The hedge was torn out
and the garden shed removed. A pri-
vacy fence was built on one side of
the property with the intention of one
day turning it into an arbour. "We did
things a little backwards," Joyce said.
"We put a deck on last spring, but we
didn't go all the way across the back
because we knew eventually we want-
ed to expand."
Finally after putting it off for almost
a decade the Esserys decided, with a
little help from the federal govern-
ment, that the time for an addition was
now. "We agreed last September, if
we were going to add on, we should
do it before GST came into effect,"
said Joc.
Thc first concept to add space in the
living arca that the Esscrys considered
was a sun room. "That changed, how-
ever, and I'm glad. We really needed
a more functional addition to the liv-
ing arca," Joyce said.
Despite a confidence in Joe's abili-
ties to do the renovations himself, he
and Joyce also felt strongly about get-
ting a professional's opinion on the
actual plans and regarding structural
changes. "I certainly didn't feel quali-
fied to do the framing," said Joc.
"When you do things like that your-
self mistakes can be made and I
wouldn't want to attempt anything
major."
Wayne Stirling did the framing and
exterior work for the Esscrys. "He put
the plan together for us. We had seen
a picture in a magazine of what we
wanted and he put it to proportion,"
said Joyce. Both Joc and Joyce were
impressed with the way Wayne
worked with them on their ideas. "We
told him what we wanted to do and he
came back with the options and the
prices we were looking at. Thc final
decision was always ours though,"
said Joyce. Interior decorator Nancy
Flynn of B.M. Furniture helped with
the floor plan decision as well.
Adding on to a semi-detached creat-
ed a few unique problems for the
Esserys as they did not want to in any
way, detract from, or overpower their
16 TOWNSMAN/APRIL-MAY 1991
adjoining neighbour's home. A four -
inch thick, block fire wall constructed
between the two dwellings had to be
extended. The roof design the couple
selected for the addition was one they
felt could easily be matched should
the owners of the other residence,
either in the present or the future, ever
decide to change the exterior of their
home.
The Esserys addition is visually
appealing from the outside, blending
very well with the rest of the house.
An attractive alcove juts out from the
main addition, giving it a very inter-
esting and stylish look. This was also
something the contractor took great
pains to achieve, the Esserys
explained. With a clear view afforded
to passers-by the contractor wanted
the right effect achieved so the addi-
tion did not overpower the rest of the
house and would look attractive to
anyone travelling the road behind.
Inside, the room is spacious and qui-
etly impressive, the feeling Tight and
airy, the ceilings high cut with sharp
geometric corners. The alcove creates
an intimate corner perfect for curling
up with a good book or for quiet con-
versation near the gas fireplace which
was installed. The original fireplace
had been an incongruous brick struc-
ture in the central wall of the living
room. The bricks from it were recy-
cled into the wall around the smaller,
free-standing gas fireplace.
The finished room has doubled the
size of the original. "We didn't have a
lot to work with before," said
Joc."The living room was almost 12
feet by 17 feet, but there was a big
window and three doors in addition to
the fireplace in it. The new space has
not only given us more room but
eliminated unnecessary obstructions."
The Esscrys credit Mr. Stirling with
having done a very thorough job. "We
are so pleased with his work," said
Joyce. Joc agreed. "There were so
many little things he concerned him-
self with that could just as easily been
skipped over. Thcy weren't likely to
cause any problems but just made the
finished product better."
To support where the original wall
had been Mr. Stirling devised a cus-
tom-made beam as he was concerned
that the steel beam normally used
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