January 2, 2010: A New Year & A Special New House

Wow, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE. A really, really ugly house. It's so unsightly, there's even a name for this type of house: a Vancouver Special. Crap, now what are we going to do? Since we arrived in Vancouver, BC 2 months ago, Matthew and I had the goal of buying a light fixer-upper. The dread is setting in as the first purchases were made at Home Depot this morning. Matt and his sister even went ahead and cut the pieces of wood for our soon to be modern-Dwell-magazine wannabe-japanese screen-like fence. So I guess we can't return those anymore. It's a done deal. We bought a house, now we're renovating it and there's no turning back. GREAT...

The Vancouver Special is truly a euphemism for a tragic moment in Canadian design history. Somehow my architect husband has convinced me of our house's supposed merits: an efficient floor plan, duplex zoning, and sturdy construction. Here is a rough sketch of how we'd like to amp up the facade.

Here are some inspiration shots for the landscaping:

The goal is to turn the front yard into a private, sunken garden filled with wooly, green, shade-friendly plants. This weekend, we'd like to finish building and installing the front fence/trellis/gate design. Here's a peak at some of the neighborhood inspiration:

Check back to see more details on how the fence progresses!