Dreaming About Construction

When we bought this house about 5 years ago, I thought it would be the perfect house for us. The perfect home for us to grow with. We would start out with a 3 bedroom apartment, one for the kids, one master bedroom, and one office/guest room. The kids were younger then, and I figured that we could have the kids share a bedroom for a point, and then as needed, separate the boys and girls. We own two floors but rent out the upper floor as a three bedroom apartment. We designed the layout so that, as our family grows, or as we need more space, we could take a bedroom or two from the rental and rent out a smaller apartment, of course, bringing in less money then to cover the mortgage.

I didn't think, though, that I would be dreaming about construction. Not quite so soon, anyhow. The construction that we want to do isn't something quite so big that we'd need Northernmat.ca's industrial access mats as we might have needed if we built a home from scratch. It's not even construction that we would need to get appproval to build, because we'd be keeping the outside of our home the same. But construction nonetheless.

And my kids keep asking me about it. 

"When are we doing it, Mommy? When will we be building, Mommy?"

"I don't know, I don't know," I keep answering them. "But hopefully soon."

"Will we start tomorrow?"

"No, definitely not that soon."

"Then when?"

"I don't know."

So what exactly is this construction, and why not just take one of the upstairs room as we initially considered?

Well, here's the thing.

I thought we'd be cool waiting some time before we'd need 4 bedrooms. I hadn't considered the fact that, for his mental wellbeing, my eldest, Lee, would need his own bedroom. And that it would be really challenging for my son Ike to share his room with the younger two, my girls. I thought we'd have time.

But Lee really does need his own room. And things would be a lot more peaceful if Ike could have his own place instead of being forced to share his room with the girls as is the current situation.

But we still need the rental income from the 3 bedroom apartment we rent upstairs. That is what pays most of the mortgage for this apartment.

So what can we do?

Something we've thought about already for a few years, but didn't put any work into.

We have three bedrooms. A living room/dining room/kitchen. A hallway. Bathrooms. And stairs that lead to nowhere. I mean, it isn't actually nowhere, it leads to the second floor, which is then blocked off with drywall, because that is part of the other apartment. 

We make good use of this stairway. Underneath the stairs, we had the contractors leave it open, and it is where we keep our stockpile of groceries, as well as some seasonal items. My girls call this our "basement".

Above the stairs we have random stuff piled. Camping equipment. Tools. Luggage. Craft supplies. But it is definitely not well organized, and is definitely not a good use of space. Especially since the ceiling is really high. The ceiling is until the height of the ceilings on the second floor, which means we, essentially, have an entire floor not being used.

And that is where I want to do construction.

To build a loft bedroom up there, on the upper half of the stairwell.

I've consulted with a professional about how to do it safely. What equipment would be needed. What tools.

But there are just a few details I'd need to iron out. Like if I'd be making the access via a ladder or a spiral stair case. Where the access point would be. If it would be all flat, or more than one level. Whether or not we'd break down the cement railing along the upper stairs.

And for this, I need a professional to come to our house to make a plan. I already have the professional. I already made the plans for her to visit. And then corona struck. Specifically I was in quarantine when I got back from Austria. She was to visit as soon as I got out of quarantine. And then it was lockdown. And then... I kinda forgot. And then my kids started showing more of a need for this, but we were back in lock down. And then quarantine.

So in the meantime, no progress. Only dreaming.

However, soon maybe she'll be able to come. And make plans.

And once that happens, maybe this can be the family construction project for during lockdown.

But in the meantime, we just have to be patient. And wait. And dream.

Have you ever done a home construction before by yourselves? Any tips to share?