No Stone Unturned!

I am writing this post for anyone who might need this information in the future. I also want to share our experience with you because I now have a greater appreciation for all those people who have had to go through their city leaders to get an ordinance passed.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!

This past week I have called several city planners hoping to get more information regarding Accessory Dwelling Units.  I have received so much help from other city officials and cannot express enough how much I appreciate everyone I have talked to and for the information they have given me.  It is amazing to me how many cities actually have ordinances already in place to allow Accessory Dwelling Units.  In fact I talked to Michael Maloy, who is the City Planner for Salt Lake City and he mentioned that when he first started researching ADU's he thought they were on the cutting edge and were starting something new.  He was shocked to see just how many cities already had the ordinance in place not only in Utah but several other states have adopted them too.  I have talked to so many people that have mentioned what a great idea this is.  One person I talked to has a mother who is currently in a nursing home and she has to go visit her 3 times a day to make sure she is getting the proper care she needs.  Not only that, but it is costing her over $3000.00 a month to keep her there!  She mentioned how nice it would be to be able to have her mother close so she could take better care of her.

The thing that urks me the most, is the fact that I have had to do all this research myself! I already gave the City Planner information about Accessory Dwelling Units but he didn't even research them himself.  Well, I have over 100 pages which I have printed out that include other cities that have adopted ADU's, documents from AARP and the American Planning Association, and other resources I have been given from other city leaders supporting Accessory Dwelling Units.  I didn't want to leave any stone unturned!

We have another meeting with the Planning Commission this coming week so hopefully all the documentation I have given them will show them just how important this ordinance is not only for us personally but for other people in the future.

Is it Better to Ask Permission or Forgiveness?

I can't even begin to tell you how difficult this past six months have been.  In February of 2012 we had my in-laws over for dinner and the discussion turned to future plans and retirement.  My father-in-law mentioned that they were going to have to put their house on the market because of financial difficulties.
In 2007, they had build a garage/apartment in the back of their property in hopes of living in it and having someone move into their current home. At the time the garage/apartment was passed off by the city inspector, he told my in-laws they could not live in it.  They were told that two homes could not be on the same property.  They became discouraged and never finished the inside.  
The discussion then took another turn and we began to discuss the possibility of my husband and I purchasing their home so they could retire.   Well to give you a little background, my husband who is very in tune with the Spirit, had talked about this very thing with me after we had been married for about 5 years. Never in a million years did I really think it would happen! After talking to his parents they became very excited with the possibility of being able to still live on their property but be able to enjoy retirement.  We all prayed about it and felt good about the decision.  The plan was, to sell our home and purchase their home for what they owed and also finance the finish work on the new place. 
For the next couple months, we worked tirelessly to get our home ready to sell.  We put our home on the market at the end of June and it sold in 14 days. Crazy!  

The Home We Sold

Well being the good citizens that we are, we went to the city to make sure this was going to be alright.  Well that was a mistake!  It is now October and we are living in a two bedroom apartment with our 3 kids.  We thought we would be done and moved in by the end of September. 

The proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit

We met with the planning commission in September and were told that we needed to petition them with an ordinance to allow two dwellings on the same property.  We did some research and found several city's that allow Accessory Dwelling Units. 

Accessory Dwelling Units may be located inside of or attached to a single family dwelling, or in a detached structure like a garage.  The accessory dwelling unit must be a complete housekeeping unit with an entrance, kitchen, sleeping area, closet space, and bathroom facility.   

We were so excited thinking that the city would be excited for this proposal.  Boy were we wrong!  They just kept coming up with more and more concerns.  It is so frustrating having the fate of your future in someone else's hands. The biggest frustration for us has been the fact that we felt so strongly that this was what we needed to do.  We are trying to do something to help our family out and it isn't going the way we want.  

So, is it better to ask forgiveness than permission? Sometimes we wonder if we should
have just gone ahead and finished the second home and not even gone to the city. We know that the city does have laws and ordinances they need to follow but at what expense?

We have felt good about our decision and despite all the opposition,  know that things will work out for the best. Hopefully. ;)

Whirlwind!

This past year has truly been a WHIRLWIND!  We finished the remodel of the kitchen, remodeled the basement, had a baby, sold our home, and now we are trying to purchase Zach's parents home. PHEW!

Here are some pictures of our basement remodel...

The wall used to continue on right here.

There was an opening where the framework is. 

That used to be the doorway for the other bedroom.

 We found a bookshelf at DI for $25.00 that we painted white and use to fill this space.

 I wish we had a picture of it!

Where you see the water heater, use to be a wall. The wall continued but 

we created a new entry way into the second bedroom.

New Doorway

Lesson:
It is best to leave some things up to the professionals. It is best to pay a little more and have someone that knows what they are doing do the work!

Not only did we end up with a flooded basement because we forgot to turn off the sprinklers the night before, but we spent an entire day (me being 9 months pregnant) trying to cut this window larger.  

We had water coming in faster then we could vacuum up with a wet dry vac 

and the blade on the chainsaw wore out half way through.  

Needless to say, we ended up paying someone else to finish this window and cut the 2nd window for us. 

The Finished Product

Both rooms have new bigger windows to brighten them up.

Renovating on A Budget

My husband and I pride ourselves on renovating on a budget.  It is hard! I will admit.  I am guilty of watching all the DIY shows and wishing and wanting to have the nice updated home. Well it's just not happening.  So luckily I have been blessed with a husband who is very handy!
We decided that we wanted to update our old outdated 70's kitchen.  We went to Lowe's and received a quote to redo our kitchen leaving the same layout, but adding a few cabinets. We chose the most economical cabinets and we were told it would cost $10,000.00. That's not including the new counter tops! That took care of that idea.

Before

I don't know why I can't rotate this picture. This is the new breakfast bar.

 There used to be a cabinet over the counter top.
(That is why there is an opening in the cabinet).

It made our kitchen look so much bigger by removing it.
We also extended the breakfast bar out. So where it curves around, we
 brought the counter all the way out to that point.

 By the way, the refridgerator used to be white. 
 Black appliance paint is AWESOME!

After

Well, when all was said and done, we ended up spending around $2,500.00 and that is including the counter tops!  We used birch vernier plywood for the cabinet doors. We stained them with a pecan satin polyurethane stain. They turned out awesome!

We also wanted to replace our ugly 70's style counter tops. Granite was way too expensive! So, to do the counter tops, we just removed the existing laminate and replaced it with a laminate we found at Lowe's. We bought two sheets of "48x144" Golden Mascarello. We cut it to size and it looks incredible! It is amazing how much you can accomplish when you are willing to do it yourself and you have all the right tools! One important thing we learned while staining the cabinet doors was that it is not a good idea to stain wood in a cold garage. We had to redo two of the cabinet doors because the stain was too thick and did not go on evenly. The most amazing part of this whole renovation...we have saved so much money!  You don't have to have all the bells and whistles to have a nice kitchen. So many people think that you have to have granite counter tops and stainless steele appliances or your kitchen just isn't good enough. Well, we did purchase a stainless steele cooktop and microwave but only because they were the display models and were 70% off the original price! The refrigerator used to be white. It's amazing what a couple cans of black appliance paint can do. :) The wall oven only cost $150.00 off a classified add we saw on a website. You CAN save a ton of money if you are willing to take your time and shop around.