87 Ivy Ave., Toronto
Asking price: $879,900
Property taxes: $3,358.37 (2014)
Lot size: 18.58 by 90 feet
Agents: Lance and Brenda van der Kolk, sales representatives, ReMax Hallmark Realty Ltd., Brokerage
Fixer-uppers are often the most accessible way for first-time home buyers to get into the market. But there are fixer-uppers and then there are total restoration projects, like 87 Ivy Ave.
“It would have scared the average first home buyer away,” says real estate representative Lance van der Kolk.
The Leslieville semi had been haphazardly converted into a rooming house when Dana and Galen Dineen bought in June, 2013. So they knew it would need a lot of work.
“And we were four and a half months pregnant at the time,” Mrs. Dineen says.
“We had a fast deadline to finish the renovations.”
The back story
Building a new interior for 87 Ivy turned out to be a family project. Mr. Dineen, who had been working in construction for a few years and now runs Echo Rock Contracting, completed the renovations himself along with the help of one other worker. And Mrs. Dineen helped with finishes and interior design.
Even in its dishevelled state, Mr. Dineen saw the potential when they first walked in.
“From the outside, it’s a pretty brick house,” he says. “And while the inside was divided into many rooms, you could see if you opened it up it’d be a fantastic space.”
So, his first order of business was to take the entire house down to its studs and brick walls. And after peeling away years of patchwork repairs, he found the house had many charming, rustic features.
For example, under four layers of flooring – including hardwood, carpet, laminate and a fake laminate “carpet” – Mr. Dineen discovered a beautiful red pine sub-floor. After sanding and patching it up, Mr. Dineen decided to keep it as the floor on the main and second floors.
“We thought that the rustic floors with the brick would be great,” he says.
The featured brick wall runs along the east side of the home, all the way up to the third floor, and is made of nearly 100-year-old bricks from a now-defunct local Leslieville brick maker.
“[The different coloured bricks] were a really happy surprise,” says Mr. Dineen. “I was expecting red brick when we started chipping away at the plaster. But it came out with some red, some brown and even some taupe.”
After taking it down to bare bones, the Dineens built it back up, including new windows, new plumbing and new electrical. Mr. Dineen also built a new, multilevel deck and shed for the backyard, which is shaded by several giant old neighbourhood trees.
Inside, the basement was also finished and a mud room/laundry room was added. The main space in the lower level is currently used as a media room, but could easily be converted to a rental apartment since it has its own entrance, says Mr. van der Kolk.
“I find a lot of owners these days because the market is so hot … want to have the ability to turn their basement into an apartment.” says Mr. van der Kolk. “In this neighbourhood, this would fetch $900 to $1,000 a month in rent.”
The first floor is now one open space, with the living room up near the street-facing windows, followed by a dining room and a kitchen with smooth cement countertops.
The second floor includes a four-piece bathroom, baby room and two guest rooms.
Favourite features
Everyone – Mr. van der Kolk, Mrs. Dineen and Mr. Dineen – agrees that the top floor is the best room in the house.
“While the whole house had a huge transformation,” says Mrs. Dineen, “the third floor had a really big transformation.”
When the Dineens bought the home, the top floor consisted of a dank bathroom and a kitchenette crammed into an attic apartment.
Now it’s a split-level master suite. The south end, which is a step above the rest of the room, features a sitting area that looks out over the tops of the old neighbourhood trees.
The master bathroom was also totally transformed and enlarged to easily fit a tub at one end, a generous-sized shower stall and a double vanity.
Mrs. Dineen describes the space as very relaxing, remembering how being able to sit on the upper level and look out into the night made their sleepless nights as parents of a newborn a little less stressful.
“I think [the finished house] is a very good reflection of us and Galen's building style, which caters toward keeping character and the traditional aspects of a home,” said Mrs. Dineen.
“It's got this great mix of old and new; such a contemporary character,” adds Mr. van der Kolk.