West Lynde started as a one-storey house in Whitby and is now a two-storey one. We built a full second storey of about 800 square feet on top, then redid the house underneath it: a new kitchen, two new bathrooms, new floors, new stairs and new trim. We started in mid-May 2023 and were cleaning up for handover in the last week of September, about four and a half months for the whole build.
The brief
This counts as an addition: the house went from one storey to two. Upstairs we built two bedrooms of exactly the same size, a full walk-in closet and a bathroom with a pocket door to save floor space. Downstairs, we updated everything in the existing house.
People often expect a job this size to take a year or more. This one took under five months, including the kitchen, both bathrooms, the floors and the trim. It is the same advice James gives on every job: do the work all at once, because it's faster and cleaner.
The roof problem
The drawings showed the new roof tying into the old one in a way that would have caused trouble. The new rafters would have come down into the existing house and left low spots where water could sit. We didn't want to build it that way. Our solution was to cut out as many slopes as we could and build one single sloped roof. One slope means nowhere for water to pool and no ice damming in winter.
The kitchen
Ceara at Juliette Interiors chose a modern organic look for the kitchen. The island and the range hood are both painted Evergreen Fog, a soft green that adds warmth while staying timeless. The cabinets are White Dove, the countertop is Picasso grey quartz, and the quartz carries on up the wall as a full-height backsplash for a European look. The cabinets mix handles and knobs, which keeps the kitchen from looking like builder grade.
The bathrooms
The primary ensuite uses warmer finishes: gold, neutral beiges and a pop of colour in glossy emerald tile. A gold edge trims the tile and the niche, the faucets are gold, and the floor is a marble hexagon with gold and grey tones in it. The green tile edge took a conversation on site between James, the tiler and Ceara, because the tile size would have left a thin sliver at one end, and nobody wanted an uneven line.
The doors and trim
In a hallway with several doors close together, James set every door top level with a laser so they all line up. The frames, jambs and casings come from his supplier as ready-made sets. That saves the homeowner labour, saves the crew time and gives a square frame every time.
How it ran
How a job like this one runs today, from the first visit to the finishes presentation in our office, is on our process page.
