Welcome to our latest installment from The Tales Of Upper Hillsborough, which is about the transformation of a dilapidated tripled in Charlottetown, PEI, into a luxury furnished vacation rental.
To our delight, we're nearing completion after six years of a major rebuild. This project snowballed primarily out of our love for design but also because we intuitively believe that, despite a significant capital investment,we're securing our retirement with this gorgeous multi-unit vacation property. Nestled in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island – one of the prettiest places on earth – this charmer of a property is only a two hour and fifteen minute flight from Toronto where we live, which is about the same time it takes to fight traffic to get to our city's cottage country!
The first suite we tackled was our two-bedroom Attic Atelier, which is easy breezy comfortable. Then we did a massive rebuild – including a three storey tower addition to ensure we had three bedrooms in The Garden Suite, which is now “pinch me perfect”. Lastly, we embarked on renovating the second floor, which we call The Captain's Quarters. We instantly adored the vintage patina of this suite and, while there weren't many original details intact, we made the commitment to restore and replicate as much of the character as possible. This included elevating the kitchen with modern convenience while referencing the residence's 1880s history.
Here are some photos of the kitchen before we tackled upgrading it:
The retrofit of this house has been substantial, and by that I mean a shocking $500,000 in renovations plus a further $100,000 in fittings and furnishings. Along with the rear three-storey tower addition (which created a covered deck off the bedroom of this suite), we replaced or upgraded every single building component including a steel roof with electronic skylights, foam insulation, windows, wiring, plumbing, reconditioned heating, plus some significant exterior changes including the facade and landscaping.
Here's a 'Before' and 'After' of the exterior!
If you look in the image above, you can see we also rebuilt the front porch (which is the entry for this suite) and added a new side porch (which serves The Garden Suite and Attic Atelier). Not only did the addition of the side porch give that elevation equal importance to the street facade, but it also created the opportunity to convert the original kitchen window into a walk-out from the renovated second floor kitchen onto a balcony where a breakfast table and gas barbecue are located.
Here's the original and new floor plan:
One treat was finding the original floor boards under the old linoleum. The oak strip floors provided us the inspiration to embark on our most expensive kitchen renovation yet. The duo-toned kitchen cabinets – built by Prestige Kitchens – are custom, including the new 'china cabinet' which features glass shelving, recessed lighting, and antique leaded-glass panels shipped out from Toronto. Along with the stainless steel appliances, we installed caesarstone counters and round penny tiles for the backsplash. I've always wanted to use vintage china in a residence, so while I originally thought I'd do an Art Wall of Dishes in the dining area, we ended up installing them above the beadboard.
Here's the reveal – though there's still some design tweaking to complete –
We're thrilled with how this turned out!
Do you like?
Stay tuned for more reveal from The Tales Of Upper Hillsborough!
~ Steven and the urbaneer team
Like what you've read? Consider signing up in the box below to receive our FREE monthly newsletter on housing, culture and design, including our love for unique urban homes and other Toronto real estate!
Tales Of Upper Hillsborough