Life Updates

Hello? Anyone out there???

 

What a long blogging break, eh? I’ve missed blogging! I’m back today to let you all know what I’ve been up to lately!

 

I use Windows Live Writer for blogging and kept getting an error message when I tried to log into it. With a bit of trouble shooting today, I finally figured out how to reset my password. So yay for that! Also, typing a blog post is a lot harder these days. I’m literally typing this with one hand while holding my keyboard over my head with the other hand lol. Benjamin loves to crawl all over me. I always thought I’d blog regularly when he was napping but I’m usually running around the condo trying to get other stuff done. I really want to try to commit to a weekly blog post but it’ll probably continue to be an annual event knowing me :P

 

So, I have a 10 month old! Benjamin is 10 months old today. Kevin and I spent a good long while looking through my Instagram post yesterday and marvelling at how fast Benjamin has changed. The last few months have been a blur. It feels like time is flying and going by so slowly too. I’ve made a few friends in the past year (mom-friends, if you wanna call them that) for which I’m thankful! Specifically Jeanette, from This Dusty House! Conveniently she lives a few houses down so we hang out a couple times a week. Isabel is Benjamin’s bestie!!

We moved into the condo last August. I can’t believe we’ve been here for almost a year!! I haven’t lived anywhere for more than 2 years in the last 15 years, which just seems crazy to me. For a while I was feeling like a transient hobo and it was really getting me down. I was feeling so uninspired to decorate our last 2 places. We kept everything in boxes in our last apartment and slept with the mattress on the floor (in anticipation of the condo being completed). Eventually I told Kevin that we had to put the bed together because I couldn’t get up off the floor anymore with my huge belly. Frankly, we haven’t done much to the condo either. We had some deficiencies, one of which was a crooked wall that they came to fix, so all we’ve really done is move our furniture in and that’s it. I rearranged things in here about a dozen times, but I think it takes a while to find what works. I’m still working on furniture placement (shhh.. don’t tell Kevin).

 

I’ve been out of full-time work for over 2 years as well! After my last full time job ended I thought I’d get back into work quickly, but it never did happen. That’s another reason for the lack of decor inspiration. We’re using what money we have a lot more carefully. Once I’m back at work I think we’ll work on making this place more personalized!

 

So anyhow, that’s what’s up with me these days… Hopefully I’ll be back here before 2016 :)

We're Moving!

But not to the condo. Not yet anyways.

The end of this month marks 2 years since I moved into the apartment in which I'm currently living. When I signed my lease, I thought I wouldn't be here past the end of 2012. At the beginning of this year, my landlady tried to bully/coerce me into paying substantially more money for rent (over and above what she can legally increase the rent by), so we gave notice to leave. Turns out, unbeknownst to me, that she was also preggo at the time that we had our aggressive, emotionally charged back-and-forthing, so that may have had a bit to do with the harsh words that were exchanged. I don't like being bullied, and turns out, I'm as predictably emotional as the rest of the preggos out there, which made for a rough couple weeks.

In a stroke of serendipitous timing, my parents have been having issues with their tenants for the past few months and they'll be vacating my parents' rental property the same time we're leaving our one, so that's where we'll be living until the condo is completed. The new place has a bath tub - something I haven't had for 2 years! My current apartment has the TINIEST stand-up shower, at just under 2x3ft... as in, tiny enough that it rivals the tiny showers on cruise ships. So i'm really really really looking forward to having a bath.

In terms of updates of when we're moving in, here's where we're at:
Occupancy permits have been granted for all floors up to 3 levels below us, and people as close as the floor below us have their pre-delivery inspections (PDIs) scheduled for the end of this month. At this point, I'm not getting too excited about that because there have been cases when people have done the PDIs for their units when there were still a large number of deficiencies (ie: missing counters or cabinets, incomplete flooring, unconnected hood fans for the oven, etc). It was supposed to take 1-2 weeks per floor for permits to be issued, but the builder is averaging 1 floor per month. According to the builder, our floor will achieve the occupancy permit by March 27, but the project manager for the condo is "pessimistic that will happen".

My thoughts:
I hope we get our occupancy date by May. I don't want to move in the hot months of July or August. And as I'll be at the end of my second trimester at the end of May, I think it would be ideal to move before then as well.

Obviously these are just all nice-to-haves and we don't get to choose when we're moving. And finally, as the final occupancy dates and have been given and have all passed, the builders are giving people very little notice for moving in... as in less than a week's notice. That sucks. A lot. Some people are really chomping at the bit to move in, but I don't really feel that same urgency. The building still has a lot of construction going on the and the dust levels are crazy high right now. Obviously the later your move in date, the more complete of a building you're moving in to, which means decreased dust and construction.

Photo credits:
Emotional preggo
Moving preggo

Condo Waiting Game

So I feel like I've become the most patient person in this ridiculous waiting game for the condo to be completed. There are currently people living in the building up to the fifth floor. We've been told 3 times in writing that people on our floor will be moving in some time in March. March! So close...

My living situation has been pretty precarious for the past 2 and a bit years. I thought we would live in our duplex on the Danforth until the condo was done, but my landlord decided to put the house on the market and we left. Because we only had a few months until the condo was done (certainly not enough time to move to a new apartment and sign a new 1 year lease), we each moved to our own parents houses. We thought it was a short-term thing. We were WRONG WRONG WRONG. While I love my parents, we don't do so well living together, so after a couple months, I moved out into a small basement apartment near work. At this point we knew the condo completion date had been pushed back from July 2012 to October 2012, so I negotiated with my landlords and signed a lease until the end of the year (a 9 month lease). Then it got pushed back and pushed back and pushed back. I felt very awkward about the whole thing, but that was just the beginning.

Kevin proposed Labour Day weekend in 2012. Yay! Very exciting. We set the date in June 2013. Double yay! I remember he and I going back and forth on June versus September before we settled on a date:

What if we choose June and the condo isn't ready? You'll have to move in here... this apartment sucks.
What if we choose September and the condo is done earlier? Do we move in before the wedding?
What if we choose September and the condo isn't done by then?

ALL MOOT POINTS. It's the end of freaking January and we STILL don't have a move in date. When I look back at the conversations we had about wedding dates and planning it around the condo it makes me laugh. We were so foolish!

When it became apparent that the condo wasn't going to be ready before we got married, I awkwardly asked my landlords if Kevin could move in.

Hey, so I know I've been living here about 6 months longer than I said, but is it okay if Kevin moves in?

They were fine with it. They'd met him before. Things carried on. It's now 7 months after my wedding and we're still here. Between you and me, I think they think there IS no condo. Seriously. I showed the landlady some of the photos from some of the occupants who had moved in at the end of last year and had posted photos to the Facebook group for our building. I think she's going to need more convincing than that. Sigh.

Kevin and I are leaving for a vacation in a few days and I'm seriously hoping we have some definitive news by the time we get back. I'm very anxious to give our 60 days notice. The condo reps told us that we'd be "fine" to give notice, but I just don't believe them after all the delays we've had. Not one bit.

The delays used to frustrate me, and I know I probably sound frustrated in this post, but I honestly feel immune to the frustration now. If we came back from our vacation to a letter saying it wouldn’t be ready until the end of summer I’m not sure I’d have much of a reaction. The condo company has had information meetings for the purchasers where people have literally broken down crying with their frustration and I feel like I have no emotion toward this place anymore. A little anticipation is good – it builds up your excitement. Too much anticipation causes you to just lose the good feeling. The bright side to this whole saga is that we purchased back in 2010 and we've earned a lot of increased value in the place. Every month that passes by is just more money in our pockets, especially for those of us who bought in the first year before the original prices went up!

Please all cross your fingers/knock on wood/pray for me/whatever... that we get our notice very very soon!

Also, well done if you got this far in the post! Give yourself a pat on the back!

Condo News: Construction Update

I've been super busy these past few months and haven't had a working computer since March 3rd, but I have no excuse for this long of a blogging break. Just shameful!

Anyhow, I thought I'd give an update to the condo status. I've posting updated photos on Instagram, but it's nice to get a record of it on the ol' bloggo. This is the most recent photo we took of the condo. 

And here's a photo of the view from our unit but from the floor below ours. It looks really dreary here (very English!) but I guess that's what you get when you take a photo in April. C'mon spring!

I just read through my last condo news blog post and got a good chuckle. Apparently people are supposed to be moving into the building about now. Um no. False. #FAIL. My sister is on the third floor, which is actually the second residential level, and she got her official move in date letter in the mail. They gave her a date of July 27, people!! While this annoys me to no end, it's official y'all! There's no going back now. Well legally, I think they can go back or forth 5 days, but other than that it's official y'all! At least for her. Who knows when we're moving. I'm italicizing a lot... I just have to really emphasize certain words here... know what I mean? So while Michelle is second from the bottom, we're second from the top. We got an email saying (unofficially) that we'll be moving August 27 (Michelle's email said July 2). Her move-in date is now 3.5 weeks later than what they told her in the email. Three and a half weeks later than August 27 is....MY BIRTHDAY. Crap. The last one I'll ever have in my 20's, and it falls on a Saturday! Double crap. I guess there are worse things... I can almost guarantee that we will NOT be moving in September at all. It'll probably be Thanksgiving. As long as I don't miss out on turkey, it's all good. There was no turkey this Easter, and let's be real: that is the only thing I care about when it comes to holidays! Gobble gobble. 

In other news, wedding planning is coming along! Less than 10 weeks to go... I'm going for my potential last dress fitting this week. And we filled out the form for the marriage licence on the weekend. It might sound lame, but I think that was the most excited I've been so far. To me, I was very cool to think about our information going into records. I like looking at all that history stuff, so it makes me think about potential future generations being interested in looking at my records. I've seen a copy of the marriage licence of the relative I was named after - my great great great great grandmother, Emily Jane Green - and it is SUPER COOL. Yes, I'm a geek. But when you have an unusual name, it's cool to see where it came from!

Something else I was super stoked about was the stamp we had made for the wedding. I Instagram-ed a photo of it and have been stamping the shizzzz out of everything ever since lol. I got the stamp from Toronto Stamp and dealt with a very nice helpful man named Jake. They cost about 10% more than the other companies I talked to, but they had a ONE DAY turn around. One day, people!! I made a file in GIMP (basically a freeware version of Photoshop) and sent it off to him. He called me to make some changes so that the stamp would be more legible - I changed the font (to a sans serif) and ampersand (made it more simple) and also increased the resolution. About 10 iterations later, this is what we ended up with! This photo below was just one of my test stamps... we stamped all of the invitation envelopes at the flap, kind of like a seal. 

Sooo a big woohoo to wedding planning and condo building almost being done, right!!?

Condo News: Construction

Construction is way behind schedule. Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither.

When we bought back in early summer 2010, July 2012 (the original occupancy date) seemed very far away... and now it's running about a year late.

In our last condo meeting the builder president came in to talk to us about construction updates and the reasons for the delays. He said occupancy is now slated to begin April/May 2013. Cue the collective groan from the purchasers... Our unit is the second from the top floor and in our last meeting before this one, we were told it's going to take 4 months for full occupancy to take place. That means we're looking at a time frame of August/September.

I passed by the site last weekend and snapped this shot with my iPhone:

They've finished the framing for the first floor, which we were told would be the most complicated to build. Last week we received a letter updating us on the progress - according to that, they're working on pouring the concrete for the third floor.... seems like a stretch considering this photo is what it looked like 3 days before I received that letter.... I don't believe anything they tell me anymore!

We still don't have a finalized price on our finishes, which should include an estimation to move the closet in the bedroom. As it turns out, they've very recently hired a new designer (I can only guess this change is due to the unprofessionalism of the previous designer) so I'll be in touch with her shortly so we can get costs figured out once and for all!

Here are my thoughts so far on the whole pre-construction purchase situation:
Overall, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed mostly with how delayed everything is. The selection of finishes was moderately disappointing too, but those are things we can (and will most likely) change once we move in. I feel completely differently about this condo now than I did last year, and I'm sure I will feel differently next year compared to how I feel about it now. Mostly, the condo size feels limiting. One bedroom isn't very family-friendly, but I'm still at that point where I feel very blah about kids. Will I ever grow out of that??

Anyhow, sorry for ranting. And for my lack of blogging as of late. I just feel very unmotivated. Knowing that my current place is short-term does not motivate me in any way to decorate. I still have an embarrassing amount of my belongings in boxes and absolutely nothing hung on the walls lol. It just kinda feels like, what's the point? Ya know? 

Other condo news:
Choosing the Finishes
Finishes Appointment
Construction Update and Security System
Our Floorplan
Condo Finishes Waiting Game

Condo News: Choosing the Finishes

I haven't updated you about the construction progress because it's going incredibly slow....painfully slow if you ask me! We're not really much further along than we were when I last posted in March.
In June, we had our last appointment with the designer. We (um, I) had a list of demands requests for things we wanted. Some of these items were in the list of upgrades we could choose from, some weren't. We've already paid our deposit for the finishes, but haven't paid the balance yet - this is 100% due to the fact that we don't even know yet if the builder will sign off on our extra upgrades. Choosing the finishes and upgrades is tough... fun, but tough. I made this decision tree** to help anyone else who is or will be selecting finishes on a new build. This is basically how Kevin and I decided on our finishes.


While our finishes aren’t quite finalized, we followed this decision tree and ended up deciding on the following:

BATHROOM
Tub: When we first bought, I asked if the bathtub was a soaker because it looks like it is on the plan. I was told it was. Score! Unfortunately, at some point this year I found out I was misinformed and it’s just a regular tub. Womp womp…I was not impressed. So we upgraded the bathtub and I’m so pumped! When I first asked how much it would be, I was quoted $1600. I was like, “I’m sorry… what??” Turns out the designer thought I wanted a jetted tub. I just wanted a soaker tub and I’m not gonna lie… I wanted it bad. I’m not one of those people who just say they’re going to take baths and then never take them. I take them… all the time. Anyhow, when I saw photos of the soaker tub models, I found a modern one I love at $250.
Tub surround: Our standard tub surround is 4x16 white or ivory subway tile. We chose white. It’s nice!

KITCHEN
Cabinet type: We chose our cabinets, which look very very similar to the Adel cabinets by Ikea. Unfortunately they only had it in dark brown, so I asked if we could get it in white. I was told yes, and it’s been signed off on, but I worry they’re gonna mess that up and we’re gonna see dark cabinets when we move in.
More about cabinets: We also paid $300 to extend our cabinets up to the ceiling, well technically to the bulkhead. They’re going to be 130cm tall now. We have 9 ft ceilings with a 1ft bulkhead above the cabinets so the top of the cabinets will be 8 ft high. That’s how my parents’ kitchen cabinets are and it’s really nice to have the extra space. Kevin can hide all his candy on those tops shelves because I can barely reach them even with a stool!
Counters: We went with the standard. I like the colour, but it’ll definitely have to get upgraded when we move in. I’ll be referring to Lindsay’s blog when that time comes!
Backsplash: Meh. That’s how I felt about the backsplash options. I wasn’t impressed. We were given the option of using the 4x16 tile (that we’re getting for the tub surround) for the backsplash too, but I’d rather choose something after we move in. Kevin’s friend, conveniently named Tyler, has kindly offered to do our tiling for us. I hope he wasn’t kidding when he offered…
Appliances: We upgraded to a stainless steel microwave hood range and to a better (quieter and larger) stainless steel dishwasher. Remember this debate I had a few months ago? Well, the stainless steel won. It made the most sense for resale and it’s what Kevin wanted. Just to be clear, I didn’t not want it.. I was just undecided.

FLOORS
Main areas: We went with the standard flooring, which is carpet. I like the colour we chose, but I’m not a big fan of carpet, except for in bedrooms – I have a ridiculously fuzzy cat and allergies. We recognize that carpet is no-good for resale and wanted to upgrade to laminate or engineered hardwood, but we’re going to change the flooring on our own instead of through the builder. That way we’ll have more selection (so we can get the stain and wood we want) and it will save us at least $1000.
Bathrooms/Kitchen: We decided to get tile put down in the kitchen. If we had upgraded our floors through the builder, we could have had the same flooring put down throughout (except the bathrooms). Kevin really wants tile in the kitchen, but I’m not sure… Any advice!??  I’d love to hear your opinion. We went with a darker tile because we’ll ultimately put down engineered hardwood/laminate and it will most likely be walnut or close to that shade and I don’t want too much contrast in the flooring.

EXTRAS
Crown moulding: I love the way crown moulding finishes off a room, but I wasn’t a fan of the selection and I kinda feel like it’s hard to choose what you want before living in the space for a bit first, ya know?..
Ceilings: The price was ridiculous to get non-stippled (popcorn) ceilings! Ca-razy!! Straight up highway robbery. I’m not a fan of popcorn ceilings at all, so it’ll definitely be something worth looking into after we move in.
Bedroom closet: I talked about this before and even drafted and sent to the designer what we want the builders to do. The original layout was okay, but then we gained 16 sq ft extra in the bedroom when they realized the HVAC unit wasn’t built into our room and they had to move the wall back. We’re hoping the designer and builder will give us the go-ahead on this rendering:


The new draft bedroom layout makes me very happy. And the extra closet space will be a treat! When Kevin and I lived at our last apartment, we shared a SINGLE closet. Men’s clothes are bulky, yo! I only had about a third of a single closet to hang stuff up.

---

What do you think of the finishes we chose?? I’m really hoping to hear back from the designer soon about final costs and I’ll let you know if we end up with everything we wanted!

^{**Pixlr has improved lately! That’s what I used to make my decision tree for this post. I don’t wanna brag, but I think it looks pretty awesome!}

Bryan Baeumler and the National Home Show

My mom scored us some half price tickets to the National Home Show, so we headed down that way on Saturday. She and I went together last year too, and the condo felt SO far away at that point. I thought then by March this year that the condo would be just around the corner.... Well it's still kind of far away, but hey, what can you do? At least this gives us more time to save.

I focused mostly on checking out vendors for flooring, counters, and closet organization systems. 

These are the prices we were quoted for upgrades from the builder:

FLOORING (for everywhere except bathrooms and kitchen)

$3062: laminate

$4478: oak engineered hardwood

COUNTER (kitchen)

$2100: granite

$2500: Caesarstone

I'm not sure how much lower we could get the prices, but if we source outside the builder we'll definitely have more choices. Even just with very casual shopping around we found a price for engineered hardwood that was $1000 cheaper - that included removing the existing flooring, installation, thresholds and quarter rounds for the baseboards... not too shabby if you ask me.  

I haven't looked too closely into pricing for granite or quartz yet.

Does anyone have any recommendations for flooring or granite suppliers/installers??

On to the National Home Show... as soon as we walked in, we heard someone was presenting so we went to check it out. Turns out it was Bryan Baeumler! He had just started presenting so we stuck around to watch the whole thing. He's a great speaker and gave the crowd some good tips for renovating and finding reputable contractors...some tips went right into my back pocket - saving those for later! I've always thought he was cute on Disaster DIY (his HGTV show) and Saturday confirmed it hehe

Here are some pictures (from my iPhone) of Bryan and other stuff from the Home Show:

What did you get up to this weekend?

And if you have any recommendations for flooring/counter suppliers, please let me know!

Appliances: Debating White versus Stainless Steel

Once again, Kevin and I are divided on what colour we want for our appliances. Through our builder we can choose between standard white, standard black, or upgraded stainless steel;  or upgraded white, upgraded black, or further upgraded stainless steel for all the kitchen appliances. When I say “standard” I mean there’s no added cost and when I say “upgraded” I mean there’s an added cost.

Here’s our kitchen. Don’t mind the markings on it. The kitchen is just off to the right of the front door. The window is south facing.

We haven’t officially chosen our finishes yet, but we’re toying with the idea of white cabinets and dark (probably polished black granite) counters. If we go with that counter, the sink will be stainless steel and under mounted. The tiles (the gridded area in the floor plan) will be greyish-brown and the floors (non gridded areas) will be walnut.

Given that information, what is your opinion on the colour of the appliances?

Kevin (obviously) wants black. That guy prefers everything in black. Unfortunately for him, black is out.

White could be a contender because the cabinets are white so the appliances will have a seamless look. When spending the same amount of money, you can get nicer white appliances because there is a premium cost for stainless steel ones. The downside to white is that people think it looks “cheap”

Stainless steel could be a contender because it’s better for resale value and looks “more expensive”. The downside is that it will visually break up the space with the white cabinets, and stainless steel is infamous for fingerprints and smudges.

I found two pictures of kitchens with white cabinets and dark counters that are laid out very similarly to what we have. The pictures are from different angles, and I realize with everything being equal, the stainless steel appliances are nicer than the white appliances in the pictures I have, but try not to let that bias you!

Which one would you go with? I need help choosing.

I kid you not, I’ve literally dreamt every single night about condo finishes for the last 2 weeks. I’m dreaming about laminate versus engineered hardwood, cabinets, counters, appliances…. I need to get a life!

Photo sources: SS Appliances, White Appliances

Condo News: A Change in the Plan

Kevin and I went in for our first finishes selection appointment. We were the first appointment of the day, but she had car trouble and was 30 minutes late so we didn’t really do much choosing. That being said, we learned some important changes had been made to our floor plan. When the designer pulled out our floor plan, the first thing I noticed was that there was an added area in the bedroom and the wall between the living room and kitchen was shorter. Initially I thought, “yay! More space in the bedroom” then about 0.1 seconds later thought, “Wait a minute, did we lose space any where else??” I told her that wasn’t our plan and she said we were supposed to have gotten an email stating they had to make some structural changes to our unit. I pulled out the copy of the floor plan as we knew it to be and made some comparisons.

This is the floor plan I blogged about a few weeks ago:

Unfortunately she didn’t have a copy for us to take – she thought we’d already been notified – so Kevin and I both took pictures. Here are the changes:

IN SUMMARY:
Kitchen floor:
Before – no tile.
Now – it’s tiled. We always assumed it would be tiled and this just got missed on the floor plan, so it’s not really an issue


Kitchen dimensions:
Before – 12’10” x 10’5
Now – 12’6” x 10’5”. We’re losing 4 inches of space in the kitchen due to the…


Wall between living room and kitchen:
Before – Thinner and longer
Now – Thicker and shorter. We’ve definitely lost some of our precious wall space in the living room. The reason they stated is to give us a wider doorway and to increase the light into the kitchen.


Bedroom Layout:
Before – The southern wall was straight and our HVAC was originally drafted into the stairwell.
Now – We gained 16 freaking square feet of extra space when they redrafted the HVAC back into our unit!!!

Let me just state, the beds in the floor plan drafts for every unit are double/full-sized beds (dimensions: 54x75 in / 137x190 cm), which is the same bed we currently have. When we bought it we considered getting a queen sized because Kevin is TALL and his feet hang off the end when he lies straight, but we didn’t have enough space in our apartment for a queen sized mattress and weren’t sure a queen would fit well in the condo… so his feet hang off the double or he sleeps diagonally lol

The 16 extra square feet are conveniently configured into a closet shape... I can’t be the only one to notice that. Well that got me thinking: While 2 double closets are great, I think we would benefit more from turning that new 2x8 ft nook into a closet and removing the original closet altogether, giving us about 2 extra feet in the bedroom, which would allow us to fit a queen sized bed in there.  The side of the bed that is beside the closet doors in the original plans would be beside a wall in my hypothetical plan, so we wouldn’t have to worry as much about having space there for getting into the closet because it would just be a wall.

After our meeting we took a trip to Ikea to scope out closet systems. We found some fantastic Pax wardrobe configurations with sliding doors.. but they’d set us back about $1000… yikes. Unfortunately I didn’t take pics, but here’s some other Pax eye candy for you


We also checked out some dark versus light kitchen finishes in Ikea. I’m team “white cabinets” and Kevin is team “dark cabinets”. Whose team are you on?

To be honest, after looking at multiple cabinets options, I’m kind of leaning towards dark lowers and light uppers…

I’d love to hear what you think based on the layout we have!

Other condo news:
Finishes Appointment
Construction Update and Security System
Our Floorplan
Condo Finishes Waiting Game


Images: Pax Wardrobe 1 (Ikea Hackers), 2 (Roncevalles Victorian Reno Diary)

Condo News: Finishes Appointment

We finally got the call! The designer has called us to book our appointment to select the finishes for the condo. I literally was jumping up and down for about five minutes. I've never been so excited to give away thousands of dollars!

After posting on the issues and talking with some people who have bought pre-build houses/condos, we've quasi made some decisions on how we'd like to proceed with selecting finishes... but it all depends on how the meeting goes and what the prices are. It might be more practical to get some finishes installed before we move in and it might be more practical to do some ourselves. We'll know more after our appointment  - soon!

Kevin and I have been discussing the return on investment (ROI) when it comes to selecting finishes. This condo obviously isn't going to be our forever home. When/if we start a family we're going to run out of space in this place pretty fast and when that day comes, we'd ideally like to be able to rent out the condo (income property!) and use it as collateral to buy a bigger home. If our situation won't allow us to do that, then we'd sell the condo to buy our next place. I'm really hoping we'll be able to rent it out in the future and that's what I'm planning for, so we're going to rein in a bit on upgrades. So, hardwood floors are most likely out as they would eat up the large portion of the upgrading budget. I'm not too bummed about it though - after researching what renters look for in a space, I found that they just want a non-carpeted space, not necessarily hardwood, so it's all good. And there are some really good quality (durable and good looking) laminates out there these days. 

Do you have any thoughts on the ROI for upgrades? What do you think about laminate over hardwood in condos and in rental properties? Personally, I have a hard time dealing with carpet due to dust allergies so I always prefer non-carpet spaces - although I really really really love the look of berber carpet... 

To see other condo news posts...

Construction Update and Security System
Our Condo Floorplan!
Condo Finishes Waiting Game
Keeping It In The Family

photo source is here. 

Condo News: Construction Update and Security System

Kevin and I attended a condo meeting recently. The meetings are held every 6-8 weeks to keep us informed of progress, which I appreciate. The main subject of this meeting was previewing the security systems, but they also had one of the construction managers in to talk about the progress on the construction of the building... A hot topic amongst all the buyers!

The security system (ADT) presentation was what I expected. I've never lived in a traditional high-rise building before, but all the information seemed pretty standard to me. The ADT representative (who looked like Jack Layton and seemed really nervous to talk in front a crowd) also talked about the access points in to and out of the parking garage. He said we're getting one key fob, which we can wave to enter the parking garage from outside, to enter the building from the parking garage and to enter the building from the street. I'm glad it's all on one device.

This is how the telephone entry system and fob key will be

The security guy also talked about the telephone entry (buzzer) system (pretty standard), fire alarms, elevator security, the CCTV system, and other general security around the building. While pretty much everything he had to say was pretty standard, I appreciate hearing it. I wouldn't say I'm a super secure person, but I've had someone break into my university apartment before and have had things stolen in supposedly "secure" places - plus my dad's a locksmith - so being aware of my security is something that makes me feel a bit safer. 


In all honestly, I didn't give a crap about security when compared to my desire to find out about progress time lines for the construction. I drove by the site a few weeks ago and even tweeted an Instagram photo. Let me tell you, it is woefully behind schedule. Figures. I know. These things never get completed on time. But it's still SO DISAPPOINTING!

The first delay was Consumers gas, then the hydro company, then there was a delay getting permits from the City of Toronto. Basically there have been delays at every turn. The dig-down for the 4 level underground parking is 14m deep, which requires a crazy number of 4ft wide cement columns for support...152 columns to be precise. They anticipate the dig-down will be completed by the end of March, then the foundation-laying can begin! 


I asked when they thought occupancy would be. It was originally early summer in 2012 and then it was later summer 2012. Now they're saying occupancy, starting from the ground up, will start in November, December 2012 to January 2013. Our unit is on the 10th floor of a 12-story building, so we're on the end of that time line. I feel like those goal dates are still pretty lofty, so Kevin and I could potentially still have a year or MORE before occupancy... We were told that we're going to get official notice (written) in April that outlines the delays and new anticipated move-in dates. 


The waiting game is painful... 


To not end this post on a dreary note, we were shown a demo video of the exterior and common spaces of the building. It was pretty awesome. I mean, I don't know necessarily that we're going to have that exact patio furniture, but it looked pretty swanky! They also showed us mood boards of the finishes and textiles for the common spaces and they looked great as well! That part of the meeting really got me excited about moving and helped me visualize things. Kevin and I are just chewing on the bit, ready for this place to be done already!


To see other condo news posts...
Our Condo Floorplan!
Condo Finishes Waiting Game
Keeping It In The Family


Photos sources: key fob, intercom

Condo News: Our Floorplan!

Here is our condo floorplan! I thought it was high time I showed it to you. Our unit sold out pretty fast (there were only 3), so I had to scan a printout I had instead of grabbing the image from the online gallery... hence the lower quality photo. 

Here are some details!

• It's 716 square feet - not huge, I know, but we're happy with it. It's 50% larger than our apartment and we were perfectly content there.
• It has one bedroom, one den*, and one full bathroom (ensuite) and one half bathroom
• It's a corner unit (south-east facing: ideal!)
• It has a balcony - some units only had Juliet balconies, which is still something I guess, but we wanted some kind of step-out outdoor space.
• We have one parking space and one locker
• The two black circles are cement columns
• The weird gap in the middle of our unit is where the stairs are...
• We're on the tenth floor of a mid-sized building so we're not worried about "stair noise"
• And it has TWO FULL WALLS of windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that pretty much sums it up. Any questions??

*condo developers in Toronto clearly VERY loosely define what is considered a den. To me, this is just a big(ger) living room and a not-so-sneaky way for developers to ask for more money!

Condo Finishes Waiting Game

In the beginning of December, Kevin and I (and Michelle) attended the most recent condo meeting. They informed us that they were up to the seventh floor with contacting people for selecting finishes. Michelle, being on the third floor, had long-ago been contacted, but didn't call back straight away so I think they've put her on the back burner for now. Our unit is on the tenth floor so I knew it would be a few weeks before we got contacted to select finishes. I'm so impatient though! I race home every day to check my email. Nothing! Zip! Nada!

As it happens, earlier last year I spotted a young woman named Kim (a purchaser), at one of the meetings and knew she looked familiar. Turns out she lived on the same street I grew up on and we went to elementary and middle school together (grades 1-8, although she was a year older so we never hung out). At the last meeting in December, she told me she'd already picked her finishes and had pictures! eeeek! Obviously I had to see them and bombard her with tons of questions. She bought alone and said she had a very easy time selecting her finishes. She kept some of the standard finishes (ie: the bathroom and kitchen floor tile) and upgraded others (ie: the living room and bedroom flooring and kitchen/bathroom backsplash). In total, she said she spent $7500. She went with a warmer tone for her finishes, which isn't really up my alley; I love cooler tones. And I was surprised at the cost of her upgrades! Very surprised! I know it can cost a lot and we've set aside quite a bit to cover the cost (more than what Kim paid), but I honestly thought I had more than enough wiggle room. Her unit is a little bit smaller, at about 670 sq ft if I remember correctly, and ours is 716 sq ft. 

I'm not even too sure at this point what finishes we're selecting. I'm thinking it'll be

Kitchen/Bathroom

• Floor tile
• Counter tops
• Cabinets (and hardware maybe?)
• Backsplash tiles
• Faucets maybe?

Common spaces

• Flooring
• Ceiling (stippled is standard...yuck)

These designer people had better contact me soon! Patience is not my strong suit and the suspense is killing me! 

photo source is here.

Keeping It In The Family

A few months back my sister, Michelle, got a permanent library job in mid-town Toronto... 5 km from the condo Kevin and I bought. She was originally looking pretty far west for a condo, but ultimately decided to join me and Kevin in our building. We're on complete opposite ends of the building: Kevin and I are on the tenth floor in the south east corner and Michelle is on the 3rd floor in the north west corner. Should be interesting!

Michelle got a phone call a couple weeks back regarding finishes. The builders are doing the appointments from the first floor to top floor, so we'll have to wait a while before our appointment. I'm so excited to pick! Everyone tells me it won't be a fun process, but as of right now I'm looking forward to it :-)

Condo Shopping with Michelle

Michelle recently got a permanent full-time job (congrats!) and as such, has been keenly researching condos so she can move out of my parents' house. Michelle's a librarian so she's an extremely thorough researcher - she's got a spread sheet of condo prices, payment structures with varying interest rates, etc. This weekend, my mom and I went with her to various condo sales offices. A couple of them were busts because they were sold out (but didn't say so on their websites...), but we got some very helpful information at the Fuse Condos sales office. We were actually looking for the Upside Down condos sales office, but stumbled in to the Fuse office and decided to check it out. Turns out Upside Down condos is the same builder so we were in the right sales office all along. 


I like checking out how the condo model suites are staged because they always use reflective or glass elements, along with smaller scale furniture to make the rooms appear larger.


Here was the floor plan of the model suite they had in the sales office. It's 794 square feet with a 116 square foot balcony, and as you can see it's a 2-bedroom unit. All the finishes in the unit are standard.

I took pictures of the common areas, the master bedroom and master bathroom.

Here's the kitchen and dining area. The table was small, but nicely set up. The kitchen looked  good, but obviously if you've seen any kitchens I like (such as here or here), you know I love white cabinets. My mom and I both agreed that white cabinets would've been the right way to go here because it really would've brightened up the space. 

 This nook is cute! It reminds me of the nook in my current apartment, where we have our desk and wine rack. These mirrors remind me of the mirrors I got from BB Bargoons. This image is definitely going in my inspiration folder!

I wasn't a fan of the furniture or colour in the living room, but I like that the coffee and side tables have mirrored tops. It's a great way to bring light in to a room.  

The bedroom was very well sized for a condo - something like 10x12sq ft. I like the furniture, but again, not a fan of the colours...

The bathroom was nice. Soaker tubs are pretty standard now with new builds, which is pretty awesome.

Have you seen any nice condo model suites lately? I'll pass on any suggestions to Michelle. 

It's Official: The House is on the Market

This is what I came home to yesterday. And a text from my landlord saying he's holding an open house this weekend. I photoshopped out some of the For Sale sign details. I hate that we have to find another place to live before we move to the condo! The whole situation really frustrates me. He asked me last year if we planned on staying on because he was wanted to know if he'd have to find new tenants and I told him we would definitely stay here until the condo was done. Think less of me all you want, but I'm feeling bitter and vengeful right now and I'm hoping this house takes months to sell. Ugh.

Canadian House & Home - September Roundup

The September issue of Canadian House & Home focused on small spaces - a topic with which I am very familiar! I love looking at how other people function in smaller spaces, so this issue was a treat for me.

This kitchen is from a Muti Kitchen & Bath ad and it. is. GORGEOUS! I love everything about it! Except I would have liked to see full-sized cabinets flanking either side of the sink against the wall to the right...but other than that it's perfect! It's pictures like this that I want to bring in when I'm picking out the condo finishes. Kevin already told me I can pick out anything I like, which makes me very happy because he likes everything dark and I like everything light.

Another obsession of mine is banquette seating. I think they're beautiful, space saving, and conducive to intimate casual dinners with friends. I really hope it's something we can incorporate into the condo. The homeowner, Sarah Callahan, did a great job on accessorizing this space. I love the mix of fuchsia, olive, black and white pillows! The lighting fixture, from Ikea, is the same one John and Sherry have in their bedroom on Young House Love. While I love the way it looks in pictures and love the shadows it casts on the walls when lit, I don't like the way it looks in person. For me, it's definitely a love-from-afar fixture.

Daybeds are great space savers. This first one here (2.) is more what I would consider a chaise and the last one (7.) is more like a comfy bench, but they're practically cousins to the daybed, hence why H&H included them in this Bed & Beyond article. Daybeds are great because they can double as a bed for your (shorter) overnight guests. The shortest one here is 71 inches (just under 6ft), which I (at 5'4") would have no problem sleeping on. Daybeds can also be used as room dividers. They have low/no backs so they don't block off spaces as harshly as the back of a traditional couch would. A daybed can also seat more people because you're able to sit on all sides of it.  

I don't know how things are in your neighbourhood, but around here, garbage/green/recycle bins are a real eyesore. The space between Toronto houses can be quite tight, so many people store their bins in front of their houses. A storage bin like this is a great solution, although this exact model is pricey... probably worth a DIY attempt!

Do you have any space saving solutions you'd like to share? I'm all ears!

Bargoon Hunting

I saw an advertisement in the Toronto Star for a store-closing sale at BB Bargoons on Keele (just north of highway 7). I work not too far from there and knew I'd have my sister's car that week, so I stopped in on Tuesday to check it out. 

Going in that store bummed me out that the condo isn't going to be ready for at least another year because the fabric prices were phenomenal. If I knew my future window dimensions, I would've bought fabric for curtains. But I got over it because I love buying home goods! I'm addicted, actually. I picked up this glass apple that I'll use for candy, which will make it my candy apple :-) Yes, I'm lame like that.

  

I picked it up for $14.50 and the original price was $34.99.

 

I also saw this mirror. I loved the design and was immediately drawn to it. There were 2 of them. No price tag - of course not! Sigh.

There was a smaller apple green-framed green mirror beside it - Regular price $119, sale price $79. With the 50% off, the apple green mirrors were $39.50 each.

I left my camera at home that day, so please bear with my MacGyver-ed version I made in Paint. I liked the shape of this green mirror, but not the colour and I knew taping off circles so I could spray paint would be a pain in the ass. I was mostly just looking at it so I could estimate the price of the black mirror - it was definitely going to cost more. I brought one of the black mirrors up to the register so the cashier could check the price. She told me to walk around the store and come back in a few minutes because she had to manually look it up in the system. I was hoping it would be less than $100, then reduced by 50% making it $50, but it seemed unlikely based on the price of the smaller green mirror. When I got back to the register a few minutes later, the woman told me it was $59...plus 50% off!!!!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

I may or may not have jumped in the air with excitement like this girl, and then ran across the store to get the other one :-) Each mirror ended up being $29.50 each and I could not have been more happy with my purchase. I'm pretty sure Kevin was impressed with my deal... okay, maybe "impressed" isn't the right word, but he was at least satisfied!

As we're moving at the end of this month, I won't be hanging these up in our apartment, but maybe they'll make an appearance in my new place. We'll see!