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. 

If I Were The Landlord Series - Part 2

This apartment has 1 window in each room and they're all  very decent sizes. The bedroom and bathroom windows face west so we get a lot of evening light in those rooms, especially in the winter when the leaves have fallen from the huge tree in our neighbour's yard. The living room has a HUGE east facing window, which brings in fantastic light in the morning. This room is where all my plants die live. But the kitchen. Oh the kitchen. This window has the most ideal orientation - south! There's just one problem, about 3 feet in front of our kitchen is our neighbour's house so all we see from that window is green siding. What a waste! 

There are so many issues with this window:

1. The view sucks
2. It always seems like night in the kitchen because this window lets in NO light
3. Our neighbours have a window, that if you were to draw a straight line from their window through to our window, it would lead straight into our fridge. I'm pretty much always walking around in my skivvies in the morning while I'm eating breakfast or making lunch and cringe every time the fridge door light shines on me when I open it. Those guys are either going to celebrate or be very sad when I'm gone in a week... 

Kevin's mom gave us a baker's rack (fantastic gift!) that we use to store our microwave, toaster, cookbooks, etc. For the longest time, we hesitated in putting it where we wanted (in front of the window!) because we didn't want to block what very little light came through. We had it on the wall to the left of the fridge and had our kitchen table in front of this window, but it was really close to the oven this way. Last year, Kerry and her boyfriend, Aaron stayed with us. I was making them pancakes and left the room for a minute. I came back to find Aaron flipping his own pancakes...while seated at the table!! LOL At that moment, I was like, "To hell with this window!" and we moved the baker's rack to the window and the kitchen table to the wall.

While this new arrangement made things in our apartment flow a lot better, I was still very unhappy with the lack of light in our apartment. Especially because the kitchen is the first room you walk into upon entering our place. I always used to think, "Wouldn't this room be so much brighter with a sky light?" Our landlord put in pot lights when he renovated this room, but a skylight would've made so much more sense! Especially if it was one that could open to let hot air escape. We literally always have the lights on in the kitchen so a skylight would've saved a lot of electricity and if it opened, we'd be able to let the hot air escape in the summer. It feels like a furnace in here if I dare turn on the stove in the summer months. 

Since I'm a friendly tenant and chat up all my neighbours, one of our neighbours, Pam, invited me to her house one day to check on the renovations she had done. Her house is semi-detached and ours is detached, but they're mirror images of each other. Guess what she had upstairs in her tenant's kitchen? A SKY LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. It was amazing. It was so BRIGHT. She was in the middle of redoing the floors so the place wasn't looking how it normally does, but I was blown away by how much better that room looked with some natural light coming in. I took some pictures :-) They're not the best, but it'll give you some idea of what we're missing.  

This photo was taken at about 4:30pm. This room is a mirror image of our kitchen; the window to the left is the same one that I took a picture of above. See how much BRIGHTER her kitchen is? I'm so jealous. Pam says the skylight is what sold her on the house when she was buying it!


If I were the landlord, I would definitely have put in a sky light - one that can open. It would cost a bit up front, but I really think it would be a great investment. 

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!

My Weekend Follies

Up until Sunday, I didn't do much this weekend. Kevin and I hung out at a bar with some friends on Friday, and then hung out at another bar with some other friends on Saturday (Sara and Darcy, from this post, who are soon to be travelling around Asia for 4-months!!). I did manage to finally get around to baking so I could put my cake stand to use! I made cupcakes instead of a full-on cake because I have a cupcake carrier. In theory, I could more easily bring cupcakes to work to share with my co-workers. In reality, I'm addicted to sugar and have already eaten at least 15 cupcakes. Three cupcakes lost their lives in this photo shoot alone. 

But can you blame me?? They're French vanilla with raspberry cream cheese icing! They're super pink because I used a new food colouring and mistakenly thought it was less concentrate than the kind I regularly use. 

On a less gluttonous note...well I guess this still has to do with eating... I went on something called the Edible Tree Tour with some people in my Meetup group. 

Each year Toronto’s urban forest produces millions of pounds of edible treats.  Follow our knowledgeable leaders - and your taste buds - through Toronto's urban forest and discover what appetizing delights await you.

Learn about urban harvesting with Laura Reinsborough from Not Far From The Tree, then explore the Ben Nobleman community orchard with Susan Poizner of Growing for Green.  Uncover delectable edibles in unexpected places with LEAF's Amanda Gomm, and learn how to glean what you've seen with foraging tips and tricks from Forbes Wild Foods. Forbes' jellies, syrups and tree goodies will be available for tasting and sale giving you the chance to satisfy any new-found cravings.

I'm not gonna lie - I thought there would be more eating and less talking, but it was interesting nonetheless. Gary was on the walk and asked today if I took notes. It has been well-established that I'm a horrible note-taker, and case-in-point as this is all I wrote on my iPhone's notepad:

• Conifer trees are high in vitamin C
• If the animals are eating the berries, they're edible
• Juniper is used to make gin

The hike was was over 2 hours and that's all I managed to write lol At least I got this picture of a crab apple

On another note, my dad came over on Sunday to take a truck load of our furniture back to my parents' house. The kitchen table and chairs were the biggest item to go. The kitchen looks so empty now. We have just over 2 weeks until we move out, and I'm really not looking forward to it. Moving sucks. When I was in university, all of my friends said they want to travel as much as they can and work in different countries and cities. Not me! I was always the one saying I want to get a government job and buy a house, and then work at that job until I retire and live in that same house until I die.

Definitely not gonna happen, but a girl can dream!

How was your weekend?