I honestly never thought that I would be able to own a house in Toronto. But, three years ago, with a lot of luck, a lot of help from family, friends, a clever Real Estate Agent and Mortgage Broker we moved into a home of our own. No more renting, no more crazy, naked landladies gardening out my back window. I can garden naked in my own yard now, the yard I own! I haven't and I won't. We live in a very tightly packed downtown neighbourhood where our neighbours are very, very close. I wouldn't change it, but I am not ready to garden wearing only my boots and gloves. Sorry.
I thought that the minute we moved into the house we would never be able to leave it. That it would suck us dry financially. It did the opposite. Its seems every time we plan to open a wall my business picks up. Now we are not rolling in it by any means but, we have learned how to spend and save wisely. The first thing we did was renovate the basement apartment in order to help with the mortgage. It was already set up with a separate entrance and we wanted a tenant in there ASAP. We began by adding some new flooring and paint. When we went to rip up a piece of flooring to replace it we encountered mold. A lot of mold. So began the journey of the basement reno. We ripped out everything including the floor to ceiling pink tile in the bathroom. Jacobson Construction saw us through the entire project and we came in pretty much within our budget. We also remained friends with Josh, owner of Jacobson Construction, and got engaged, to each other, not Josh. Not bad for the first 6 months in a new house.
Our next project was updating the living and dining rooms and the front entryway. This included opening the stairwell wall, new hardwood floor and paint. We decided to do most of the work ourselves this time, 3 months before our wedding. So there we were, a newly engaged couple with a new dog, planning 2 separate wedding parties, a 2 week vacation in British Columbia and I was shooting a film in the middle of it all. I'm sure some people wondered if we would even make it to the wedding. Did I mention that the wedding was going to happen in the newly completed living room? Again, with a lot of luck and help from friends (who happened to be expert tilers and hardwood floor installers) everything was finished 9 days before the wedding! A small miracle and I am so grateful to all who made it happen: you know who you are.
And now the time has come for a new kitchen. The cupboards are too small, the counters are too short, and its the coldest room in the house. Plus, my husband needs a dishwasher. Another must have? More counter space for more baking!
We did the demolition ourselves on the weekend and this week Michel and his team have moved in to start the real work. And holy crap are they awesome! Tres Bon! Ooh La La!
Enjoy the sunshine, until next time
tbxo
