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electriclandwe bought a house! *eeeeeee!*
It needs a little fixing up. In the words of the listing:
"Renovator's Delight-Same Family For Many Years--New Furnace-Newer Roof---Spacious 2.5 Storey Home-High Ceilings"
Or in real terms, we have bought a house with:
It used to be a rooming house. Someone's ancient Polish granny was living in it until recently. It's possible that we're crazy.
It needs a little fixing up. In the words of the listing:
"Renovator's Delight-Same Family For Many Years--New Furnace-Newer Roof---Spacious 2.5 Storey Home-High Ceilings"
Or in real terms, we have bought a house with:
- a great location
- 2 1/2 storeys
- a full, but unfinished basement with a separate, but collapsing entrance
- no appliances
- kitchen cupboards on the walls, but not base cabinets
- plumbing and wiring that all has to be replaced
- some extremely retro and probably valuable sinks and tubs
- two 23-year-old windows (the rest are original)
- a brand spankin' new furnace that hasn't been connected to the water heater yet
- floors in decent condition (except for the former kitchens, which have ancient and grotty lino tiles)
- original baseboards (somewhere underneath the layers of paint)
- a really hideous front porch with green awnings
- a pocket-handkerchief fenced back yard
- a bucket of coal in the basement (I do hope that goes with the house)
It used to be a rooming house. Someone's ancient Polish granny was living in it until recently. It's possible that we're crazy.
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Date: 2005-03-16 02:47 pm (UTC)Congratulations!
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:30 pm (UTC)Looks like I was serious about that combination apartment warming/cooling party...
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Date: 2005-03-16 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 02:56 pm (UTC)CoNGRATS!!!! So exciting!! :)
Now...pictures?
YAY!:)
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:33 pm (UTC)There will definitely be pictures, oh yes. I'm thinking a photo-documentary is in order. Here's the one from the listing to start off:
You can't really tell how incredibly ugly that porch is from this, but trust me... it is.
More to come once we figure out how to get them off the digital camera. ;)
(no subject)
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Date: 2005-03-16 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 03:00 pm (UTC)You're both nuts. But I don't think that has anything to do with the house.
*smiles sweetly*
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:35 pm (UTC)It's probably the company we keep.
*smiles back*
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Date: 2005-03-16 03:05 pm (UTC)Can I borrow your home-finding mojo for a bit, since you're done with it for the moment? ;-)
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:40 pm (UTC)You are more than welcome to whatever home-finding mojo we have. (I gotta say, doing this with my cousin is all that kept me going... of course she was more motivated than me to start with.)
Anyway, with luck Granny Weatherwax will give you some home-finding fortune. If she feels like it.
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Date: 2005-03-16 03:08 pm (UTC)Polish Granny you say? Smell faintly of cabbage? :)
Wiring and plumbing can take forever, you guys are thinking of doing this yourselves with help from your family? Cause yeah, that sounds much more adventurous and crazy than all of the rest of it... with the possible exception of all the windows being original, place must leak something fierce!
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:42 pm (UTC)No smell of anything much, and I don't know about leaks. The building inspector thought the cracks in the walls were down to old leaks, since fixed. We can but hope.
We're going to get professionals in to do the wiring and plumbing, at least those bits of it that might go horribly, messily wrong. For the rest of it we'll chip away gradually. There will be demolition parties, so don't leave for Montreal too soon! ;)
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Date: 2005-03-16 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 05:26 pm (UTC)Yay for constructive/construction craziness!
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 11:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 05:34 pm (UTC)Congrats, sounds like a fab place... Bring on some piccies :)
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:44 pm (UTC)See above for photo. And there will be many more, I promise!
(no subject)
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Date: 2005-03-16 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 11:47 pm (UTC)We'll do as much of it as we can ourselves (this house-buying gig is expensive!). Wiring and plumbing will be done by professionals (I'm not messing around with mains power, thanks), although apparently we can help with bits to save money. We have lots of expertise in the family, so that will help -- my dad has reno'd lots of places, and J's uncle is an architect, and so on. So we're quite hopeful.
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Date: 2005-03-16 05:39 pm (UTC)and good luck
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:47 pm (UTC)and thank you -- we'll need it.
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Date: 2005-03-16 06:02 pm (UTC)I assume it's still in the Beaches, right?
And now, instead of music/drinking parties, you can have renovation parties. Everyone, come and help us repaint! or Who wants to re-tile a floor? Come on.. I know you do!
Actually, I would totally love a gathering like that! I adore doing home renovations.. as you might have guessed based on my request to assemble your furniture..
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2005-03-16 06:09 pm (UTC)It's pretty scary & exciting at the same time, isn't it?
When I bought mine, I kept thinking 'Oh my god, what did I do?' followed by 'Oh my god, I got a house!'.
It sounds like a really neat house, when was it built?
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:50 pm (UTC)and that is EXACTLY how I'm feeling. (We were quite giddy about it last night -- I'm sure the people we met walking along Queen thought we were nuts because we kept squealing and hugging each other.)
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Date: 2005-03-16 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-16 11:51 pm (UTC)When we have, oh, a stove and a guest room, you must come and stay in it! (The guest room. Not the stove.)
(no subject)
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Date: 2005-03-16 10:50 pm (UTC)*pops open virtual bottle of champagne*
ps. you're probably not crazy, but you are going to have a very entertaining time i think. ;)
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:53 pm (UTC)I think I'll hang onto my apartment for a bit of overlap... for one thing I've barely settled in, and for another the place isn't actually habitable at the moment. (On the plus side, basement to keep things in!) J keeps saying we'll borrow
There will be regular updates, so you can judge for yourself whether we're coping or slipping over the edge. ;)
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:32 pm (UTC)You realize this means you have to stay here now, don't you? ;)
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Date: 2005-03-16 11:54 pm (UTC)I... I guess it does at that. Not a hardship, I assure you. (And I suppose I can always rent my bit out if I get a sudden urge to go flitting around the world.)
There will be a moving-in party...
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-03-17 02:33 am (UTC)Whereabouts is the house? It looks quite familiar from the photo
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Date: 2005-03-17 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-17 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-17 02:57 pm (UTC)It isn't a duplex yet, but we'll turn it into one (ground floor as one unit, and 2nd and 3rd as another). There's space where 2 kitchens have been, anyway.
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Date: 2005-03-17 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-17 06:17 pm (UTC)Thanks! The area seems kinda expensive, but I hear the neighbours are great. ;)