New House

Ok so I've disappeared again but I come back to share some excellent news- we bought a house!

While we love our apartment there were a few reasons we started to casually look for a house. Is that how it happens for everyone? One day you pop into an open house out of curiosity then suddenly you're making an offer. Anyway, here were the reasons we starting looking:

• I love looking at real estate. If you spend enough time browsing the MLS listings you seem to talk yourself into how rational it is to buy something. 

• Chad gets a car for work and even with our parking permit it is absolute madness trying to find somewhere to park. We have to move the car twice a week so the city can 'clean' the street (i.e. make money off parking tickets). After a winter that left us digging the car in and out of 12 foot snowbanks, we didn't think we could do another (so yes, Chad agreed to buy a very expensive parking spot). 

• After renovating our condo in Iqaluit we were really itching for more projects. There is only so much you can do with an apartment without ripping stuff out.

• We needed more storage for all our crap. Yes, we could have just thrown out all of those computer parts, wires, model airplanes, model cars, model god-knows-what but 'someone' didn't like that idea and suggested someone else throw out all their extra clothes and shoes instead.

• I'd finished decorating

It was actually more difficult than simply finding a house we liked and making an offer. The so-called Montreal 'buyer's market' turned out to be only a buyer's market in condos and properties not reachable by the subway. We got outbid on a house we really loved and then found out several times that a house that had just been put on the market was already sold. It all turned out in the end as we found something that we both can't wait to start renovating. 

It's a cottage from the 1950s with an unusual loft layout. While it needs updating it has great bones and has been very well taken care of by a sweet older lady we got to meet. She's lived there for 39 years and was relieved that we didn't want to gut the house and that we hoped to maintain it's character. It has the original retro tile bathroom I've always wanted and the basement bar that Chad has. 

We won't be moving for a few months but this should give us time to plan out everything we want to do. So in the coming months I'll be sharing all my inspiration and then the step-by-step process of us renovating- mistakes, set-backs and all. I can't wait!