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It's official. I'm a homeowner. This afternoon I wrote a big check, signed a stack of papers and shook many hands.
Then we walked across the Plateau to our new place. Lots to do! We won't move for another six weeks so that we can redo the kitchen, paint, redo the floors. And more probably.
All that will start next week. Today we sat on the floor, invited Marie over who came with a bottle of ice wine. Chatted with the downstairs neighbors (this old Quebec couple in their 80s). We already live in the neighborhood so no need to tour around.
But back to work already. Got to start paying for this place and all the work it needs!
So it's a block from Mont-Royal, a street of shops, festivals, cafes, and all kinds of stuff going on. And two blocks south is Parc Lafontaine, an amazing urban park with lakes, trails, huge old towering Maple trees. In all honesty, the location couldn't really be any better. It's a quiet part of the street and within four blocks of supermarkets, banks, pet store, bookstores, bagel shop, boutiques, art galleries, pool bars, the metro/subway (Station Mont-Royal).
So the first major project is the kitchen. It's in terrible shape. We bought the place from an old woman whose father built the building in 1919. The apartment below on the ground floor is owned by her brother. At the signing, the woman's children were there and told us about growing up in the house. Anyway, the place hasn't been touched since the sixties so the kitchen is a disaster. Seriously. Right now it's like a sci-fi movie of the end of the world. That's going to be a big job, too: we may actually move the kitchen one room over (there is a bedroom beyond it that we can expand into), expand the dining room and create a new layout. But first we need to redo the walls, get new appliances, redo the floors (wood underneath the awful linoleum) and get new cabinets. All that's gonna cost quite enough to start with. Sigh.
One thing: Marie is a great resource: she bought an old place last year (after living in the place for four years prior) and she's slowly been renovating. Very slowly. But we've got contacts for contractors and plumbers, electricians, etc. So that really helps a lot. And she lives in the same neighborhood about a 15 minute walk east. Great for taking Magdali for the weekend...
Anyway, here is the current awful state of the kitchen.
So that's it. Now the work begins. Some of it we are going to do over the next few weeks, some we will do later in the fall. Some next spring. Basically, it's a 2-3 yearproject all told. But once we're done, it'll be a place to hang our hat while we travel and have other adventures...
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