News and more news

One of the  problems with our house search this past couple of weeks is ........ we loved the house we lost........ and it was very difficult to find anything that even came close.

Add to that - I wanted a little quirky house - something a little less "cookie cutter" and with a whole lot more ....... je ne sais quoi ...... personality - I guess is what I was looking for. 

We found this house down a street filled with cookie cutter houses.  The agent feels when they were developing the area - they slotted out land up and down the street for the bigger cookie cutter houses and then were left with this wee bit of land in the middle ..... and decided to build this wee little house. 

The first time W and I saw it...it made me smile - hell it made me giggle.  To start - there is no front door.  The door is around the side of the house......... and for some reason the owners decided to put a deck and a "shadestructure" right at the door........ virtually in the middle of the driveway (go figure!!)

When you enter the house it feels a little bit like it is wrapping itself around you..... (which might just be a polite way of saying it is small (with a capital S)

On the second day of house hunting, both W and I wanted to go back to see this house and one other......... (the other one was a close second - it was much bigger and had virtually everything we were looking for - except as we later learned - a foundation problem) 

When we walked in this house W said (with as much enthusiasm as he ever has) "I like the way this house flows"   I just liked the way it felt.

And talk about quirky - the living room has a chandelier hanging in the middle - the dining room has no ceiling fixture - the fireplace is stuck at the end of the wall - not really in the living room or the dining room............

The kitchen is large (considering the other rooms) but has virtually no counter space.....BUT it does have a dishwasher and I did ohhhhh so want a dishwasher!! 

and the bedrooms??????? well the agent kept telling me we are spoiled here in Quebec with our large bedrooms .......... but I am really struggling with the small bedrooms....... one bedroom is so small W says it can only be an office..... I am thinking a small tv room with a daybed for guests.  The other guest room won't hold a chest of drawers ............ The master bedroom has a king size bed and a couple of small bureaus ......... but there's not a whole lot of room for anything else......

The basement has a good sized "family room".  This room will hold the train layout - and I am thinking the office that W wants to put upstairs.... and maybe another TV ......... 

I don't know if you remember the other house?....... but it had a beautiful backyard complete with landscaping and........ a pool !! This house - the back yard is ........ barren......... big and barren...............

Now I am trying to be positive and say it is a blank slate for me to work with........ no pool - W doesn't see the need for - or want - a pool - but I am thinking maybe a water feature??? a fountain or something....... and flower beds...... and maybe even a zen garden of sorts..........

I've been working on that in my head (sort of) ......... and have come up with these ideas for the backyard 

a touch of the oriental..........

 

with a water feature of some sort

                        and if it was at all possible a pagoda style

gazebo that I could hang my mesh swing in - to curl 

up and read in......... preferably by the water feature

Can you see my dream???

Now to the practical stuff - yesterday we had the building inspection.......... and yeah the house passed - but not with flying colours.  The roof needs to be reshingled ASAP.... the attic needs more insulation - and something done to improve air circulation as there is a problem with moisture ........... 

The driveway with the deck and shadestructure has to be reworked.  The deck needs to come down and be moved (if possible) to the back yard....... the driveway needs to be extended into the backyard a bit and then W would like a garage built (me too actually - there is some doubt the driveway - as it is now - would hold two cars)

We came home last night pooped and excited - we have finally bought a home in Kingston !!!  Move in date for W - Sept 5th.

Just heard from W....... 

He just heard the sellers have agreed to knocking some money off the price to pay for about 1/4 of the roof - so now it is OFFICIAL - we DO have our new home in Kingston!!!