I do not recall when the discussion to buy a house started (or why) but we wanted out of the townhouse condo. It wasn’t a space issue. There was just the two of us, with no plans for a family, and it was a three bedroom townhome. The home only had one bathroom and didn’t have a garage. The garage mattered, the bathroom we’d learned to share. Contrary to what the TV shows, we never (ever) got ready at the same time, so ‘sharing’ counter space had never, and never has been, an issue.

It also didn’t have a dishwasher, unless you counted him and I, and I was tired of washing dishes.

It started with me planning and updating the condo. We repainted it from top to bottom. I changed all the window coverings. We redid the bathroom, changing out and updating all the fixtures. I repainted all the cabinets (I had done them a couple years before) but I wanted them refreshed. In the end, we replaced all of the flooring as well. It showed a ’10’, it was beautiful. I was an interior designer, I know how to make something shine. It sold very quickly. But now our hunt was on! We had sixty days to find a home!

Our list was simple
1. Fenced yard (for our dog)
2. Garage
3. No carpet (wood or tile)
4. One and one half bathrooms
5. Dishwasher

We were flexible on the flooring. The rest we were not. The fenced yard, garage, and bathrooms were a must. I could live without the dishwasher, but it would have to be a really special place. Our budget was reasonable for the time, and area. Sounds easy, right? Of course not. There were houses, but some had most, but not all, of our list. I would not budge on the bathroom issue. I didn’t see a point in moving if I wasn’t ‘moving up’! My husband wasn’t moving if he couldn’t get a garage, and his preference was an oversized, two car garage (which he did not get, by the way, and I haven’t heard the end of it).

As my husband worked out of town, I prescreened the houses with my step-mother, who was an insurance adjuster (in her previous career). She was very valuable to have along! I would call him home if I found anything ‘worthy’ of him making the two hour drive home to see. So far, there had been nothing!

Finally, after about twenty three houses, I found two worth showing him. Much like the Home Shows on TV, each one was kind of quirky and odd. The first was St, Michael’s. Now, what was good about this house, I don’t honestly remember! I do recall that it had a bunch of strange rooms in the basement and that it was large. I liked the neighbourhood and it wasn’t far from where we lived. Downside, the grade to the house was terrible and the exterior sidewalks tipped completely toward the house. This raised alarm bells as the basement had recently been completely redone as they’d had a ‘flooding issue’ yet the grade of the yard all still pointed toward the house… With no plan to fix it. The second house he saw that weekend was the Padded Bar House. This house had a huge driveway, a big garage, a large fenced yard, and a cute house, The kitchen was ok but what was awesome was the basement! Corridors that led to skinny secret rooms (a wine cellar( a secret wine room) and a big red, vinyl padded bar! It was amazing! It almost has us because of the bar. Bar stools, fridge, dart board. It had it all! But they wanted too much and it wasn’t really practical. Why did we need a big padded vinyl bar?

The odds of us finding a house before the end of May, that we could move into, was not looking good! We were quickly approaching house number 30 and the number of houses on the market in our price range were drying up. As it was, we had to expand our desired neighbourhood and move to the otherside of the city.

This particular day, we were coming to see a three bedroom home on a street we’d looked at an infill home on a couple days before. Unfortunately, we got word on the way, it had sold. But, there was another home two doors down we could see. It was only two bedrooms, however. That didn’t matter too much, so we decided to take a look.

We walked through the front door and it was awash in a pale blue. Everywhere. In fact, the entire house, save for the small bedroom at the back of the house, is pale blue. While to many, this wouldn’t matter, I had promised my husband I would not renovate our new place, having just done our condo. I dislike the colour blue. A lot. But, it has wood floors! <check> This kitchen is open and spacious and it has a dishwasher! <check> The primary bedroom has a three piece bathroom!!! That is a bonus I had not expected! Plus there is a half bathroom in the finished basement! <check> The yard is fenced! <check> There is a two car garage! <check>

It’s on budget, the location is pretty good. The yard is lovely, and it has two offices down in the basement. The appliances are older, but well cared for. My husband needs to come home TODAY and see this. I rushed home and contacted him. Good properties aren’t lasting long and as this was home number thirty, I didn’t want to waste any time having him come and see it, and if he felt the same, we needed to make an offer that night.

Which is exactly what we did. While he wasn’t pleased with a regular sized garage, he has managed… It took me from 2004 until 2018 to paint and get rid of the blue, but now the house is really our home. In 2017, we built a custom garden shed to hold all the extras the garage doesn’t fit. My husband is a little happier, and we officially made our house, our home.