The condo is for sale

After some packing up of my clutter (any one who’s been to my place before knows I have a lot of stuff), I was able to take pictures of my place so I could get it listed. I’ve moved some items to my sister’s and my minivan has also become my mobile storage unit. Though by looking at my place, I don’t think you’d think anything has been packed up. It’s a good thing I’m not moving to the farm until the end of February, because I’ve got loads of packing to do!

I’ve listed the condo for sale at $314,900. The technical details are as follows:
– 711 square feet, open plan corner unit, 1 bedroom + den with a 38 square foot balcony
– floor to ceiling windows
– walnut veneer cabinetry in kitchen and bathroom, with granite countertops and foyer floor, ceramic tile in kitchen and bathroom and carpet for the rest
– a glass backsplash in the kitchen (which I installed myself)
– a glass drop chandelier in the dining area, wall-mounted swing arm lamp in the bedroom and 3-spot light in the den

But what has made the condo my home for almost 6 years is more than those details. I first signed on the dotted line for the place in September of 2000, paid installments on it for the next few years and finally moved into it in February 2003. Over the years I:
– bought furniture (my first couch!),
– built furniture (both the shelf unit and corner desk were built in the den where they currently reside),
– moved furniture (though I don’t rearrange nearly as often as Alan and Liz do at their place!),
– painted (the last time, just in time for my Christmas open house that year),
– sewed curtains (I’ve changed my curtains 4 times over the years),
– sewed cushions (I love finding beautiful fabrics),
– installed glass tiles (it’s the grouting that can get finicky)
– and vacuumed almost daily

And then there’s the entertaining…brunches, lunches, dinners, dessert, my annual Christmas open house (5 hosted here!), small group meetings, trip planning meetings, out of town guests, Battlestar Galactica marathons…711 square feet have fit a lot of people over the years! I’m definitely going to miss that aspect of living here, being so easily reachable by all my friends and family, despite the small size of visitor parking and high security of my building ;P Moving into this condo also changed my daily 2-3 hour driving and TTC commute to a 15 minute one-way walk. In the summers, I could stop at the farmer’s market on my way in to work. In the winter, I would skate at the Harbourfront rink every week. And on those rare occasions when I was home alone for a day, this condo has been a homey retreat where many books have been read, movies watched and craft projects made. I’m definitely going to miss my first solo home!

As I was taking pictures for the listing, I realized that they weren’t just pictures to try and sell the place, but also to remember what it looked like. So here’s some nostalgia.

My bedroom, which was the first room that I painted the second day that I moved in. The paint colour is Violet Stone by Benjamin Moore. The curtains are from IKEA, which I modified. The fabric on canvas above the bed is a Japanese patterned quilting fabric bought from a quilt fabric shop in Linlithgow, Scotland. The swing arm lamp is also from IKEA, though they haven’t made it for years and I wish I had bought 2 at the time. It’s not the IKEA shade on it though as I definitely didn’t like the one it came with.

The living/dining room and kitchen. Open concept living definitely worked for me here! The green patterned curtains in the dining area are the last set that I made. The glass drop chandelier is a combination of a chandelier bought from The Home Depot, and a drum shade Benita got for me from the Umbra sale. The glass tile backsplash shimmers in the light.

The den, with it’s corner desk and shelving unit, both built right in the room. The white shelf was built first, attempted without a hammer, which didn’t work. I had to run to Tammy’s house to borrow her hammer…she and Jackson subsequently gave me a hammer as a gift ;P Before the corner desk, the shelves that are currently in the living room were on the wall opposite to the white shelving unit. That configuration really didn’t work, which is why I was quite happy to discover this corner desk unit. One good thing about moving to a farm with a house much bigger than my condo…I don’t have to get rid of any of my books!

And finally, the bathroom, all 40 square feet of it 🙂 I debated from day one whether I would add colour to the walls. I thought I’d paint narrow coloured stripes, but in the end, preferred to leave one room all white and creme. It’s probably better for its saleability that I decided against the coloured striping!

In about 2 months, I won’t be living here any more. I will be starting a new adventure in farming. And as far as my life is concerned, the condo will have fulfilled its destiny. I bought it and paid the mortgage down aggressively over the years as savings and investment towards buying a farm one day. So this condo hasn’t just been my home for 6 years, it has also been my vehicle into farming. I’ve definitely been happy here so I hope that whoever lives here next will enjoy it as much as I have.

The first official viewing of the condo will be tomorrow at noon. I’ve got a pile of things sitting beside me in the den that I will be taking down to the minivan tonight to get them out of the way. Have to have the condo looking its best for tomorrow!

This is the story of my journey into sustainable agriculture. From the streets of downtown Toronto, to the farm land of southern Ontario, I hope to discover the techniques and practices that work for me in both mind and heart.

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