The last 2 weeks have been a flurry of home-repair stuff going on - walls painted, vanities changed, new backsplash put in ... so in the coming days, I'll post about it.
Oh, and we hired someone to do it all. Otherwise, we'd spend all our spare time for months doing this work!
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A Mother's Pride (aka Princess was so good this week-end!)
I will upload pictures tomorrow to show you our Pool Party this past Canada Day week-end. (Canada Day is July 1st, so it usually falls on the same week-end as Independence Day for those of you south of the border.)
We had about 40 people over, including children ranging from 7 months to 13. There were two darling 7-month-olds (Charlotte and Kiara), two toddler (14-month-old Charlie and seventeen-month-old Liam), six-year-old former ring bearer (for us) Kylan, plus three 11-13 year old names Tyler, Jordan and Spencer. There were new men, big scary men, children running and screaming. And Princess was good. Kylan's nervous around dogs, but within a couple minutes, they were cuddling. Princess quickly learned that if she sits under the toddlers, food will come her way! She sat beside people to be petted, greeted new guests as they arrived with a tail wag (no jumping and no barking) and was generally the best behaved dog ever. She growled once to tell someone she didn't want to be picked up (but it was a very quiet 'rrr' to indicate dislike, rather than a full-out growl).
She was so good. We were so proud of her! We were watching her very closely for the first two hours, but after that we relaxed after all the guests had arrived and we saw how Princess was behaving. We prepared everyone who was coming to be prepared for her behaviours, and our plan was to crate/pen her once she became excited or over-stimulated. We didn't need to do anything, though! People who hadn't met her before were confused that we had prepared them for a scared rescue dog who was prone to fear-based behaviours; and they arrived to meet the friendliest, most docile dog many of them said they'd ever met.
She was so good. You should see how proud Wade and I were of our cute little dog that night! :)
Pictures to come soon ... I was going to uplaod them from my camera at work (shh!) where I have faster internet and could use my work laptop, but I forgot the camera cord. I'll try again tomorrow!
We had about 40 people over, including children ranging from 7 months to 13. There were two darling 7-month-olds (Charlotte and Kiara), two toddler (14-month-old Charlie and seventeen-month-old Liam), six-year-old former ring bearer (for us) Kylan, plus three 11-13 year old names Tyler, Jordan and Spencer. There were new men, big scary men, children running and screaming. And Princess was good. Kylan's nervous around dogs, but within a couple minutes, they were cuddling. Princess quickly learned that if she sits under the toddlers, food will come her way! She sat beside people to be petted, greeted new guests as they arrived with a tail wag (no jumping and no barking) and was generally the best behaved dog ever. She growled once to tell someone she didn't want to be picked up (but it was a very quiet 'rrr' to indicate dislike, rather than a full-out growl).
She was so good. We were so proud of her! We were watching her very closely for the first two hours, but after that we relaxed after all the guests had arrived and we saw how Princess was behaving. We prepared everyone who was coming to be prepared for her behaviours, and our plan was to crate/pen her once she became excited or over-stimulated. We didn't need to do anything, though! People who hadn't met her before were confused that we had prepared them for a scared rescue dog who was prone to fear-based behaviours; and they arrived to meet the friendliest, most docile dog many of them said they'd ever met.
She was so good. You should see how proud Wade and I were of our cute little dog that night! :)
Pictures to come soon ... I was going to uplaod them from my camera at work (shh!) where I have faster internet and could use my work laptop, but I forgot the camera cord. I'll try again tomorrow!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Our house is sold ...
... again
Call me cynical, but given our last experience, I think I'll hold off on "celebrating" until the house sale has completely closed.
Call me cynical, but given our last experience, I think I'll hold off on "celebrating" until the house sale has completely closed.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
If you buy this house:
If you buy this house, our house sale will be finalized. And the seller is in a HUGE HURRY to sell, so keep that in mind when looking at their asking price. (We're no longer in a huge hurry to sell, thankfully.)
Know anyone interested in real estate in Kingston? :)
UPDATE: If that house doesn't sell by Monday, we may have to consider breaking our deal with our buyer and put our house back up on the market. We're not in a huge rush to sell, like our buyer is, because the bank approved us to carry both houses (not bridge financing, but a second loan). So then we can take our time and sell again. Our house sold in less than 2 weeks last time: 6 day to get an offer, and less than 2 weeks to fully close the deal. And that's typical in our neighbourhood. We have a small home in a very desirable neighbourhood, and real estate is good in our town right now (it's picked up since we listed in August). So we are so happy, no matter what happens, we have faith it'll work out!
Know anyone interested in real estate in Kingston? :)
UPDATE: If that house doesn't sell by Monday, we may have to consider breaking our deal with our buyer and put our house back up on the market. We're not in a huge rush to sell, like our buyer is, because the bank approved us to carry both houses (not bridge financing, but a second loan). So then we can take our time and sell again. Our house sold in less than 2 weeks last time: 6 day to get an offer, and less than 2 weeks to fully close the deal. And that's typical in our neighbourhood. We have a small home in a very desirable neighbourhood, and real estate is good in our town right now (it's picked up since we listed in August). So we are so happy, no matter what happens, we have faith it'll work out!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Things we need to buy:
-Washer & Dryer
-Fridge (should be stainless steel or black to match)
-Oven (also should be stainless or black)
-New t.v. (we only have one t.v., but there's a living room and a rec room at our new house, so Wade thinks we need a second t.v. asap)
-New couch / chair
-Stools for the kitchen (it has a counter you can eat at)
-Snowblower (um, no way we can shovel THAT driveway!)
-New riding lawnmower (it'd take about a DAY to mow the new lawn without it!)
-New bathroom counter top (or possible whole new vanity; that was my condition for buying the house: that we replace the bathroom vanity or counter asap)
Obviously, some things are more pressing (fridge!) than others (riding lawn mower). And I'm sure I'll thnk of other things I need later. But that's my short list!
-Fridge (should be stainless steel or black to match)
-Oven (also should be stainless or black)
-New t.v. (we only have one t.v., but there's a living room and a rec room at our new house, so Wade thinks we need a second t.v. asap)
-New couch / chair
-Stools for the kitchen (it has a counter you can eat at)
-Snowblower (um, no way we can shovel THAT driveway!)
-New riding lawnmower (it'd take about a DAY to mow the new lawn without it!)
-New bathroom counter top (or possible whole new vanity; that was my condition for buying the house: that we replace the bathroom vanity or counter asap)
Obviously, some things are more pressing (fridge!) than others (riding lawn mower). And I'm sure I'll thnk of other things I need later. But that's my short list!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
... Well ...
We sold the house. It was on the market just 6 days. However, it's not finalized: they have conditions, namely financing and a house inspection. If everything lines up, the house will be officially sold next Friday.
We're still having our open house this Sunday because our house isn't technically sold for one week!
So now what do we do for decorating? For downstairs, I'm thinking of rich colours, with an Asian or Moroccan theme. I tried looking for decorating "theme" ideas, but I couldn't find much that conveyed what I'm thinking. Kinda like one of these themes, but without the gawdiness, if you can envision it. I'm being vague in my descriptions.
We're still having our open house this Sunday because our house isn't technically sold for one week!
So now what do we do for decorating? For downstairs, I'm thinking of rich colours, with an Asian or Moroccan theme. I tried looking for decorating "theme" ideas, but I couldn't find much that conveyed what I'm thinking. Kinda like one of these themes, but without the gawdiness, if you can envision it. I'm being vague in my descriptions.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
We get a bid tomorrow!
We meet with our real estate agent tomorrow to get a big. So that's pretty exciting, eh? :) (Who knows if we'll accept it! ... Send us "high" thoughts!)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Here's our house:
This is what we have for sale:
Technically, it's Wade's house. He bought it before we even met. But as his wife, I'm now a co-owner because I had to co-sign all the documents.
Technically, it's Wade's house. He bought it before we even met. But as his wife, I'm now a co-owner because I had to co-sign all the documents.
I feel better
It turns out, our real estate agent turned off the a/c and opened the windows to take advantage of the great breeze last Sunday.
I feel much better.
I feel much better.
Monday, August 10, 2009
House Woes
Since listing our house Thursday night (meaning it was actually listed Friday morning), we've had 6 showings and an open house. Which is fine. We took down our personal photos, de-leafified our "leaf room" (one of our spare rooms is decorated in honour of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team), de-glorified our Team Canada themed bathroom (by removing the posters and bobble heads) and generally replaced our personal art and posters with more universally appreciated art borrowed from my parents, such as a couple Keirstead paintings and a print of an old-fashioned train. We are fine with these temporary changes so perspective buyers can visualize themselves in our house.
Except two of the real estate agents have left the back patio door unlocked. Not a big deal in our neighbourood; I've even accidentally left the front door unlocked over night. But it just feels disrespectful.
And even worse - one turned OFF our air conditioning and opened a window. Then left it that way when they left!
So we're going to chat with our agent today about the other agents' behaviour. This is disrespectful and unprofessional. I was livid last night, but I'm just indignant today.
This behaviour will not be allowed to continue or I'll start facebooking the names of the guilty real estate agents for all to see. Let facebook know how unprofessional they are! Okay, that's not a huge threat. But I'll do it! (Maybe.)
Except two of the real estate agents have left the back patio door unlocked. Not a big deal in our neighbourood; I've even accidentally left the front door unlocked over night. But it just feels disrespectful.
And even worse - one turned OFF our air conditioning and opened a window. Then left it that way when they left!
So we're going to chat with our agent today about the other agents' behaviour. This is disrespectful and unprofessional. I was livid last night, but I'm just indignant today.
This behaviour will not be allowed to continue or I'll start facebooking the names of the guilty real estate agents for all to see. Let facebook know how unprofessional they are! Okay, that's not a huge threat. But I'll do it! (Maybe.)
Friday, August 7, 2009
Bid on a house
We put a bid on a house on Wednesday, then formalized the bid (in a contract) and put our house for sale yesterday. We've already had two showings today alone! Our house isn't listed on-line yet nor is a "for sale" sign out front, but it is obviously available for the realtors to learn about. We have an open house scheduled on Sunday, and we already have an appointment for a showing on Monday.
We have a house with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms and an unfinished basement. It's about 20 years old, and we don't have many upgrades - there are some new windows, it was repainted recently (4 years), we have preventive maintenance on our furnace every year, we have an air conditioner, and we look after the house. Still, there are lots of new developments near us; which means an older house isn't as enticing as a brand new house (even if the new house is slightly smaller). We're hopeful, though!
Anyway, here's the house we bid on:
It's bigger than our house and was designed better (making it look much bigger): 3 bedrooms, 1 + 2x1/2 bathrooms (so confusing, but I assure you both "1/2" bathrooms have a sink and a toilet), a finished basement and an open concept kitchen / living / dining room. We don't need all that (I mean, really, 3 toilets?) but ... it has a very nice saltwater pool. I've always wanted a pool: I looooove to swim. Now, we may not get the house until the fall, which means we won't get to use the pool until the spring. And it's an environmentally friendly pool: it uses filtered saltwater instead of chlorine or bromine!
We have a house with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms and an unfinished basement. It's about 20 years old, and we don't have many upgrades - there are some new windows, it was repainted recently (4 years), we have preventive maintenance on our furnace every year, we have an air conditioner, and we look after the house. Still, there are lots of new developments near us; which means an older house isn't as enticing as a brand new house (even if the new house is slightly smaller). We're hopeful, though!
Anyway, here's the house we bid on:
It's bigger than our house and was designed better (making it look much bigger): 3 bedrooms, 1 + 2x1/2 bathrooms (so confusing, but I assure you both "1/2" bathrooms have a sink and a toilet), a finished basement and an open concept kitchen / living / dining room. We don't need all that (I mean, really, 3 toilets?) but ... it has a very nice saltwater pool. I've always wanted a pool: I looooove to swim. Now, we may not get the house until the fall, which means we won't get to use the pool until the spring. And it's an environmentally friendly pool: it uses filtered saltwater instead of chlorine or bromine!
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