You'd better study the above diagram or I'll lose you on this most glorious of tours. Notice that there are seven different levels in the place. So basically we're renting a giant StairMaster (if you don't know what that is, c'mon over!... just bring your workout clothes). Stairs in and of themselves aren't a big deal; on the upside, if my cellphone rings upstairs and I'm in the kitchen I'll hear it because everything is so open (stair steps have no backs); on the downside I have to climb half a dozen flights of stairs so I can reach my phone just in time to hear the caller politely hang up after too many rings. Admittedly, a flight can be anywhere from 3 to 11 steps.
Sooo... we step in the door by the carport.
View of the entrance area from one level up. There is a small bathroom on the entrance level (to the left in the picture). Upon entering, if one continues straight one goes to the basement where there is an extra room, the laundry room, and a crawlspace (none of which was picture-worthy).
Next is the dining room. We finally have space for a bigger table, so we're keeping our eyes open. Things look a little bare -- we haven't spent much time hanging things yet.
The kitchen is a step up from that in our Toronto place. You don't know how cool it is to have two kitchen sinks until you've had to put up with only one! We brought our own microwave but this one's nicer. And although I've never had a dishwasher, now that we do it's just magical how stuff can be crammed into it to make the kitchen look spotless... now to find a way to make it start itself... and unload itself. And the fridge -- well, it's finally big enough store more yogurt than I could possibly eat. Oh, and other food and stuff.
Accessible from the kitchen, there is a small landing outside with steps leading down to the backyard. We haven't even touched that yet, so it's a bit of a mess.
Up the stairs to the living room. With 10-foot ceilings and an open design to the levels above and below, it feels rather spacious indeed. The glass on the south-facing wall is almost full-width, providing plenty of sunlight. Those quasi-curtains came with the place so I hung them very professionally... with speaker wire. I know, awesome huh. The sliding doors lead out to a 10'x16' nice new wooden deck (which at the moment has no sides) that will provide a great spot to enjoy a cold beverage on a hot day (pretty safe to assume it won't be this year). But back inside. We'll have to buy (ugh! maybe I'll use the landing from the backyard first) some wood for the fireplace since those days are almost upon us. It has yet to be determined whether it will save on our heating bill or be merely for the gezelligheid. Note the puppy curled up in front of the fireplace; I gave Carrie that for her birthday. The least maintenance pet ever: all he does is breathe until the batteries run out. Note also the camping chair; our T.O. place was one third the size, so we suddenly find ourselves with gaps in our furnishings. Seriously, nothing classes up one's living quarters like a no-longer-black camping chair with marshmallow smears on it.
One more view of the living room from the den above.
The den is the office / TV room, not much else to say. Oh, and if you notice a certain white chair that also appears in the living room, no we don't have two; I told you we're low on furniture! Oh the things I do for a blog post...
Up the longest stairs of them all to the bedrooms and bathroom. The reason this post took so long to materialize is that I actually had to tidy up rooms before shooting them. There was no way I was going to tackle the master bedroom, since it's a disaster... new clothes, old clothes, really old clothes, clothes from last millennium even! Clothes we'd forgotten existed. Okay, so they've only been in storage for a year but they seem to have multiplied during the hiatus. So anyway, a couple of pics of the guest bedroom will have to suffice. It's obviously totally ready for occupancy, so come on over for the weekend.
I hope you're happy now.
