Moving Again

Here we go again! The past year all I seem to be doing is moving. Either painting and staging my house to sell, dealing with an endless string of open houses and viewings, dealing with disappoints as offers fall through and finally closing on the house. Purging, donating, selling, packing. Apartment hunting for weeks. I finally found rented a nice 2 bedroom apartment not far from the house for my teenage son and I to live in and then two weeks before the big move my daughter, who’d been living away for college the past year, announced she wasn’t going back to that college and was staying home with me. Suddenly, in the middle of the move and surrounding chaos I have not one but two teenagers planning to live with me. Not only did this mean an extra person to live with but all of her furniture and belongings too. Talk about throwing a wrench into the plan. Fortunately, at the exact moment I needed it, a 3 bedroom apartment with a second bathroom came up available – a rarity in this neighbourhood. I grabbed it and now have a lease on not one but two apartments. Oh goody. The landlord is understanding and will allow me to break my lease on the 2 bedroom if and when we can find another renter. Until there’s another renter for it I’m stuck with 2 rent payments. Not exactly the frugal dream here. So back we are with viewings and staging and packing. Meanwhile, I got the keys to the new apartment a few days ago and walked in to realize it has not been decorated (or possibly cleaned) since the mid 1980s. The landlord is willing to have the carpets cleaned (not replaced) and has told me I can go ahead and paint if I want to but it’s not the building management’s policy to paint it themselves unless it’s in bad conditon. I think we may have differing ideas about bad condition but at least I do have the option to paint in the colours I want to which is a plus. If I’m going to make this apartment home for myself and my kids for the next several years at least I’m not limited to “apartment beige” for colour. After nearly a year of packing, living out of boxes, being in a virtual limbo we’re within  a week or two of finally being able to unpack and get settled. Now… let the painting begin! Over the next few weeks I’ll share photos and videos as we paint, decorate, and get moved.  We’ve a wild ride ahead – did I mention the living room is currently a bold mustard yellow with dusty rose vertical blinds and green wall to wall carpet?

Or that the two bathrooms are painted Pepto-Bismal pink? Including ceilings?

Stay tuned. Lots of photos and videos of the before, during and after as we tackle each room.