monsieur piedlourde lives upstairs

so, i've moved.



some of you may recall that my previous apartment (shown above in all its tiny, quaint and colourful glory) was fraught with problems. i wound up fleeing and seeking sanctuary at my parents' home for about four months, where i learned how to sleep and eat normally again, and where i was able to slowly look for new digs.

i found said digs here, at my very new place in a very old building. it's smack in the middle of the swankiest enclave in town, and almost all the houses in the neighbourhood come with a million-plus price tag. i think, technically, i live in what would be considered the "slum" of the area. but that's fine. better to live in the most inexpensive home in a great, wealthy neighbourhood than to set up shop in the priciest place in a really awful part of the city.

the wall of windows in my living room looks out over a gorgeous old church...the name of which i will discover as soon as i bother to walk one block west to explore the area. this is my view:



my good pal, california lou, has requested that i blog about my experiences moving, cleaning, painting, refurbishing, refurnishing and the like, so i will. eventually. right now, i'm just glad to have my computer hooked up and my (new!) high-speed internet connection working. here's what the place looked like when i got the keys:






"after" photos will go up once the place is finished (i.e., the boxes are gone and the pictures are hung on the walls with care). in the meantime, allow me to assist in your visualization:

* my living room is painted in Behr's Pineapple Soda

* my bedroom is painted in Behr's Pale Orchid

* my office is painted in Behr's Japanese Fern

i tried finding colour chips of these paints online, but to no avail. suffice it to say: they're bright. Big Red (my couch) and his new little brother, Tiny (the giant, red ikea shelving unit), look fabulous in their new surroundings.

those surroundings are, thus far, a vast improvement over where i lived previously. so far, no drug deals in the hallway. so far, no signs of police escorting out my neighbours. so far, no middle-of-the-night screaming.

so far, the only "noise" (and i'm reluctant to even call it that) is the thud-thudding of my lead-heeled upstairs neighbour as he or she walks through his or her living room.

and lest you fear this blog will be nothing more than an HGTV how-to guide on home renovations, the writing bit will take over once the dust has settled.