second glances

several months ago, i went to see a condo that looked a bit like the inside of a pepto bismol bottle. it was a very large one-bedroom-plus-den-plus-solarium unit (about 925 square feet), with spacious rooms and ensuite laundry, but it was ALL PINK ALL THE TIME. and not a subtle, muted pink. a loud, vibrant rose. everywhere.

well, not everywhere. the kitchen -- which didn't have an oven or space for an oven (what?) -- breakfast nook and bedroom were mint green. but every other wall was a deep, pepto-bismol pink. don't even get me started on the boudoir-red of the very large bathroom.

at the time, i ruled the condo out. not because of the easily fixed paint on the walls, though. it was simply too expensive, given the amount of other work i already knew would need to go into it. had it been move-in ready, requiring nothing but a new lock on the front door, i might have considered it. its current owners, despite their questionable choice in paint colours, had kept the place SPOT. LESS. so, the clean freak in me was impressed.

but the condo needed new flooring (the wall-to-wall broadloom was old and the tiles were mismatched from room to room), new appliances and some sort of partial kitchen reno to add the aforementioned oven... and to get rid of the 30-year-old built-in cooktop that had long since passed its best-before date.

yet, week after week, month after month, that condo sat on the market. it disappeared from the MLS listings just before christmas, and i wondered if someone had finally been willing to fork over the asked-for cash or if the sellers had finally dropped their price when they realized no one would pay top dollar for a space that resembled the inside of a wad of Bubble Yum.

then, today, poof! it was back on the market... for $25K less.

hang on a second, i thought. $25K is a big drop, and would easily give me the breathing room to be able to afford the place AND renovate. i hemmed and hawed over whether to go back and take a second look. 925 square feet is nothing to sneeze at in the GTA, especially not when it also comes with parking AND a locker. i pulled out my home-hunt notebook, in which i keep copious notes on every property i see, and flipped back to this condo.

the only negatives i wrote down were: old appliances, no stove, PINK EVERYWHERE, needs new flooring and overlooks highway. the bathroom has a separate shower and bathtub, which isn't my preferred use of space, but i could live with it. i'd also seen this condo at a time when i didn't know if i wanted to live in its neighbourhood (research has since shown me it would be A-OK).

on the plus side: it's REALLY big, all the windows face west (stunning sunsets nightly), it's got space for an office, it has its own laundry, it's in a big-but-not-huge building, it's got a unique layout, it's super-clean, it's at the end of the hall and it's in a good area.

so, i emailed my realtor and asked her if we could go check it out a second time. i called mom, and she'll be coming with us. the plan is to go see it on saturday morning, if for no other reason than to rule it out once and for all. i know myself well enough to know that, if we don't go see it again, i would forever obsess over whether i should have.

in the meantime, here are some shots of the space (pulled from one of its months-old listings):

the solarium. 10' x 8'. i could see plants in here. and a cat condo.

the living/dining room. 19' x 12'. you can see the solarium at the rear, and the breakfast nook off to the left.
(see what i mean about PINNNNNNNNK?)

the kitchen. lots of cupboards. double sinks. ancient cooktop. no oven.

living/dining room, reverse angle. that's the front door off in the distance.

breakfast nook. 11' x 10'. you can see the highway through the window.

kitchen, reverse angle. i wonder if i could just replace the countertops and remove a section of cupboards
in order to add an oven. 

the boudoir bathroom, so nicknamed because the lighting is DIM and the walls are RED.
(i do kind of love the vanity, though.)

and the bedroom. 15' x 11'. which is huge.