Naked men and really should be locked doors

It was a beautiful day and the idea of spending one more summer day locked inside, staring at my computer screen, was making me more than a little unhappy, so we got in the car and started to drive. While the weather is nice, you’ll see tons of open house signs on every street corner, so I pulled out my trusty iPhone and Realtor.ca app, and mapped out a plan of houses to check out.

Not that we’re looking to buy a new house any time soon – first, our house is definitely not in a place where we could even think about selling, and second, I still need that lottery win to get my lake-view manor with indoor pool.

But I always love poking around other people’s houses for decorating ideas and to get a feel for the market in our area in case we do decide to sell.

So, following the map, we popped into a few houses. (I’m kind of astounded that a newer house that’s smaller than ours, with about a quarter of the backyard, but with a garage, which we don’t have, is going for a good $200K more than what I paid two years ago. ouch.)

Until we got to the one I was really looking forward to seeing. We pull up, check that there’s a for sale sign out front, and walk in. Yep, lock box on the door, ubiquitous ‘please remove your shows’ sign in the front hall, we’re good. Until we stepped inside. And an almost completely naked man comes running down the stairs.

(Sadly, this was not our first encounter with a naked man while house hunting – the last time the guy went into the room beside the room we were in and started stripping, knowing we were about to walk in. But he was a renter trying to discourage people from buying the house and evicting him from his home…)

But this time, they’d cancelled the open house, but hadn’t updated the website, so they were still showing as an active open house… which is why we were there. But seriously, if you’re going to be sitting around in your tightey whiteys at the time you’re supposed to be having an open house, maybe you want to lock your doors?

So, we apologized about a thousand times and booted the heck out of there, but I’m still embarrassed about the whole thing…. though we can’t completely be held to blame. I mean… this is the Toronto area, you don’t exactly expect people to leave their doors unlocked.

In the end, I really didn’t see anything I was in love with. We really like the neighbourhood we’re in,  and the house works for us – despite all the problems we’re having (hey, at least we have electricity again… ). But I did get my chance to see what’s out there, which is always fun.

So, am I the only one who wanders open houses for no other reason than curiosity?

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The big bargoons

So, with the big move starting on Tuesday (we take possession on Tuesday, but don’t actually leave my house ’til the 15th…), T and I have been out and about trying to find furniture that’s brand new to us (as in, not hand me down from the parents), looks good and isn’t completely out of our budget.

This morning, while procrastinating the whole packing thing by surfing design blogs, looking for inspiration, I came across this announcement. I’ve done the warehouse sale thing before, and I know these things get really busy really quickly, so I literally ran upstairs, jumped on T’s head ’til he woke up and dragged him outta the house.

We made excellent time across the city, and managed to score this totally gorgeous sectional for the new family room:

It was one of the last few items they had that wasn’t sold out, and we paid only 30% of the original price.

Even better, it’s big and comfy for lounging around on to watch TV (the big screen is our next big purchase), and could double as a guest bed in a pinch.

I’m seeing it against chocolate brown walls, with cream trim, and pops of blue and green…

Now, on to the kitchen.

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And… it's official

My house has sold. PHEW. Thank goodness. I was really worried my house would linger on the market long after we took possession of the new house.
But as of the beginning of April we’ll be moving from here:

to here:

Now someone else gets to live here, mischievous ghost and all.

But it’s a little weird. I bought this house right after I started working. It was my first place, other than residence at school, that I lived in other than my parents’ house. And the idea that someone else is going to be living here, calling this place that has been my sanctuary for over nine years home, is a little freaky.

While there’s a few bad memories, and I sure as heck am not gonna miss the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall mirrors in my living/dining room, I met T when I lived here. We brought Oscar home here. Wow. it’s gonna be odd.

I’m excited, though, for the new house. It’s a fair bit bigger, which gives us a bit more room to spread out in. I’m looking forward to being able to lie all over the couch while I work without having to listen to sports or narrative history shows. And T’s pretty darn excited about the video game room (or, er, basement. lol). And Oscar’s so gonna love the giant backyard to play around in.

But it’s still gonna be weird.

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Making a little white box

When I moved into my little house, my decorating style was a little…. well, it was weird. I could blame the woman I bought the house from, with her leopard-print toilet seat (which, she actually made part of our sales contract that she got to take with her. lol.), and animals sponge-painted into the downstairs bathroom, but really, I just liked bright colours and slightly odd designs. (Which, considering I’m slightly odd, kinda fits. )

So, I painted Cinderalla’s castle on the walls of my spare room, my upstairs bathroom is an aquarium, and every room is a different colour – from my green and silver kitchen, to my red, black and white living/dining room, to my bright pink office and my dark purple bedroom.

The thing is, I’m trying to sell this house. And the slightly odd colours that made me happy 8 or 9 years ago don’t really appeal to the average home buyer. But, with all of my design ideas (not to mention my budget) saved for the new house, I really don’t have the inclination to repaint this house.

But that’s the thing. When I bought the new house, we didn’t look at the colours. In fact, I think I’d have a hard time telling you what colours they used in that house. Because once I knew it was going to be mine, all I can think of is the new colours I’m going to put in there (even if they will be slightly less in your face as my current house, tho not less odd. ). So, why is it that people come into my house and are scared of some paint? The house is clean, there’s no real “we have to fix that” ares, so there isn’t a lot of work that they’d need to do, except slap a few coats of paint up in a couple of rooms.

My realtor doesn’t think I should go out of my way to repaint, but I’m worried. I love the “sell your house” shows on TV and they *always* repaint in these blah neutral colours.

What do you think? If the house was perfect in every way, except for bright colours on the wall, would you still buy it? Or would you be scared off by pink, purple and red?

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