Long Weekend

This was the first long weekend for me because I don't get "Family Day" off. It was gorgeous (albeit a little cold)!
We didn't do a whole lot, but it was nice. We hung out, cleaned up the house, and re-arranged our upstairs room, and I even got most of the double-doors done for the shed.
In the upstairs room, we took the love seat out and put it in the basement for the time being, and then moved the coffee table and other shelving unit against the wall near the windows. Basically, it's been turned into a large play room for Violet and friends.

We also bought some new things for the front entrance. A big mirror and small bench seat. We're unsure of the bench, but like the overall look. I think a leather bench will look better and perhaps, more importantly hold up to Echo's slobber a lot better than a cloth one, so we'll see.

I'll get some pics of the updated rooms soon.

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Marn has been harping about moving back into the city for some time, and over the last few months we've been getting new listings emailed to us by our real estate agent (a buddy that Marn grew up with). A house recently came up that is on the street that she specifically pointed out to me as one that she would want to live on. It backs onto the same forest as her parents old place (now Candace and Dave's house), but on the opposite side. It's a fixer-upper, but was still expensive. We went to look at it, and after that first viewing, I was set against it as I thought it needed too much work for me to "like" it, but she persisted. It's a large house, but the best feature is the yard and backing onto the forest. It's about 35 years old, and looks like it hasn't been updated significantly in the last 25 years.... so that should give you an idea of the decor. Also, the exterior is butt ugly. Yellow and green.
Anyway, we sort of put it off as "too expensive/too much work" and left it alone.... until it came up again with a lower price. So we went to the open house to have another look. I do admit that I liked it a bit better that time around, but it still NEEDS a lot of work inside and out. Again we put it off (or I did, at least).... until it came around again with a lower price. uggh! Apparently we're not the only one's who think it needs a lot more work than it's worth as it would have surely been sold by now -- but it hasn't.
So Marn and I have been talking about it some more I've been slowly coming around to the idea of that house. We've been putting together idea's on what we would "like" to do with it, both short and long term, and in the long term (and a lot of money later) it would be a great house. It's big(ger than we need), has a great private yard, oversized double garage, huge largely unfinished basement and has lots of potential. But it's still a lot of money when you consider the reno costs! (it doesn't NEED reno's immediately, but does for us to like it -- we're talking longer term here). We would also have to put a fence in right away to contain the beast...
Anyway, we are going to see it again on Thursday this week and I've asked my Dad to come along for his opinions on whether the reno's we're thinking about are doable, or if he thinks that it's too far gone/too much work/too expensive endeavour. If we do put an offer in, it will a low-ball to see how serious they are in selling. Our real estate agent thinks they likely bought another house and NEED to sell it, which is why they've lowered the price twice already (albeit only by $20k from the original price). Our agent is coming over tomorrow morning for a market assessment on our house. We may end up putting in hard wood on the main floor if he thinks it will help sell, or increase the value. And just for the record, I like Baden, our house, our neighbours, and our (current) mortgage!

Here is the house;
http://rex.mlxchange.com/EmailView.asp?r=664315415&s=KWR&t=KWR
or
http://www.realtor.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?PropertyID=8172942
the funny "wall" at the front entrance is actually a little courtyard... strange, but could be neat - very European.