Places I Have Loved: My Last Toronto Apartment

Wow, it's been just over two years now since I moved to North Bay. I left Toronto to escape all the noise and pollution, but in doing that I did sacrifice many things, including leaving friends I love. As well, I also had to give up an amazing apartment.

Previously my better half and I had been living in a basement apartment together for 3 years. It was a decent place, a nice size and we loved the neighbourhood, but we decided it was time to have some windows and our own laundry.

So, whilst hunting, we came across an AMAZING apartment that had a huge deck, an awesome view, skylights, lots of windows, and laundry (!!!)...all for only $800 inclusive a month. It had hot water rads, pretty mouldings and tiles, from what I would guess were from the '30's. We also really liked the location, as there were plenty of trees, most of the needed amenities, and a whole bunch of cute little shops. Plus we found it to be quieter and cleaner than other areas of Toronto.

Given all of this, of course we took it. Unfortunately there was a downside to this new place, and that was many of the people who lived, worked, and shopped in the area.

I suddenly had found myself surrounded by people who would openly sneer at my granola appearance, and people being very mean spirited towards the handful of panhandlers (there had been a couple of incidents where the panhandlers were attacked, and others had things said to them like 'I hope you freeze to death'). We also had neighbours who complained about our nag champa burning, and how our patio furniture was an eyesore as it was not 'trendy' enough.

After living in downtown Toronto for over a decade, I was perplexed why people would be so hateful to others who were just asking for spare change, or why people would give two shits if I wore bell bottoms, or if I didn't have a pair of mango wood loungers with matching end tables of my deck (apparently that was all the rage in the summer of 2006).

If I could, I would have waved a magic wand and got rid of all the dipshits, and ship people from Kensington Market and Cabbagetown. Trying to be realistic, I knew that was not going to happen, so I decided to try and enjoy our new pad anyway.

Whoever lived there previously must have been a colourful character, as the whole place was painted canary yellow, and the cabinets in the kitchen were painted lavender. Luverly! But it needed a little green and fuchsia, so we added that ourselves.

It was decided after a couple of months living there that we would be moving to North Bay within the year. If we were staying in Toronto, we certainly would have stayed in this apartment, and invested in making it more 'home', such as building storage on the deck, and make permanent planters.

Here are a gaggle of pics that were taken around the place. Enjoy the tour ;)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Living Room:












Hallway:











Kitchen:








Bathroom:




Bedroom:

Deck:

The View: