We’ll be moving on February 11th over to Coquitlam, just one town away. Our new but older house is situated above the town up from Dawes Hill–not far from the lovely Fraser River, the longest river in British Columbia. The neighborhood is full of unique and rather large houses, with atypical large lots for the Vancouver area, with our new home being the oldest probably in the neighborhood. I feel a little funny saying “old,” since the house was built in 1960. The town I grew up in, in central Indiana, has houses dating back to a century before at least.
Rec room downtairs
Tonight we went to look at the house and take possession (we are just renting it), and though it is imperfect, or maybe because it is imperfect, I feel it is reflective of what a good home is made of: something that you can help build and improve when you live there. I was thinking of that movie with Kevin Klein, Life as a House, where a dying man who has neglected his son and his now ex-wife, learns the meaning of building relationships as he builds a new house. Houses and life are reflections of what we put into them. When things are too easy and comfortable in life, what can we add to that but complacency? I love having a project.
The house has its problems, nothing structural or major (for the owner or landlord would need to fix those things), but little things: the kitchen flooring is rather ugly and old-looking, the walls could use a paint job, all the windows need to be washed, the front deck’s wood is flaking off, the main floor’s wallpaper is an ugly floral and is peeling in areas, the basement has an unfinished utility room next to a rather scary looking crawlspace, and we saw a few of those crustaceans, pill bugs, in the basement. I don’t mind those too much because they were my favorite bugs when I was little (the ones that I used to call “roly polys” that roll up in your hand).
The yard has rosebushes and blackberry bushes and a lot of trees that need to be trimmed; the front yard has what I think is a beech tree and a smaller bush like tree, which had no leaves yet. There is foliage around the edges of the lot, but the yard is plenty big enough for a garden. Finally I have room to grow pumpkins!
We need to do a good sweep job on the side veranda as it is full of wet seeds and pine needles. On the plus side, the pine smells very refreshing. There are two little buildings on the property that look like greenhouses, and the lot is large enough for a good-size garden this spring. One of these greenhouse type buildings is overgrown with weeds and plants. It reminded me of when we went to Oahu last year and saw the Orchid Station from when they filmed Lost. The back yard has a firepit we noticed and even a storage shed off the side deck.
Our own "Orchid Station"
The inside is fairly spacious, and my favorite part of the house is the fact it has two wood-burning fireplaces. I also like it that the refinished part of the basement will be Morgan’s “man cave,” with all his electronics. The living room upstairs is mine to make sans-electronics, with maybe the exception of a turntable. Candles, books, a cozy nook: that’s my idea. The room has a lovely fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows with a glass door leading out to the front deck.
This will be my office
So we have some work ahead, but I am imagining soft summers on the patio with wine and sweat from a day’s work, and into the winter with a fire lit and cozying up on a chair with a great book. Bring it on, I say!
