Duck's new Nest

[jackblack 0]

Looks amazing Iain! We live in a converted Obusforme factory in Toronto. We love our loft! Like yours it has stainless appliances, and also granite counters and polished concrete floors. What flooring do you have? I love your windows. Ours only go up about 9.5 feet just because of the way the building is. Our ceilings are 14 feet. Although it is only 900 square feet (We don't use 150 feet of that due to it's future potential as a baby room) it feels so much bigger. However, I never once considered how difficult it is to paint walls that tall when we purchased! Hopefully you will have someone do it for you.As for heating the higher ceiling space, we were worried about it, but our gas bill for last October through March was only $250. Ceiling fans can help push air down, however we haven't gotten around to that yet.Enjoy loft living!

[Gent 1]

Looks very cool! We have a loft as well - 4.8768 or 16 foot lol. Ours is only 700^2 feet with our bedroom over our kitchen. It's a great way to live. You get very good at not collecting junk.

We didn't put curtains on our ouside windows, we just curtained the bedroom. The windows must have a very good R factor, because our heat only turns itself on (preset) for about 3 months of the year. If we light all 13 tea candles on our stairs, the place gets too hot.

Multiple use furniture has become kind of a hobby. Wall beds have become very interesting in the last ten years. Some of them are impressive in what they can turn into - a couch, a dining area... http://www.inovallc.com/

I love this dining table: http://iglanddesign.orgdot.com/pub/iglandd...ml?cat=products

I think we are going to use this softwall product to make an enclosure for our washer/ dryer: http://www.molodesign.com/en/products/soft...ll/textile.html

Enjoy your new home!

[Steve C. 0]

there are quite a few stores downtown (toronto) selling smaller furniture iain...i frequent them often, even ikea has a fairly inexpensive table w/4 chairs that fit right underneath it that would make a good use of valuable floorspace. murphy beds, double-duty furniture, small projection tv's, closet organizers,vertical storage,under bed storage, etc etc etc...its all available.

[Steve C. 0]

does your elevator have a female or male voice? does it say "floor please?" or something? i would say "7, HAL" for a male voice (if i lived on the 7th floor and loved 2001 a space odyssey). or "penthouse, make it so !!". the sci fi geek in me wants it to be some breathy female who, upon entering the elevator, says something like "ambient temperature, 21 degrees, floor please?" or recognizes your scent from pheremones detected and says "welcome home, iain" or something cool like that. yeah, like that technologys not possible today. it should also say, congrats on the 2lb weight loss this week, as the floor automatically detects your weight, or, that odour detected came from a visit to taco bell...i need to get out more often !!

[MikeT 744]

I dare say your properties cost a lot less than ours as well. I payed £200,000 ($400,000) for a 3 bedroom, 3 story house with a garage.

That would cost you $550,000 in Victoria or Vancouver!

[Steve C. 0]

how not to decorate...location location...etc, all these brit programmes we see on hgtv show a mostly appalling lack of design sense over the pond. i know its not all, ive seen, for example, jim kerrs place (singer from simple minds) and its all light wood floors a la the gap and barcelona chairs etc, nice indeed. colin and justins place in edinburgh is cool, little daleks on shelves, etc, but those homes, OMG!! even how clean is your house and you are what you eat, regular shows, show peoples homes with seriously outdated design.i am embarassed to be from glasgow, where the latest ON THE ESTATE show was filmed, glaswegians are a hard bunch of people, and thats just the women !! (jackie excepted of course, in case she sees this). it is wartime bad. im sure a lot of canadian basements are all wood ducks and rust coloured carpets from the 70's also, but geez, its the new millenium already. time to move forward, let the past designs die a natural death. and the prices seem to have skyrocketed in the u.k...for what they pay in pounds we get twice the size over here. family members coming from overseas cant believe the price for a house our size, and we get basements and garages also. i think my parents might like to retire back home, but my dad on just getting back from there said no way could they afford it these days. cd's seem to be in pounds what we pay in dollars. gas is twice the price, etc, its an expensive place to live by most accounts.

[Gent 1]

That would cost you $550,000 in Victoria or Vancouver!

Yeah, my tiny place was just appraised at $420k. Vancouver is insane.

[MikeT 744]

Woo, my house is worth $70K less than your loft! The joy of small town life

[mkt 0]

woohoo! My house is worth...errr.I'll get back to all of you when the appraiser swings by.

[Guest estelle]

I , too, love your loft. I love lofts, and almost bought one, but decided for a more conventional townhouse condo in the end (price and location were the deciding factors). However, I have an affinity w lofts. There used to be a program on TV (which you don't watch) called Lofty Living on how to decorate them. The theory is they take more creativity to "pull together" w a true sense of symetry and balance. That is a great loft, and excellent investment. (And, because of the additional "vertical" space, 600 + square feet actually feels much, much bigger.) So, you can have a big party, not a small one!!Good luck w it. Estelle

[McSmart 0]

i am embarassed to be from glasgow......................................

I hear what you say about some of the taste in decoration, but I could never be embarassed to be from Galsgow, in fact I'm quite the opposite. It has so much to offer... the home of Charles Rennie MacIntosh and his wonderful designs..... go to the Glasgow School of Art the next time you are over and marvel again! It is such a fantastic place now when compared to the 60's and 70's.........I can remember the bad stuff from over there too, but I can also remember my first reaction over here when I saw the likes of a wood grain microwave, woodgrain print on the side of a Pinto wagon (upchuck) and coffin lookalike basements. I don't think that they have anyting like a monopoly on bad taste over there... in fact quite the opposite.I'm not getting at you, but I keep having to defend the place from everyone that I know who has emmigrated here and seem to like taking pot shots at the old country... lol No hard feelings, but I couldn't resist responding.... Robin

[MikeT 744]

Och aye, we got hitched in Hamilton!

[Kimberly 2]

ooh it looks gorgeous! Congratulations. Small space is good. I lived in a few hundred square feet in downtown Toronto for awhile and once you get in you are amazed how much you can fit and how little you need. It's nice not having to worry about empty space to fill.

[Duck 16]

I'm actually finding I have too MUCH space! I like that though. Now that all the boxes are gone, the place looks bare. But I hate clutter, so that's a good thing. -Iain

[Steve C. 0]

my embarassment coming from glasgow isnt about the lack of taste from a majority of the people, its about the poorly educated lower class mentality that shines through in colin and justins latest show, "on the estate". filmed in Arden, it shows scottish youth at its absolute worst, graffitti all over the close after its just been freshly painted...giving the "v" to the camera while complaining about nothing to do and no work, yet every one of them wearing the latest in nike fashions, etc.im embarrassed for them, it makes me feel bad i came from there, because now im so much better. i hate to think how i would have turned out if my father hadnt up and moved us over here when i was only 13 to give us a better life. please dont get me wrong, i love glasgow, and am proud of my scottish heritage, there is a lot good about the "city of culture", the mac tearoom was great last year, there was a modern design store in the heart of the city, great pubs and architecture, and the place was covered in grit from all the sandblasting going on to clean up the facades of the buildings.i dont feel im lambasting the place too much from some comments on a tv show that clearly show the uneducated and lower class citizenry at their worst, its embarrassing to anyone from there to see it in such light is all i meant, but i defend the country always,and am a proud canadian, with scottish roots. i feel sorry for the youth over there in the "projects" to put a loose term on it, there were many areas like that when i was a boy, and it seems there still is. canada has its share of undesireable places also, there are a lot of canadian youth, whites trying to be black springs instantly to mind, that are annoying just as much. perhaps a lack of places to go, things to do, parents who arent around to "parent", tv as babysitter, the "mob rules" mentality, ads catering to the lowest common denominator, dumbing down society to the low point its at all contribute to it.vancouver is know for the huge drug problems and asian gangs as much as the beautiful scenery. toronto the good is toronto the get shot at while minding your own business shopping on yonge st., every metropolitan city has its problem areas i suppose. its just that "on the estate" happens to be broadcast on hgtv for all to see and get the impression glasgow is like that, when its a small part of the city as a whole.i should have made myself clearer, that im embarrassed due to whats shown, like thats all there is, when the truth is im quite proud of my roots. braveheart rules, i have a charles rennie mac designed chair in my hallway, my other half has a wee thistle tattoed on her back, i enjoy irn bru to this day, and plan another visit there next year again, as opposed to going to mexico, or the caribbean, or whatever. i still hate bagpipes though. regards, steve. (check out "colin and justin on the estate" on hgtv, you'll see what i mean about embarrassing)

[Steve C. 0]

i believe its on tonight (mon) at 10 pm. IIRC, and for the non scottish, irn bru (iron brew) is scotlands no.1 soft drink, bigger than coke or pepsi, available here in a bunch of different supermarkets, in a sort of light orange colour, but not an orange taste. next to whiskey, its scotlands "other" national drink.

[Duck 16]

I'm Scottish too! And yes I love IRN BRU, but last time I ordered it by name the chick was like "...oh you mean Iron Brew?" and I was like "Yeah, IRN BRU" and she looked at me blankly.And it was a Scottish pub.There's a term for the type of UK-hooligans you're referring to, but I can't think of it off the top of my head.-Iain

[MDFortwoguy 0]

Very nice... I'm envious. My dream house is a loft.True lofts are hard to come by in the DC area, and the cost is awful when you do. I currently rent a 875^2 ft 1 bedroom apartment about 6 miles outside of DC proper. It's not in the best neighborhood, but I like the layout, and it was a model before I had it, so everything is new. I'm paying $1,185/Month. My 12 mile commute stretches to nearly 2 hours on some days, so I'm looking to move closer to work in January. I found one loft I like, at 650^2 ft.... for $565,000 US - too rich for my blood right now though.

[Duck 16]

Why am I up at midnight? Because it's pouring rain in Kitchener, and also, pouring rain inside my unit. The roof is a SIEVE. I have 3 buckets placed all over and it's not enough. And I can hear it dripping in inside the area above my washroom that is all drywalled in (no access). SO MAD.

-Iain

[McSmart 0]

Are you on the top floor, or is some poor bugger above you suffering even more?The trouble with flat "factory" roofs is that they age quickly, but this roof must have been completely re-done when they put new insulation in. The original factory would just have had a steel deck with roofing on top..... no insulation. I know that we have not had much rain at all this summer for the builder to check the roof, but that's no excuse.My last house had a steel roof and leaked constantly, so I know the feelng.Good luck and don't get too wet! Robin

[Duck 16]

I'm on 4, level 5 is still under construction, and right above my "stack" on 6 is the rooftop terrace. So nobody's moved in above me but whatever construction is done there is probably a mess. I'm so tired I can't even think right, I called the property management office and I think they said someone was coming??? I have no idea... WHY WON'T THE RAIN STOP????You'll have to forgive me... the previous place I lived at (level 17) I twice had major water issues. First was when people on 19 left their kitchen sink on (no overflow drain) and LEFT THEIR UNIT - water poured down through 6 levels before anyone noticed. Came home from a horrible day at work at like 10 pm to find all the carpet ripped up in my unit with a note on the door to "come down to the front office" and talk about what happened. Second time was when the idiots above me replaced their tub and didn't use the right kind of plumbing - the entire roof collapsed in my washroom leaving a massive gaping hole and the worst mess imaginable - imagine a 20 year old concrete building, the smell of wet drywall and mold and all that junk just collapsed all over the washroom.Maybe I should get drunk?? Anyone wanna come over and party like right now? lol-Iain

[NoSpark 0]

My 12 mile commute stretches to nearly 2 hours on some days,

Holy crap! That's horrible! No good transit you can take?My 90 km commute takes anywhere from 85-120 mins. No transit from so far away for me.

pouring rain inside my unit

That sucks, inside such a nice house. Unacceptable, to fix up a building like that and not fixing the leaking roof. I hope you don't have to pay for anything and the builder has to cover everything.

[Gent 1]

...pouring rain inside my unit. The roof is a SIEVE....

-Iain

Oh god D A M N, that is terrible Iain. I feel angry for you. What a horrific event for any owner, much less an owner of such a new property.

Water damage repair can drag on forever. My neighbours and I have been through it when the sprinklers went off after an arson. You have to get on the Property Manager's case daily to make sure that things are progressing and it stays his top priority. Get the number and contact for their insurance, and file a claim with your own insurance company immediately.

Contact the other owners if you can and stay in touch with each other so you all know what is happening and can take turns hounding these guys. Write letters to everyone - builder, property management company, strata council, insurance companies. Demand to be kept apprised of events and repair schedules.

At the end of all this, you will at least know your neighbours well...

I'm sending positive energy your way. I hope it helps.

[MDFortwoguy 0]

I live a 45 minute bus ride from the DC Metro Subway station. Then, it is a 40 minute train ride from my station to the station at work. Add in the 20 minute walk across campus to my office from the metro station, and it's a draw. I'm moving to a place with a reverse commute on a metro line when my lease is up in January.Oy Iain... sorry to hear that. I've dealt with a flood before because of an overflowing toilet in the apt above me - I hope they get it straightened out for you.

[McSmart 0]

Maybe I should get drunk?? -Iain

Doesn't do any harm, and you might not notice the rain falling (as much)... lol I've just broken out the red wine that I use when I have to deal with Victoria Star, so I'll toast to your luck improving.Here is a suggestion..... think of Victoria Star and it should take your mind off the rain..... Robin