Home Alone

Home Alone is the only movie I've ever seen in theatres twice. I absolutely love it and watching it always reminds me (as I am sure it does many) of the Christmases of my childhood. If you love that movie as much as I do and have $2.4 million USD, you can live on the set of the movie (circa 2011-style) permanently.

The house is for sale in a suburb just outside Chicago! Via Cup of Jo. Photos of the movie set and how those same rooms look now via AOL.

Real Estate

MLS troweling is a shared hobby at our house. Though we've bought two homes in two years, we continue to take a peak at what's available in our neighbourhood on an almost weekly (um, daily) basis. In 2009, we bought a home in the spring and in 2010, we bought a home in the fall. However, after paying close attention, it seems summer is most definitely the time to buy, if you're looking for volume (meaning having lots of homes to choose from). There are so many great homes available in our broad neighbourhood right now at a wide variety of price points. Thankfully, we're smitten with our own house, so we're not looking to change up any time soon, but that doesn't mean we don't like to keep an eye on comparable (and step up!) properties in our town. All images above of houses presently available within walking distance of our current home.

Cabin

Spring is in the air so it's time to start bugging Katie again for a cabin. I think this one will get past the screening stage. Image from themoderncabin.

Home

Family homes, such as the one we purchased this fall for that very purpose, often require evolving notions of function and use of space. Our previous salt box was an adult space that allowed two young, working professionals to relax, cook together and hold the occasional party in our generously-sized living room. The house wasn't set up to function as a home for hosting family dinners (with a pint-sized dining room) or house guests (with only 1 bathroom and two bedrooms located right next to each other). When we realized we wanted to do more of both, we started our hunt for our second home.

Each of the three stories in our second row house now has a distinct purpose. The main floor has been dubbed the public space. We have a formal (but cozy) living room and spacious dining room, and a kitchen with a walk out to a generous deck and view of the city. We look forward to hosting dinner parties and BBQs and sharing laughs with family and friends. I picture celebrating milestone birthdays here, breaking bread on Sundays and battling it out over games of Monopoly at the dining room table.

Our lower level is our guest apartment. With its own entrance and powder room, it is perfect for accommodating our family when they're in town.The soft pot lights and wall mounted tv give it a bit of a hotel vibe (at least that's what I am going for).

Finally, our third floor functions as our private space. With a master bedroom, tv den, office and bath, Greg and I typically retreat there after dinner to relax. While we don't envision hosting friends in that space, it is our comfortable retreat. We are truly enjoying having a relaxing tv room that isn't the same room we host guests in.

While none of this might seem notable, the configuration of our 2000 sq foot home (which looks shockingly smaller from the outside) on the lower and top floor is a rapid departure from the previous owner's layout. She used the upstairs as two bedrooms and a library and the basement as a gym/tv room. Minor switches perhaps, but in moving in we truly wanted the space to match how we live. It's been fun giving those old rooms new purposes.

How do you live in your space? I'm so curious!

Above is the previous owner's library, which is now our tv den (and yes, I note the absence of a house tour on this blog yet... soon... I hope!).

Cabin

Greg and I dream of a summer cabin on a coastline somewhere. How about one on the Norwedgian coast, my love? Images via My Scandinavian Retreat.

Colour

Little boxes, little boxes all the same...

We officially live in the 12th most colourful city in the world - St. John's, NL - which is perfect for Greg, because his favourite compliment for anything tactile is that it has "great colour". The other colourful city contenders, you ask?

Cape Town, South Africa

Manarola, Italy

and Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway.

Circular

Eeek! We're closing our new house in two days! I'm beyond excited, and am dreaming about high ceilings, warm wood floors, and the most stunningly ornate mantle. Image of Circular in winter via Rob Brown.

Positions and Properties

Despite owning two homes and having a job I love, I'm still a check-the-MLS and peruse-job-postings kinda gal. Given this habit (which I share with my husband), I've decided to start a new feature here on Horizontal Stripes - a weekly run down (I'm going to aim for Thursday nights) of interesting jobs (in the broad public policy/communications field) and beautiful homes ($400,000 and below, typically) in my beloved St. John's. If you're looking for either, you might be curious to check back. Image via Ade.

Positions:

• Art Director
• Campaign Coordinator
• Chief Creative Officer
• Fundraising Assistant
• Information Management Coordinator
• Learning and Development Manager
• Manager of Corporate Communications
• Manager of Programming and Promotions
• Marketing and Promotions Coordinator
• Native Liaison Officer
• Research Consultant
• Supervisor, Child, Youth and Family Programs

Properties:

• Cornwall Avenue
• Kerry Street
• Pleasant Street
• Prescott Street
• Prince of Wales Street
• Topsail Road
• Quidi Vidi Road

Idea 3

I'm thinking a row of Blanca Gomez prints in our new home would be just sweet! For purchase here. These prints are reminding me of Hector.

P.S. Blanca's work was also featured on Uppercase.

Renting?

Interested in renting our cute salt box in a fantastic neighbourhood? With our move, we're looking for great tenants who will continue to love our home on Forest as much as we do.

Our home is in the heart of Fort William (aka bordering Signal Hill-The Battery to the south, and Quidi Vidi to the east and King's Bridge to west), a charming St. John's neigbourhood with tree-lined streets on the east end of downtown within walking distance of Belbin's Grocery (and their delicious cheese selections!), Coffee Matters, Bivver (and many other restaurants on Duckworth and Water Streets, including the soon-to-open Raymond's) and Sweet Relic. Our house has a large living room, two double bedrooms (including one with a Juliet balcony), a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom (with jacuzzi tub), an office, a study/small den and a large, fenced, private courtyard-style backyard. Bonus: the designer light fixtures will remain with the rental.

If you're looking for a similar place, please do get in touch. Thank you :) xo For more photos, please see here and here.

Idea I

Over the coming weeks, I plan to profile some of the many design ideas that are inspiring my thoughts for our new home.

Idea #1? New exterior doors. An exterior renovation is in our plans and right now I'm day dreaming about new doors. I'm feeling very inspired by colour (which in St. John's, unlike in many other Canadian cities, is expected and encouraged), namely for our doors. It is so hard to decide which colour to choose. I'm curious, do all your doors have to be the same colour? Or can you mix it up? My good friend MaryBeth is currently debating a burgendy door, while I'm dreaming about oranges and mustards. Inspiration found via Fresh Home Blog.

This front door has fantastic presence. Image via Pacific Mutual Door.

While not in our immediate plans, these yellow doors would look smashing off our kitchen where a patio door currently exists. Image via Design Sponge.

I'm also dreaming about a new back door from the basement with a large window. Image via Apartment Therapy.

Abode

Big news on the Greg and Katie front... there's opportunity for another housewarming party in our future! We've bought a new house! I'm excited to share details on our new home, and second round of adventures into the world of decorating here in the coming months (we've already splurged on another large Nelson Saucer lamp!). Images of our new street via Double Photo Album (who by the way has many amazing shots of our new neighbourhood, Georgestown).

P.S. Greg's super excited about the move, and his reaction is so adorable (there's talk of joining the neighbourhood association and we've already met our new next door neighbours, who were super friendly).

P.P.S. Fun fact - my grandma was born in number 88 Circular (the red house above).

Alvhem Makleri

I'm back to obsessing over Alvhem Makleri. Swoon!

Basements

In our Love it or List It Adventure, we've noticed that unfinished basements don't get the love they deserve. Exposed beams, copper piping and concrete walls are some of the main ingredients in modern, industrial lofts, but in row house basements they're decidedly lacking in beauty and attention. These images, via Bloesem, inspire me to pay attention to those concrete walls (which would be especially fitting in our new pursuit, whose concrete walls function as casing for a foyer to a lower deck).

List?

There's a strong List It contender in our Love It or List It adventure (which I'd love to update with grey clapboard and a mustard door). It offers a basement, den, an extra bathroom and an extra bedroom - all for a very reasonable price tag. Eeek! Deciding on our next step is nerve-wrecking.

List?

The Drung taught us an important lesson: we're open to living outside the city centre (provided the new location offers us ocean views and close proximity to a beach from which to launch kayaks). While I am still keen on locations like Cornwall Avenue and Carpasian Road, we're also now open to properties or land in Portugal Cove-St. Philips.

P.S. To further confuse things, now part of me is saying, let's buy a small, simple house in the city and splurge on a summertime cottage like this one. Image via My Newfoundland Kayak Experience.

Love?

As the pendulum swings back to considering a renovation to love our current home, I'm curious, could a renovation like this one be completed on our salt box? Three stories would certainly solve our space issues. Image via Robert Mellin.

Drung

We went, we viewed, we loved the potential but we decided that for now it is too much work. Departing felt a bit like mourning.

Drung

We're heading out to take a second look at The Drung tomorrow after work, and trying to figure out if we're cut out to be landlords of our current abode. Eeek! Image via O'Dea Realty.

Paint

Paint can do miraculous things, particularly white paint. In our daily MLS trawling (yes, more Love It or List It behaviour around here in an attempt to find the perfect nest), the dark wood country cabinets that prevail in our town have become a serious turn off for us. This kitchen makeover however, has taught me to look at the potential of the space instead of the cherry wood... oh, the lessons Young House Love teaches me. Images via Young House Love.