Its a new condo building where I was one of the first residents to move in. For those not from North America, the importance of condominiums, also known as a condo, has to be stressed. In simple terms, it is a living unit that is owned by an individual in contrast to an apartment that is typically owned by a company that has many of those and manages them. This individual owner may choose either to live in this condominium, or rent it out. These condos are thus more expensive than apartments and more prestigious. It is considered that living in a condominium you are likely to have better neighbours too, as they are likely to be more affluent and care about the building that belongs to them.
In reality however, more than 60% of the condos in my building were bought with a specific purpose of renting them out and the choice of materials is reflective of intention. Hence, you pay a premium for prestige.
Moving into a building that was still being completed was unsettling and many a times inconvenient, but now it is almost finished bar a few things that have to be fixed, and it looks and feels like a lovely new place to live in. The foyer for example is large and airy, just like on a designer’s picture. Elevators have very few scratches. Carpets in the corridors are fresh. And so are the people who moved in when you meet them in one of the elevators.
Once I took possession of the place, I had to make it liveable. In one trip to Ikea I brought the place to life. In one other trip I returned some of the furniture and rusted kitchen appliances. In two hot days and ending with a sore wrist I had the furniture assembled (the air conditioning was not working yet). In four trips to Sears I had a bed to sleep on and a vacuum cleaner. In ten trips to linen shops I had linen and towels and pillows. In many more trips to many smaller shops I had gathered kitchen utilities.
The whole apartment turned out like the one I always imagined a city high rise modern apartment to be. The entrance from a main corridor is into a one square meter of a corridor and you are pretty much inside the open plan kitchen which is to your left as you enter. Laminex cupboards of dark-wood look, stainless steel fridge and washing machine, glass convection cook-top and an off-white stone counter-top with a leather bar stool for my morning breakfast. The kitchen pretty much continues into the living room, with the two together being parts of one large room. The floors throughout are dark-wood Laminex and the walls and the ceiling are white. In the North American style there is no ceiling lamp, only a floor lamp that is by a couch to the right. The sand-colour couch is along the right wall facing some light-wood square shelves from Ikea that are by the left wall, and together they create a space of a living room, with only a TV missing. The room ends with my modern desk from Ikea that is facing a ceiling-to-floor and wall-to-wall window with vertical white blinds.
The view from my window is very cinematic. The building across the street is only a few floors high and my 14th floor windows are facing a tall and imposing dark squared office building a whole block away. The smaller office buildings on either side of it are like a backdrop for its grandeur. The window is facing east, with the sunshine in the morning and the sun reflecting off the glass windows of the office buildings that are scattered in the distance in the evening.
The carpeted bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and a separate bathroom with a shower over a bath are to the right from the entrance. There is a small balcony with access from the end of the living room to the right and from the bedroom, but it is too cold to go out onto.
There are no paintings or decorations in my apartment, partly in keeping with my ascetic and minimalist style, partly reflecting the incomplete state of my heart affairs, in wait of being filled in. The absence of a TV is both traditional and existential. My time is filled with cooking on Mondays evenings for the week ahead, emailing, talking on a phone, reading and writing or doing some academic work. Most of the time when I don’t have to concentrate I have my internet radio on the background, with BBC and ABC news in the morning, and Russian music in the evenings.
In reality however, more than 60% of the condos in my building were bought with a specific purpose of renting them out and the choice of materials is reflective of intention. Hence, you pay a premium for prestige.
Moving into a building that was still being completed was unsettling and many a times inconvenient, but now it is almost finished bar a few things that have to be fixed, and it looks and feels like a lovely new place to live in. The foyer for example is large and airy, just like on a designer’s picture. Elevators have very few scratches. Carpets in the corridors are fresh. And so are the people who moved in when you meet them in one of the elevators.
Once I took possession of the place, I had to make it liveable. In one trip to Ikea I brought the place to life. In one other trip I returned some of the furniture and rusted kitchen appliances. In two hot days and ending with a sore wrist I had the furniture assembled (the air conditioning was not working yet). In four trips to Sears I had a bed to sleep on and a vacuum cleaner. In ten trips to linen shops I had linen and towels and pillows. In many more trips to many smaller shops I had gathered kitchen utilities.
The whole apartment turned out like the one I always imagined a city high rise modern apartment to be. The entrance from a main corridor is into a one square meter of a corridor and you are pretty much inside the open plan kitchen which is to your left as you enter. Laminex cupboards of dark-wood look, stainless steel fridge and washing machine, glass convection cook-top and an off-white stone counter-top with a leather bar stool for my morning breakfast. The kitchen pretty much continues into the living room, with the two together being parts of one large room. The floors throughout are dark-wood Laminex and the walls and the ceiling are white. In the North American style there is no ceiling lamp, only a floor lamp that is by a couch to the right. The sand-colour couch is along the right wall facing some light-wood square shelves from Ikea that are by the left wall, and together they create a space of a living room, with only a TV missing. The room ends with my modern desk from Ikea that is facing a ceiling-to-floor and wall-to-wall window with vertical white blinds.
The view from my window is very cinematic. The building across the street is only a few floors high and my 14th floor windows are facing a tall and imposing dark squared office building a whole block away. The smaller office buildings on either side of it are like a backdrop for its grandeur. The window is facing east, with the sunshine in the morning and the sun reflecting off the glass windows of the office buildings that are scattered in the distance in the evening.
The carpeted bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and a separate bathroom with a shower over a bath are to the right from the entrance. There is a small balcony with access from the end of the living room to the right and from the bedroom, but it is too cold to go out onto.
There are no paintings or decorations in my apartment, partly in keeping with my ascetic and minimalist style, partly reflecting the incomplete state of my heart affairs, in wait of being filled in. The absence of a TV is both traditional and existential. My time is filled with cooking on Mondays evenings for the week ahead, emailing, talking on a phone, reading and writing or doing some academic work. Most of the time when I don’t have to concentrate I have my internet radio on the background, with BBC and ABC news in the morning, and Russian music in the evenings.
Posts
pictures?
ReplyDeleteWhy would I want a picture that would pain a thousand words, and I will have little to add? at least this way you keep on reading... hopefully
ReplyDeletePictures will be posted after I sort the million of the out, may be in a few months....