We have a home! Mostly anyway… We moved in on Monday 23rd.
On the Friday and Saturday before that we hired a car so that we could drive around collecting furniture that we found on Craiglist.
Craiglist is pretty legit here with loads of people selling their old (but decent) stuff, or sometimes even just leaving it behind their house for the first person who wants it to collect! So I spent hours on Friday morning scouring the site for stuff we wanted, messaged the people who were getting rid of it, and made a schedule for us to follow once we had the car! We went and picked it up and made our way to pick up a TV, a TV unit, a lamp, and two chairs.
Once we’d taken all of that upstairs we then went on the free section and saw a couple of back alley listings that people left out first come first served. A desk chair wasn’t far away from our new place so we got in the car and drove for it hoping nobody else had got there before us. Thankfully we won! So we are now the proud owners of a “Patrick” chair from Ikea, that we now affectionately refer to as Patrick… We went to try and find some other back alley items and realised how easily you could use this form of Craiglist for the perfect crime – luring unsuspecting bargain hunters to a dark and unseen part of town. We kept the doors locked and never found the items, so figured either someone got their before us, or we were right and it’s just as well we didn’t stop the car…
The following day we went and picked up a desk and the rest of our stuff from where we were staying, then took the car back. It was definitely worth hiring it for the bits we did get, so we’re glad we did that.
On the Sunday our mattress was delivered, and yes, the delivery guys did bring it all the way up to the 8th floor! Huzzah! I set up the TV and playstation, Tom facetimed his parents, and he also set up his work station. We shopped at London Drugs for a few cleaning and kitchen essentials then in the evening went back for our last night in Kerrisdale.
On Monday Rachelle took me to Ikea. I spent so much money in there, but did fully equip our kitchen with pans, utensils, glasses etc, and also purchased a sofa and a bed frame plus other bits, so it was all money well spent.
We put up the sofa in time for tea so that we could sit somewhere to eat it. We haven’t got a table yet, but we figured we can get by until the lift is fixed, bringing everything else up has been hard enough!
I started to put the bed up at about 10.30pm, and by 11.30pm was still at it and we were both exhausted. Tom came to help and the very last screw that was meant to go in the bed didn’t have a hole. It was at this point that we realised I’d put a piece on upside down quite early on in the process. We weighed our options – mattress on the floor, fix the problem, or make do with the frame as it is, and decided to go for the last option. It was only missing one screw so what was the worst that could happen!
Thankfully, nothing bad did happen. The following day we took the end off and undid a few screws, turned the piece of wood around and put it all back together correct. It felt a lot safer sleeping on it the second night.
We’re missing any home touches at the moment, but we’re waiting for the lift to be fixed before bringing anything else up here. Not that anything would be that heavy, we’re just kind of done with carrying stuff up here! It’s hot here anyway, but the stairwell just adds another 5/10 degrees and then you’re walking up all those flights… it’s just not that fun. We’d rather wait now until the lift is fixed and gradually just bring up cleaning items and groceries when we walk up the stairs!
Neither of us feel particularly safe on the balcony. It’s an amazing space with great views, but just very high up! I want to get a bunch of potted plants around the edges so that there’s a bit of a barrier. It’ll make it feel a lot safer and just look nice too. But again, plants are heavy so that can wait til September when the lift is fixed!
Here are some photos of the flat so far…
Ellen Wiggins 