Markham, Ontario
December 2002 - present.
Our big fat house in Markham which is cheaper to rent
than Mishkin's one-bedroom apartment in New Jersey.
This is the family room before we moved in.
I painted it a light peach and...
Tah-Dah! This is the family room now. It is used as a living room when we
have guests as well. There is a lovely gas fireplace and lots of
eastern light. We do our homeschooling in this room and the kitchen.
The kitchen before we moved in. It's big - it's the perfect size.
I love the island.
This is the formal living room (which we never use and sat empty
for a long time). We now use it as the "piano room". This poor
use of space is the result of a poor floor plan. That's why
Mishkin and I want to build our own house.
Our "piano room".
My office is in the formal dining room (another room which we
don't know what to do with and sits mostly empty due to a
bad floor plan). My office will eventually be upstairs in the fourth
bedroom, but Alexei (Mishkin's brother) is staying in there temporarily.
The stairs up to the second floor. We never use the front foyer,
except to let in guests. We always enter via the garage and laundry room
which is quite cramped when two adults and two children are trying to
remove winter gear or unload groceries. A well thought out floor plan
would have a garage entrance onto the main foyer.
This is the master bedroom. I've painted it a lilac colour.
This room is very light coloured and sparse to create a tranquil feeling.
The master bedroom also houses my computer where the kids
watch a lot of movies and play video games. It is convenient in the
morning when Haifa wakes me up and I want to sleep more - I just
put on a movie and she's happy for another hour. There is also
enough room in here for me to do my exercise videos (yoga or ballet).
This is the master bathroom. We never use the other upstairs bathroom.
The kids bathe and brush their teeth in here with us.
Here is the glorious bathtub in the master ensuite.
I take baths several times a week now. After the kids go to bed,
I enjoy reading homeschooling books in the tub. This tub is so big
that me and the kids fit in altogether very comfortably. I can lie down
neck-to-toe with a kid playing on either side. Sometimes if I'm tired
or sore I just invite the kids to take a bath with me. There are times
when the kids want to take 3 baths a day - they love this kids-size pool.
The kids room has a walk-in-closet which I also use for diaper changes.
The kids love hiding in it. We have decorated this room with
glow-in-the-dark stars, a virtues tree, and Winnie-the-Pooh stickers.
We read for two hours before bed all snuggled together in Justice's bed.
I'm thinking of just putting in one queen sized bed since we are always
trying to skwoosh together and fall asleep every night in squishy positions.
The other side of the kids bedroom.
This house is so big, we now have a "Lego room".
It is on the second floor next to Mishkin's office.
This is the garden I planted out front. When we moved, I took all
the plants with me. There is a rose bush Jeanne gave me for my
birthday. The white is snow-in-summer. The purple beside me is
purple coral bells. There's a purple sandcherry and a blue spruce
as well. I'm very proud of this garden, it turned out well.
June 6, 2004.
This is the garden at the end of summer with sweet peas growing
at the back. August 15, 2004.
Despite my comments about poor floor plan, we really love this house.
In fact, we like it more the more we're here and sometimes think about
buying it. It is a beautiful home which we are enjoying a lot.