Making big moves

Becoming homeowners and planning for a more accessible future

When I was in Grade 7, my parents began doing some house-hunting. The high school in our neighbourhood wasn’t remotely wheelchair accessible, so they thought we’d need to move to be closer to a school that was.

I remember we’d all pile into our van on weekends to check out different homes in different suburbs of Vancouver. Invariably, we’d return to our house even more certain that we didn’t want to move. Our family loved the place we lived too much to leave.

In the end, rather than move, my parents petitioned the school board to install four Garaventa stair lifts in our neighbourhood high school so that I could go there.

This tale is strikingly similar to how Stefan and I became condo owners at the end of last month.

Exploring our future neighbourhood in 2017

In July 2017, just before Stefan started his Master’s at the University of Calgary, we drove out from Vancouver together to take in the sights of his new city. We stayed in a hotel up by the university and took the C-Train down to Sunnyside Station. We checked out Kensington. We took photos at the Peace Bridge and in Prince’s Island Park. We made our way along the Riverwalk Pathway to Inglewood and back just marvelling at this green strip of paradise in the middle of the city.

All told, I think it took us about three or four hours and we returned to our hotel exhausted but happy.

“Wouldn’t it be great to live in that part of Calgary?”, we said.

We did find an apartment in Calgary’s downtown in 2018, but it wasn’t in the nicest of buildings. It’s honestly extremely challenging to find anywhere that is wheelchair accessible and takes a dog, so we had to take what we were able to get at the time. After a series of sketchy incidents in January 2020 however, I found myself poking around on RentFaster at other options in our dream neighbourhood.

Enjoying our new rental in the spring of 2020

Almost on a whim, we went to check out a rental in a building across from one of our favourite coffee shops. Stefan had pointed it out to me previously because he’d noticed an automatic door on the front of the building.

We fell in love with the place instantly.

It was so incredibly quiet, even in the heart of the city. It had a layout that was reasonably wheelchair accessible, even though it wasn’t an adapted suite. Little details like windows that were low enough that I could open them myself, a ceiling fan in the living room operated by remote control and a kitchen wide enough that I could fully turn to use the stove. The building also had all these unique amenities like a community herb garden on the roof and a little common library with a stunning view overlooking the river.

When we left after meeting with the landlord, I distinctly remember Stefan turning to me and saying his face alight, “I really can see us growing old there!”

We jumped on the place and had the wild experience of moving in March 2020—the same week that the pandemic shut the world down. We’ve been renting there ever since.

“By the Fountain”, acrylic on canvas (2021)

Emphasis on renting.

No matter how much we loved our suite, our building and our neighbourhood, we were still renters. No matter how many paintings the area has inspired over the years, it was not truly ours and likely never would be.

We also knew we did want to buy a place eventually, in part so that we could do the accessibility upgrades to make it truly the perfect fit for us. This need became even more pressing after my injury this past spring and the realization that I might not be strong or mobile enough to manage in an unadapted suite. All those nice-to-have updates to the bathroom and kitchen were rapidly becoming must-haves if I was going to be able to function.

From my hospital bed, I found myself browsing dozens and dozens of real estate listings—looking at other neighbourhoods and other buildings in the hopes of finding something better than what we already had. The more I looked, the more it pained me to lose the home we loved.

And then, in a strange and near-miraculous turn of events, a paper sign appeared in the lobby of our building. One of the owners was looking to sell and was wondering if anyone in the building was interested.

By that evening, Stefan was touring the suite with me on video chat from the hospital.

By the following morning, we’d put in an offer.

By the end of the day, it was ours. We really were going to get to grow old there.

It is, rather hilariously, a suite that’s also identical to our current rental. It’s the same layout, on the same side of the building, just four floors up.

We are absolutely over the moon and I’m deep in the planning of the accessibility renovations we’ll be doing to the bathroom and kitchen after we take possession in November. In truth, these are the kind of renovations that I’ve been dreaming and saving for most of my adult life—as evidenced by my ever-growing Pinterest board of inspiration.

I’m sharing all this because you’ll be seeing some updates on these renovations as part of this newsletter as Stefan and I dive deep into an entirely different type of creative activity as an interabled couple.

Instead of designing an accessible art exhibit, we’re going to be creating our ideal accessible home.

I hope you’ll stick around for what promises to be quite the ride.

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