Condo Living: Rethinking Your Concept of Space

When I got pregnant, my husband and I had a decision to make - to either sell or stay in our one bedroom plus den condo in downtown Toronto.  

I have to tell you, it wasn't an easy decision.  With pregnancy hormones racing through my veins my first instinct was to upgrade to a bigger home with more rooms and a yard.  I even flirted with the idea of a walk-in closet and an ensuite bathroom.  I was giddy.

Then we started to look at homes and all of a sudden the giddiness dissipated.  The properties in our price range weren't really a step-up or they were taking us further away from the city we love.  It was depressing.

I thought back to what attracted me to our condo in the first place.  I had purchased it as a single, professional woman who wanted to live in a central location with great amenities, TTC at my doorstep and access to everything Toronto has to offer.  Condo living provided me with exactly that.  So the question became, do we really need to have exclusive use of space?  The answer was a resounding no, so we decided to stay and make it work. 

I'm a big believer in making incremental changes as you need them.  Our condo had served us well as it was until I got pregnant.  Now it was full of sharp glass corners.  Making room for baby meant letting go of possessions from my single days.  It meant being flexible.

We made three very useful changes to prepare for our growing family:

1. Removed any unneeded/dangerous furniture to make room for our little one.  We listed some items for sale on Kijiji.  Anything we couldn't sell, was donated to The Furniture Bank.
2. Converted the den to a nursery.  We selected furniture within our budget that would optimize the space by providing additional storage.
3. Installed closet organizers which more than doubled the existing closet space.  Ours were installed by Closets By Design and we were very happy with the results. 

We're fortunate that our condo community has introduced an indoor toddler space and outdoor playground in response to the increasing number of families in our neck of the woods. There are also community centers, gardens and public libraries close by.  In addition to being great places to meet-up with other kids and parents, these common areas are chock-full of toys and books so you don't have to invest in them.

Today, we are happily living in our condo with a very active 17 month old.  All it really required was to rethink our concept of space and being open to evolving it as our needs change.