Hold Your Horses

It’s no doubt that quarantine and lockdown have us questioning the homes we live in. Too much clutter, too little space, an unutilized corner that overnight transformed into the ‘at home workout’ area or the home office. On the flipside, too much space, not properly used or organized. I for one turned my den into both a home office and a workout space. It was suddenly a new dimension of my apartment, somewhere I could ‘go to’ to get my work or exercise in. 

However, it soon became too little again, and I wanted to get out. A walk, some fresh air, anything. Wouldn’t it be great if I had a garden? A pool? An oversized terrace?

As things picked up and the market started moving again, I got a call from my neighbour one day and he said ‘Sam, I need more space, could you look into that for me?’ I said sure, how much space are you looking for? A three bedroom condo? A house? 

That’s not at all what he meant by ‘more space’. His family had decided that while their Yorkville condo was great, they wanted a place outside the city where they could collect horses on an equestrian estate. Horses? That’s a first. 

So, we started the journey of discovering the estates available outside of Toronto. And what we found amazed me. Acres upon acres of green fields, lakes, farmland, and most importantly – amazing houses that dotted the land all along the way. Now this is space! I could easily have been quarantined here. Picture perfect. I had no idea properties like this even existed right outside of Toronto. 

However, as we drove back to the city into civilization and I walked into my one bedroom (+ den, I’ll never underestimate the den again), I decided that while all that greenery and open space is great, there’s still so much to be said about the connectivity and energy of downtown city life. Even if it was all shut down temporarily, I could still look out and see life – people, pets, go outside and take a walk, pick up a takeaway coffee, sit in the park or meet a friend for a socially distanced chat. And I think that’s all the space I really need right now. The horses can wait.

#StaySafe