The past few years have seen changes in the
city of Calgary that neither of us like. It's grown too big, too fast.
Traffic is a nightmare, crime is running rampant, everything has gotten
so expensive, and the city has lost the "small-town charm" that it was
always known for. "Greed" is the word around here. The stress of living
in Calgreedy finally got to us and
we started looking elsewhere. As I'm originally from Manitoba we took
our search out there. We first considered moving to Winnipeg, and spent
a few days in October looking at houses there with Re/Max realtor Kelly Clements. She did a
wonderful job lining up houses for us to view, but nothing really
worked for us. Besides, we'd just be trading one big city for another.
What we really dreamed of was life in a small town.
On the way home we found this charming 1 3/4
story house in the town of Neepawa, Manitoba. Neepawa is located
at the
junction of Hwy 5 & 16, 2 hours NW of Winnipeg. It
has a population of approx. 3300, and has all the amenities that we
could need. Employment opportunities are plentiful as well. It should
be quite a culture shock moving from such a big city, but the peace and
quiet of small-town living will be worth it. No traffic, little crime,
clean air...heaven!
It's approx. 80 miles from
where I grew up in Dauphin, and we still have family in the Minnedosa
area, 20 minutes away.
Another bonus...we're only 45 minutes from Clear
Lake in Riding Mountain Nat'l Park! I spent many happy summer weekends
there as a child.
This house had pretty much everything that we
were looking for. It was built in 1910, has a fantastic wrap-around
veranda like we'd always wanted, most of the original
character features, lots of living space, a huge lot, and a small
garage. It's 1262 sq ft, has three bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, and a full
basement as well as attic storage. It was very well maintained by the
previous owners. We'll have to make some minor upgrades and
renovations, but
will keep the style of house in mind.
We took possession at the end of December and moved in on Jan. 13th,
2008.
Special thanks to realtor Iris Kooting of the Prairie Mountain Re/Max office in Neepawa for helping make this dream come true.
Huge 80' x 101' corner lot, over twice the size of our lot in Calgary!
Nicely landscaped with mature trees and
hedges.
Karen will finally have plenty of room for a
vegetable garden. The large yard gives it a classic "farm house" feel.
The drive-through yard adds
to the country charm.
We'll probably remove the barn-style garden shed and build a 22x26
garage on the north side of the yard, leaving the driveway intact.
Rear of the house has a nice deck off the
kitchen. Perfect for a BBQ!
After living without a garage for the past 11
years, it will be nice having a place to work in. The little 12' x 20'
garage
will be used as a garden shed and storage once the new shop is built.
The tall trees on the south side of the yard completely hide the house
next door and will provide excellent shade from the afternoon sun.
I
Iris and Karen checking out
the kitchen. Nice new appliances!
The kitchen will be remodeled a bit. The
layout is a little odd and the cabinets don't fit in with the look of
the house.
The front foyer and powder room area is done
in period-correct maroon paint and wallpaper.
The paint is darker than these pictures show, the flash mades it look
pink.
We'll probably remodel the powder room with more period-looking
fixtures.
An original built-in china cabinet in the
dining
room is almost 6 feet tall!
The stained glass windows are also original. The previous owners had
them incorporated into new energy efficient tri-pane windows.
The period-correct painted trim and wallpaper adds to the charm.
Gorgeous hardwood floors on both levels of the
house. Room sizes are generous, and have 9' ceilings.
Incredible cast-iron heating grates throughout
the house.
View from the kitchen to the front door. The
maroon foyer is the first door to the left, the dining room and living
room are on the right.
Wonderful original details on the wooden
staircase.
The 9' x 16' front bedroom will get new paint
and be used as a guest room.
Large 15' x 13' master bedroom is decorated
nicer. Being on the north side of the house it should stay cooler in
the summer.
Smaller 10' x 7' third bedroom. We should have
plenty of
room for guests in this home!
The original stone basement has a cool
medieval feel to it.
The home inspection found it, like the rest of the house, to be in
excellent condition.
For anyone in the area needing a home inspection, Terry
Browett from Home-Alyze in
Brandon is great to work with!
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Our realtor in Neepawa snapped these 3 pictures on Dec. 19th 2007, just
before the wind picked up and blew all the hoarfrost off the trees.
Postcard perfect pictures of a winter scene in Manitoba!
These 2 pics were snapped on June 21, 2008.
Much better looking when everything is green and it's not -40!
