Because Andrew had not yet returned to Calgary from working in the Seattle area, Desirée wound up doing most of the legwork for the home purchase. Mainly, she wanted “a place that we loved that wouldn’t kill our bank account.” And she found it! But the 1150 square foot, two-bedroom condo did come with one drawback: Andrew didn’t get the one item he requested.

“All I wanted was an ice-cube maker,” he says. “It didn’t happen. I had to put one in on my own.”

“But it had everything else we wanted!” laughs Desirée.

The couple narrowed the search by insisting on a loft layout. “Right off the start, we knew that was something we had to have,” says Andrew.

Another major deciding factor was a central location. “We did find another condo way in the south that was much lower in price,” says Desirée. Since she works downtown for TD Waterhouse, she did a test-drive of the morning rush-hour commute from the city’s deep south. “I did it one time, and I said, ‘I am never commuting like that again,’ so then we knew we had to be downtown. We didn’t want to live in suburbia, and everything we wanted, we found in this condo.”

“The commute’s just not worth it when it’s 40 minutes every day, each way, and you’re paying gas,” says Andrew, who’s a pharmacist for Co-op. “Add it all up, and you’re spending days commuting every year. That’s a lot of time you could be doing other things. You quickly realize how much your time is worth. My commute is a total of five minutes. I’m at home most nights relaxing, well before others are even pulling into their garages. It’s just a difference in choice.”

And while price was a factor when it came to choosing a condo over a house, more important was the fact that neither of them wanted to deal with the maintenance of a house. “Although, when you own a condo, you learn there is still work involved,” says Andrew. “It’s just a different kind of work.”

That work is related to being part of a condo board. Desirée is the secretary of theirs, and she wound up getting involved when the couple realized their 24-unit building was not being run well. “Money was being wasted so we were like, ‘Whoa, stop!’” she explains. “It was a new building so there were no by-laws. Nothing was set up. There was a lot of effort to get the building up and running properly. It was interesting to see how things are run though.”

“It wasn’t running as smoothly as it should have been, and it took us a few months to figure out what was really happening,” recalls Andrew. “We’re the type of people who ask a lot of questions.”

“And we didn’t like the answers, so we got involved, Desirée affirms.

From that experience, Andrew admits he may have done things differently if given the chance. “There’s a lot of people who buy condos that have never been on a board and have no idea what it should be like. So, you wind up with a group of people who don’t know how a board runs. It makes for a bumpy start.

“The board has almost as big of an impact on how much you enjoy your building as the unit you’re living in,” he continues. “The board sets all the rules; they handle everything. You see people drop $300,000 on a downtown condo, and they know nothing about the board. You would think that if you were spending that kind of money, you would want to know everything about [the place]. Most people don’t.”

“And the thing is, some people just don’t care,” says Desirée. “It’s hard to get volunteers for the board. But it’s your home. You should care about its security, value, and the decisions being made about it. Some people really don’t have the time, but others just don’t want to put in the effort. I want to be involved in how my home is run and managed. But that’s me.”

“It is a time thing,” acknowledges Andrew. “A lot of people who live in condos do so because they don’t have a lot of time. But just read your building’s by-laws. I bet if you asked, three-quarters of people wouldn’t even know what they say. But I mean, we didn’t look when we bought. We didn’t even know to look!”

Despite these initial challenges, the couple enjoys their first home immensely, and their pride of ownership really shows. It’s easy to see what drew the couple to the open- concept condo with sky-high ceilings. Rich hardwood floors complement their stylish furnishings and the earthy colour palette. Other features include a gas fireplace, stainless steel appliances, and granite countertops.

And that’s not even mentioning, the “amazing view of downtown Calgary,” adds Desirée. The home also showcases homemade touches such as custom shelving and a large mirror made by Andrew as well as their techno-equipped loft.

“I really love the loft,” Andrew states, referring to its in-house theatre system with a media centre wired throughout the house. “I wired everything myself, and I designed it so you could still use the space without the technology being dominant. I’ve been in too many homes where all you see is a big TV with great big speakers. It’s great to have all the technology, but it’s even better to have it and not have it dominate the landscape of your home with wires everywhere. You don’t want it to be ugly and take away from the living space.”

Andrew is also a big fan of the open design. “When you walk in our condo, it doesn’t feel like it’s small. It feels like a big welcoming place. In some other condos, you almost feel like you’re ducking because the ceiling is so low; you feel confined.”

The couple admits they could use more storage, but the lack of it does help them limit clutter in their home. “By virtue of size, you just live smaller and want less stuff,” says Andrew. “You really become minimalistic about what you buy because, where are you going to put it?

For Desirée, it’s all about the light, and having her own space to enjoy it. “I love light, and we have a lot of it here. My favourite room is my scrapbook studio. I’m a real geeky scrapbooker, but hey—I love it. It’s my area, by a big window for me to do my hobby.

“Our home also has a comfortable contemporary feel,” she continues. “I grew up on a farm with nothing matching and everything really cozy, and Andrew likes straight, rigid lines. So the result is a mix—somewhat contemporary with a real sense of comfort. I want people to come in and feel like they can put their feet up and be comfy.”

“We’ve had over 20 people here, without breaking a sweat,” affirms Andrew. “It’s still really comfortable. I always wanted to have the home that people wanted to go to. We have people over because we have a place where we love to host.”

Desirée sums things up about the real appeal of their home: “I love all the memories we’ve already made here.” Here’s to many more to come.  CL