dbd33

We couldn't fit a bar billards table in here. Americans come with so much stuff.

Alberta_Rose

Sorry, I didn't mean why ask a Brit what a reception room was .... I meant why ask Brits why we need so many!

We had one lounge/living room in our UK house. In our house here we have a family room, a dining room with a formal lounge, and when downstairs is finished we'll have a media room/rumpus room/whatever you like to call it room as well!! That is THREE rooms that require "lounge" seating/sofas/armchairs!

One three piece suite should be enough for any family!

Incidentally, we have a fairly small garden/yard compared to our old home, but at least we are on a ridge overlooking others rooftops, rather than having all our neighbours overlooking us! At least we don't feel shut in. I wouldn't want to live in one of the houses below us though!

What was the reality check (or checck) you were after NovoCastrian? Now we've all been and bragged about what big houses we have does it prove your point in any way? (just wondering)

Purley

I agree with Morwenna - why do we need all those reception rooms? I think lots of Canadians just furnish their livingroom but never go in it. I know someone who likes to have those vacuum cleaner "lines" on the carpet in their livingroom and they don't like people treading on the carpet because then it doesn't look like they just vacuumed.

I think they should get a life!

When I first came to Canada I asked why they had such huge fridges and was told that it was to store the leftovers for three weeks until you threw them in the garbage.

Alberta_Rose

LOL Liz.

Of course nobody is forcing us to furnish the room downstairs, but I'm looking forward to relegating the big TV to down there ..... and likewise my student son. Then I can pretend he doesn't live here any more!

Steve_P

I know people like that too.
We do use our living room quite a lot during the day, especially when we are looking after our granddaughter as we are at the moment, as she has a brand new baby sister who arrived today.
You know we don't seem to throw much away but the fridge always seems to have lots of stuff in it, we also have an upright freezer in the basement that always seems to be full too.

Novocastrian

[QUOTE=
What was the reality check (or checck) you were after NovoCastrian? Now we've all been and bragged about what big houses we have does it prove your point in any way? (just wondering)[/QUOTE]

I wasn't after anything. I have no point. I was trying to be helpful. Sorry.

Also I have a feeling I mmigght have PParkinsons.

Tidge

It's actually quite an interesting thread!

Novocastrian

Thank you Bubbles. The "point" was that there are many misconceptions held by would be immigrants, this subject appears not to be one of them.

dingbat

Congratulations. Nothing like the arrival of a new baby, she says broodily.

Piff Poff

Yeah congrats hangman - great news

Alberta_Rose

There you go ..... you said just now you didn't have a point!

I suppose the "reality" is that Canadian houses (by and large) are often larger than those in the UK, but not necessarily. Also you don't necessarily get a larger "yard", especially if buying within city limits, and particularly in newer communities. Houses here are packed like sardines in newer areas!

It was one of the things that put us off a bit to start with, even though it was pointed out that 1) the inclement weather for much of the year meant that you wouldn't want to be sitting in your garden so much, 2) the rather short growing season we have here results in many people not bothering much with gardening (with some notable exceptions), and 3) with the Rockies just a short car journey away, you have all the "space" you could wish for, even if it is not in your own back yard!

We didn't like our rental yard much at all, just a little square of rough prairie grass, fenced around and overlooked from all directions. Our new yard is still rather rough, but not overlooked at least. Our next-door neighbours show that it is possible to have an attractive yard, with decking and landscaping, they grow flowers and vegetables, and have a cute pond with a water fountain thing going on. We just sit on our deck and admire their garden! Next year maybe we'll do something with ours, once we've finished sorting out the house.

Almost Canadian

Just like the average Brit doesn't have a clue what a "nook" is

Usually hear it together with "cranny"

rae

i would say more of a misconception is the style of home, rather than the size. i must admit i had a picture of an alpine ski brochure in my head when i first arrived in edmonton. and instead was confronted by the opening scene from ' the deerhunter '. probably just me as it will no doubt be pointed out, but, in case anyone is in any doubt, just lift that barratt estate up from milton keynes, make it a bit bigger and there you go. unless you want to live in the sticks, which always looks nice on the photo's, but would you want to go outside in the pitch black dead of night to investigate some banjo playing?!

dbd33

This would be a generous description of most of the GTA, I think the big council estates such as Graham Park in North London are the models for firms such as Mattamy and Greenpark.

I refused to take the children to birthday parties in Mississauga or Oakville (north of the QEW) or Brampton, making them take a cab, as once I was in the featureless streets of indentical houses I could be there for hours, screaming for a shop or a pub or some vandalism or just anything but blandness. Recently we went to a party near Markham in some awful new tenement estate thing Carleton? Carlsbad? and did the same, leaving the car on the fringes and taking a taxi. Generally, anything built since the early eighties is pretty ghastly, unnavigable and usually consists mainly of garages. Watercolours in Mississauga and the Glen Abbey area of Oakville are other examples of places that would be beautified by a tornado.

We urbanites, otoh, get to live in Coronation Street, most of the houses locally were built as two-up two-down terraces for the railway workers. They look something like the attached and arranged conveniently for transit, pubs, restaurants and shop.

Tangram

Db, they look like the ones we drove past on Richmond St East I think, when we headed out to visit the Zoo.