Home of the Week: Downtown Toronto condo aimed at entry buyers
Home of the Week: 393 King St. W., Penthouse 1206, Toronto. Asking price: $359,000. Maintenance fee: $499.79/month (includes parking)
But the biggest change the current owner made after buying the unit was to remove the lower half of the east wall to expose the windows the drywall was covering, thus creating an entire wall of light. “I love lying in bed and watching the sun come up, or just sitting by the windows [in the living room]. The light is just so soft,” says Stacey Barbetta.
When Ms. Barbetta bought it the unit had concrete floors, red and yellow walls and dirty carpet in the den. Her first task was to get it clean and refreshed with a new coat of paint. She managed to cover up the oppressive yellow and red walls with many layers of an off-white hue. She then installed new laminate floors and revitalized the decor with new light fixtures, keeping only one – an industrial silver, semi-dome pendant that dangles from the exposed pipes.
One of Ms. Barbetta’s favourite spaces is the den, the only room in her penthouse not flooded by the light from the east wall. “I really love the den because everything else in the loft is so open. It’s very cozy by comparison.”
The King’s Tower was built in the 1990s and was converted to a fully residential space in 1999. Because of this, amenities are minimal. There are benefits to an older building. For instance, there is more concrete between the floors, cancelling out a lot of noise.
The building has a high walkability score: There’s a grocery store, a liquor store, multiple coffee shops and a drug store all within a two-minute walk of the entrance. It also sits at the crossroads of two streetcar lines.