CONDO LIVING
The Kagans downsized and upgraded to a new life, but stayed in Dorval
Sheldon and Linda Kagan were living in a large house in Dorval when, after Sheldon retired in 2015, they decided to downsize. Their son and daughter had long since flown the coop (the couple now have three grandsons), and while they were ready to move into something smaller, they didn’t want to leave Dorval, a city that had been their home “for decades.”
Downsizing was quite a wrench. Sheldon had a huge collection of music memorabilia from his years as a disc jockey, event organizer and concert producer and promoter. He brought in big names to Montreal such as Dionne Warwick, Bo Diddley and Miles Davis and he used to stage an annual bridal show — Le Salon de la Mariée, at the Palais des congrès.
Deciding what to keep and what to get rid of wasn’t easy. In the end, the Kagans donated the memorabilia (22,000 records and CDs, books, music-themed paintings, sculptures and the like) to Vanier College. Most of their furniture went to charitable organizations.
According to the couple, their new abode is completely different from their previous home. For one thing, it’s much smaller. For another, it’s a condominium, a type of residence they knew very little about.
Situated on the second floor of a five-storey complex, the condo is bright, modern and airy with two bedrooms (one is used as a den), two bathrooms and a laundry room/storage space. The dining/living room is open-plan and has a fireplace. The bedrooms and the living room look out over Lac St-Louis and Dorval Island, as does a long balcony that also gives views over communal, landscaped gardens.
Q You were explaining that you weren’t sure you would like the condo lifestyle?
Sheldon: I really didn’t know anything about it. I wondered what the neighbours would be like. Would I be sitting in a hot tub squashed against 10 guys slugging beer?
Q And?
S: Of course, it hasn’t been like
that at all. The neighbours are quiet. In fact, many of them go off to Florida for the winter, but it’s always very peaceful here anyway and we just love the view.
Linda: In the summer, there’s quite a bit of river traffic. Kayakers and paddle boarders go right by here and there’s a little ferry that sails back and forth to the island.
S: Then there are the sailboats from the Royal St. Lawrence Club and ducks …
Q Was it the water that drew you to the condo?
S: Absolutely! But we’d been watching the building for years. We saw this complex being constructed 20 years ago and I used to joke that I hoped we could afford to live here once I retired.
Q So you were keeping an eye on it?
S: We were, but when we were ready to buy, we looked at four other condos in this development. None of them appealed. One was like a train. You walked into one room and another room and another room. Also, the other condos had views over the gardens, not the water.
Q But this one fit the bill?
S: Yes and no. It wasn’t at the price point we were looking at, but we decided to go for it. The rest, as they say, is history.
Q Linda, you were mentioning that you made some changes to the interior? L: It was decorated nicely, but the furnishings were brown, big, bulky — ’70s style. The previous owner was 89 and the style reflected that. We decided to live here for three months before starting the renovations, just to figure out exactly what we wanted to do.
Q And what did you come up with?
L: Well, we gutted one of the bathrooms and installed a soaking tub and a separate glasswalled shower.
S: The first tub didn’t work at all. It was a standard size and I’m tall. Linda practically had to yank me out of it each time! We found a company in Quebec City that makes custom tubs and that solved the problem.
Q What other things did you do?
L: We changed the colours to pale beige, grey and white, installed built-in shelving in the living room, enlarged the wall passthrough in the kitchen, fitted a queen-size Murphy bed at the end of the kitchen and lots of other things as well.
Q Like new furniture?
L: Yes. And appliances. The only furniture we kept from our previous home was the leather sectional sofa in the den. Everything else is new.
Q Where did you get your other stuff?
L: Most of the furniture came from Mobilia, but we found the coffee table at BoConcept in Laval. The leatherette furniture on the balcony came from a place in Lachine called Meubles JLM. It’s actually yacht furniture. The seats recline. They’re very comfortable.
Q And that little table in front of the patio door?
S: That was also from BoConcept. Linda researched it. It’s amazing, because it opens up and expands to double the size. Six of us can sit here and enjoy the view while we’re eating a meal.