OPEN HOUSE:
Travel expert Loren Christie and telecommunications project manager Peter Remus bought their dream home in Leslieville from friends who lived just down the street
You guys have been together for 14 years and this is the second home you’ve owned in Leslieville.
LC: We used to live in a two-storey semi-detached in the same neighbourhood. We bought it for nothing because, at the time, the area was still developing. My mother-in-law cried when she first saw it because it was such a dump. She thought our real-estate agent had taken us advantage of us.
What do you mean your first house was a dump?
LC: It was disgusting. Mice, dirt. Holes in the walls and ceiling.
PR: It was infested with cock-
roaches.
LC: Three families had been living there and made the house into apartments. Nothing had ever been fixed or tended to. We spent years fixing it up until we were modestly happy with it.
How did you find your current house?
LC: One night we were out having drinks with friends who had recently told us that they were moving to Halifax. A couple of bottles of wine later, and they said we should buy their house, which was not too far from ours. We were constantly renovating our place, but because it was our friends’ house, and we loved what they had done with the place, we knew nothing had to be done to it.
The interior is modern, but the structure looks old.
PR: Our house is 100 years old. It was built in 1912.
LC: Same year as the sinking of the Titanic.
What do you like about living in Leslieville?
PR: It’s a neighborhood in transition. Every time a rundown storefront closes, a funky boutique or hair salon opens in its place.
LC: The restaurants and bars are great. Rasputin Vodka Bar and Wayla Bar are just down the road. We can be at work in 10 minutes, or run to the beach boardwalk. You can get on the DVP in two seconds.
PR: Also, our best gay friends live across the street from us.
You have a big family with two dogs.
LC: Farley is a Jack Russell we got from a farm up where Peter’s sister lives. Sadie we got with the help of CP24’s Ann Rohmer. I used to work in PR and I was talking to Ann, who’s a big Humane Society supporter, about how we might get a dog. She said, “You’re looking at a dog? You have to get that dog.” She called the Humane Society and got us through the interview process and even paid for the dog, not that it was exorbitant, but it was still a nice gesture.
Loren, you still have ties to television with your current gig as a travel expert on Canada AM. How often do you two travel?
LC: Travel is our thing, and we’ve done a lot: Cambodia, Vietnam, Peru, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Holland — because I’m half Dutch — London, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Easter Island, Mexico….
PR: We try to get one trip in every year. The objective is to try to have one country for every year of our life.
What’s your most memorable trip together?
LC: The time we were invited to the christening of a new cruise ship in Amsterdam, where dignitaries show up for the traditional smashing of the champagne bottle, and [Canadian soprano] Measha Brueggergosman was the godmother of the ship.
Did you ever visit a place where you didn’t feel safe?
LC: We didn’t love Lima. That’s the only place we’ve been where we didn’t feel safe.
PR: People were taking cabs, warning us about being out after dark.
LC: There were policemen telling us not to go down some streets.
The décor in your house is full of paintings and sculptures you’ve collected from your trips around the world. One piece of art that stands out is the portrait of Peter’s grandmother hanging in the living room.
LC: She was a councilwoman in Thunder Bay in the early ’60s, which basically means she was a rock star. She’s dressed like the queen of Northern Ontario. It’s so retro.
And you have a book club?
LC: We did for years, but then it died, but now it’s back on track. It’s consists of about eight of our closest friends.
What book is the club currently reading?
LC: We’re thinking of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s supposed to be good.
PR: The last one we read was Room by Emma Donoghue.
LC: It was weird.
