WHO: Kim de Laat and Wayne Petti.
WHAT: Main level apartment in a turn-of-the-century building
WHERE: A residential street off
College.
COST: $970 plus hydro.
FAVOURITE THING: The ample storage space for de Laat and
the high ceilings for Petti. “You get a nice little bit of reverb in
the kitchen; it's good for playing guitar,” says Petti, who is the
singer and guitarist for Oshawa ensemble Cuff the Duke (he plays solo
at the Rivoli March 29).
LEAST FAVOURITE THING: The fluctuating temperature from the finicky shower.
THE STORY: “It was a hole when I saw it, really dirty and
primer white,” says de Laat, who had to resort to taking snaps on her
camera phone to send to Petti while he was touring with his band before
deciding to take it. “We were down to the wire trying to find a place.
I even had to pick Wayne up at the airport in a moving van.”
The place has since been repainted, including a '50s-inspired yellow-and-green kitchen and pastel living room and bedroom.
“The layout of the apartment is very bizarre,” says de Laat.
There are two closets in the living room, a door at the back of the
bathroom leading to the apartment hallway and a separate closet-like
room for the toilet.
“Music is definitely our decorating theme,” says de Laat about
their space, which is dominated by their record collection, Petti's
prominently displayed guitar and a shelving unit sagging from their
massive CD collection.
“The joining of the CD collections was a big step. We are both pretty anal about it. It is completely alphabetical,” says Petti.
Petti's most cherished decoration is the string of dry-mounted
posters that line their long hallway. “They're from the Starlight Club
in Waterloo,” he says. “Every time we'd play there, I would go up to
the office and take three or four different posters from recent shows.”
His collection features posters for bands like the Constantines, The
Deadly Snakes and the Unicorns. “It's a nice little piece of
Canadiana,” he says.
As for the location of their pad, Petti describes it as “pretty kick-ass.”
“We are right in the middle of everything – you have Lee's
Palace, Sneaky Dee's, the Rivoli on all sides, so we are right in the
centre,” he says.