How many houses have you lived in? How is where you live now different from where you grew up?
All up, I have lived in 10 houses and 2 flats/apartments. These have been in Melbourne, Canberra, Jakarta and Sydney.
This is what our current house in Sydney looks like from the front (have since finished the painting and no, it is no longer either of those colours):
and this is the view from the backyard:
Despite what you see in the first photo, most of the house is actually made from brick (the old brown Sydney kind) with sandstone foundations. It was built during the Depression by a man who had owned a big mansion on the main road going through our suburb. Back then, the rocky, hilltop location meant that he got the land fairly cheaply but now is it actually seen as an asset - although the blocks still very tricky for building on. It was originally only a one bedroom cottage. The front room which is what you can see in the first photo was added on much later.
Our street is a surprisingly bustling little cul de sac on top of a hill. We know some of the neighbours but not all (there are quite a few who are a bit nutty or otherwise antisocial). We are endlessly renovating and think this is the reason we have stayed here for so long (almost 10 year). This is actually the longest I have lived anywhere apart from the house I grew up in which was a 3 bedroom brick veneer in a quiet suburban street in Melbourne. My mum still lives in this house and this is a photo from her front garden:
And now a word from Madness on their house: