Emu with a Clue

QotD: Homes Sweet Homes

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:47:13 -0700

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):

Our house

and this is the view from the backyard:

Backyard view

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:

Pebble garden

And now a word from Madness on their house:

Madness - Our house

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Vox Hunt: Brick House

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:35:23 -0700

Show us bricks.

Reno bricks

No, not the Gaza Strip - our backyard!

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a new door opens

nobody@vox.com(Emu with a Clue) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:29:03 -0700

We are planning fairly extensive renovations to the back of our house and plan to stay living there while all this is going on. My husband had the idea of turning the garage into a temporary living space complete bbq for cooking, sink for washing up etc while all this is going on. He has started making the garage bigger by extending the roof inwards to join it to the side of the house (previously about half a meter between garage and house) and then taking out the garage wall. To make it more accessible, he just got a door put in between the house (our bedroom) and garage. This photo is of the new door way, looking out into the garage (which still needs to be sealed):

New door

We have also moved Mollie the dog into the garage as it is a bit more sheltered than her old kennel. Only problem is that we can now hear her dreaming at night!

Will be so glad when these renovations are all over (if that ever happens)!

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