This is ... where I live

A few weeks ago (quite possibly a month - my how time flies!) Tinkingbell wowed us with her castle home, in Tasmania, and tagged me to show where I live and talk about why.

So this is my house - a California bungalow style house, built in the depression years. Not much to look at from the front (although I have to say, a bit better than when we bought it!) but very nice inside (although, clearly, I am somewhat biased!!).

So why did we buy it? Well, we could afford it, for a start! It was a good area, quiet and close to the city but nicely suburban, with a good set of little shops at the corner (fruit & veg, corner store, pizza shop, chemist) and close to the bay walk. Also my brother lives in the next suburb, so it was good to be close to family.

We bought it at auction, as is the norm in a lot of Sydney, and after it had been "knocked down" to us, an older man came up to us and welcomed us to the neighbourhood, and told us that his dad had built the house (along with a lot of others in the street). We didn't get a chance to talk to him further as we had to sign the contract and pay the deposit, which was a great shame, as we haven't seen him since.

It needed a bit of work when we bought it - in fact, my mother cried when she first saw it - coming from the country, I think when she heard what we paid for it she was expecting a mansion. Which it was not (and still isn't - see Tink's place if you want a mansion!!).

So when we moved in we painted, polished the floorboards and put a door on the outside laundry and glass into the window space (!!). We mowed the backyard and chopped down the very straggly mulberry tree. We also took out the hills hoist which, along with the mulberry tree, took up the whole backyard. We got the gas connected and put in gas heating and a repro art deco gas fireplace and surround in the formal lounge.

A few years later we put in a new kitchen (gosh I love my kitchen!) and then a new bathroom. And we planted out the front garden (which, when we bought it, was covered in pebbles and concrete pavers and not much else). Then a couple more years later we pulled down the garage and built the deck in it's place.

Which is now perhaps my favourite spot. As it is north facing it gets all the sun all day. Fantastic in winter, although a little warm in summer - but very nice in the evening! I'll miss this deck a lot.

Here's our backyard. Postage stamp sized, but neat and easy to maintain.

When we planted those trees they only just reached over the top of the fence. Clearly, we planted them a little close together - so hard to know how much they will spread when they are so little! They probably weren't the best choice for the area, but they have given us a lovely private backyard.

But I won't be living here for much longer! As I somewhat cheekily hinted last week, we've bought a new house! I didn't want to jinx it by posting too early, but since we've now signed the contract, I can't hold back on the news any longer.

So this is our new house:

(I borrowed these photos from the sale website...). It's a federation house, built about 100 years ago, lots of lovely old features like picture rails and open fireplaces and a fantastic front verandah, with a modern extension at the back with open plan kitchen/dining/lounge area.

And a really, really big backyard.

OMG! Will have to get lots of vege patch advice from Bells! And also a compass so I don't get lost getting back into the house! I'm going to miss our lovely house, but it's exciting to be moving to a new area and into a new house with lots of possibilities.

And if I've done a good sales pitch on my current house, and you'd like to buy it, my email is in the sidebar!!!). And for anyone who feels minded to share, I'd love to see where you live and why!