Our house is a semi-detached house. Funny really, because we share walls on either side (cinder block walls which I realized trying to hammer in nails to hang pictures...two blows and the nail bent!). I guess it's because there are blocks of four houses together that are detached from the rest? In any event, we are the second of four houses. As I stated before we live on a side street from the main street. Not really a cul-de-sac, but the only people that drive down the street are the people that live here so there is hardly any traffic. So I can safely send the kids out to ride scooters or play soccer around the chapel.
The neighborhood is quite large and varied with mostly semi-detached 2 story houses and detached single/double story houses. The style of the semi-detached ones are mostly the same, built with the same brick and having the same layout of the front door, garage, etc. I will admit that it looks slightly boring for lack of a better word. I really liked our neighborhood in Atlanta where all the houses had some character. There is no HOA here so some houses are done up quite interestingly. You'll have one with a beautiful yard and sparkling clean windows and a few houses down there will be one with weeds waist high and curtains all askew.
The neighborhood was built after WWII. From what I've heard, a lot of neighborhoods were built by the city council in an effort to get the city back on it's feet after the war. I think this is one reason why the houses all look so much alike.
Another interesting fact is that since all the houses are attached, the backyards (or gardens as they are called) cannot be entered from anywhere but the back of the house. So if we need to get bikes out from the shed in the back we have to wheel them through the kitchen.
So let the tour begin!
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The entryway from the front door. The clocks above the mirror are from the time zones that mean the most to me....Maui, Atlanta and Newcastle.
Looking upstairs from the entryway. The stairs to the left go to Mark's bedroom and bathroom and the ones to the right lead up to the guest room, our room, Jack's room and the other bathroom. A lot squeezed in on one side, but oddly enough it works.
Our kitchen looking from the dining room. The freezer is the bottom 3rd cabinet from the end and the fridge right next to it. Tiny! But I've been getting used to the size. I only cook several nights a week, having leftovers the other nights and going out one night. So I really don't have the fridge filled with a weeks worth of food like in Atlanta. But I do have to strategically place things on the shelves. It's like Jenga in there....one wrong move and everything comes tumbling out!
Overlooking our garden. We share a fence wall with no less than four other people. Whose responsibility is it to fix a broken fence then?
The kitchen from the breakfast bar. The kids eat here on school mornings so I can keep watch over them while I'm making their lunches. Since the dining room is separate (through the opening in the right of the picture) this keeps the peace.
The hob. Quick quiz from my FB translation posting a couple of months back...what's a hob? That's right, a cook top! Still trying to get used to the gas...not a big fan. The door in the right of the picture leads to the garage.
The "office". This is looking from the conservatory, or as we call it, the playroom.
The playroom. It's all glass with a tile floor so it's gets quite cold in the mornings. We have a space heater that we hooked up to a timer so it comes on automatically on the weekend morning so the kids can play without becoming popsicles. According to the landlord it warms up quite nicely during the summer...we'll see about that.
The dining room. This overlooks the garden in the back. I found these amazing, vintage London Underground prints at TK Maxx and just had to have them. Owned by the same company as TJ Maxx. And yes, just as addictive.
The family room. Not used to having it at the front of the house. Especially with the sidewalk right there. But like I said, we're not on a busy street so very few people walk by. I decided against painting the walls. I've always liked purple, just not so much of it. It's the blue carpet that really kills me!
View from the dining room to family room. It's just a stone's throw away!
The garden in the back; view from the dining room.
Jack's room. It was used as an office so there are a lot of built in cubbies. Perfect for storing all his bits and bobs (English term for odds and ends).
Jack's room is too small for a wardrobe so I got creative and screwed in eye hooks on the bottom of the cubbies so he can hang his clothes. The plastic containers above house his "unmentionables".
Mark's room. His is a bit bigger. We could've brought his bed and dresser and they would've fit, but we didn't have exact measurements so it would've been a waste to bring all that and have to either store it or sell it.
The bathroom on Mark's side of the house that both boys use.
The bathroom on the other side of the house. Not a big fan of the seashell motif on the tiles, but I love gray so it goes well with the towels we already had and all my silver accessories.
The shower had this god awful glass enclosure. It was screwed to the wall with a fixed panel then five or six glass panels that could be pivoted to form a semi circular enclosure across the tub so spray from the shower head would not get everywhere. Cool concept, but the thing kept moving. So you'd set it to where you wanted it, shampoo up with eyes closed so nothing dripped in to sting them. But once you opened your eyes that thing had moved and was just inches from your face! It was like it was alive and attacking you.
The master bedroom. It overlooks the front. Our American king size bed b-a-r-e-l-y fits. I had a heck of a time trying to find nightstands that were narrow enough and still allowed the door to be opened with enough space to enter the room without shimming in sideways.
Ahhh, built in wardrobe. Luxury!
The guest room. Ready and waiting for guests!
The wardrobes we assembled from Ikea and they house all our off season clothing and workout gear (since the ones in the master bedroom can't fit everything.) In fact this whole room is from Ikea. The bed, nightstands, lamps, bedding, chest, prints...even the alarm clock and plant on the window sill. Did I mention how much I love that place?
I downloaded some old pictures off the camera the other day and found a bunch I took from our house in Atlanta after all our things were moved out. On one hand I got teary eyed just seeing it, but on the other hand I was shocked at how "large" we lived. Did we really need all that space? Wait. Let me look for a sec from the computer at my surroundings....uh, yep, we did. :)
So that's it! Our neighborhood and humble abode. We are getting used to all their quirks. Like the flock of 172 crows that seem to congregate in the trees at the chapel across the street every day and makes the kids run from the front door to the car for fear of being attacked. Like the water heater that has no max temperature safety setting and heats water so hot it will boil a potato in about a minute if you hold it under the faucet. Like being able to tell what laundry day it is for the neighbors that have no tumble dryer; sheets today, underwear tomorrow. And like having the dining room and family room so close together I feel like we're living at a Hampton Inn.
And now that the weather is finally improving and the garden in back is blooming with all sorts of bulbs and the fruit trees are flowering, we'll get a patio table and chairs. And you know where we'll get it from. That's right... Ikea.
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