Where do you live? What is it like?
I live in Fitzroy. It’s an inner city suburb of Melbourne (South Eastern Australia!) Fitzroy sits just north of the city. It’s bordered by the Fitzroy Gardens to my South and the Carlton Gardens to my west. Eastwards is Collingwood. And further north is North Fitzroy.
We live right on Brunswick Street above our shop. The building is very old and dusty, with mostly poky rooms (except our living room). Luckily the poke is balanced by nice high ceilings. There are no cupboards in our house. No storage at all, which is a challenge. We have lots of bookshelves and vintage suitcases and sets of drawers found by the roadside, which we use to TRY and keep things a bit more organised.
We had to build a makeshift kitchen when we moved in (well… Cam did!) because there was no kitchen. To get to our kitchen, you have to walk outside and take a few steps through the courtyard garden. But that is okay (unless it is raining!) Better than having NO kitchen!
The courtyard has a HUGE wall and fence surrounding it. The offices from next door can peek in, if they want. It’s filled with old bikes and bits and pieces we have collected. It’s a bit of a mess at the moment, but we’ll have it cute as a button for Summer, methinks. Out the back gate is a laneway garden. Cam, Laurie (our neighbour), Max and Ari built it. It’s not really meant to be there, but it provides some lovely greenery and happiness to all the people who live backing on to our lane. Cam is growing peas in there. SOON we can plant all those delicious salad vegetables, too.
We have lived her for four years, nearly. It’s really lovely and quite noisy. We can walk to the city, or out for a drink. Lots of really good things are on our doorstep. At night the streets are clattery and yelly and busy. It’s always noisy, no matter what.
If you drive past our shop, the upstairs windows are our living room. It is LOVELY and LARGE with whitewashed floorboards and an open fire. That is were we will usually be!
Our building is flanked by a row of shops (including a pizza shop, a carpet shop and a soon-to-open lifestyle/homewares store by Rae Ganim), a boarding house and a pub (The Worker’s Club) on the south side. On the north side is The Brotherhood of Saint Laurence. Over the road is a park and the public housing high-rises.
We are less than one minutes walk from the cute Gertrude Street Shopping Precinct. My studio is on Gertrude Street too, along with a whole host of favourite shops and cafes.
It is a really busy, exciting, interesting place to live. And also a bit tiring and loud at times.
That is where I live! Where do you live? What is it like?
xx Pip
Hi Pip, loved reading where you live, I could imagine myself there in your home, you described it sooo well. I'm a former Melburnian, an Essendon girl born and bred. However, I have been living in Ballarat, Victoria for the past 20-odd years, rearing my 2 city-bred boys, then my hayseed baby girl. I always feel safe in Ballarat, whether that's just a perceived idea or not. Ballarat is a lovely big city and a good alternative when moving if you don't want to lose too much of the city-girl facilities. We live in a comfortable, split-level 4 bedroom house with a combustion wood heater (essential and v cosy), a study, 2 bathrooms and 2 living rooms on a huge block of land with many peppermint gums surrounding the house and a messy-but-nice garden. I love coming home after work.
I live in suburbia in an ex housing trust house it is quite small. It has a good vibe. I have lovely neighbours, an Italian lady on the right "hello bella" and a little family on the left who don't talk much but we wave π There are lots of electricians and plumbers in my area; quite a few Sudanese refugees wearing bright prints, lots of old people who don't go out much,lace curtains, no footpaths. I like it; its noice.
Hi Pip,
I recently spent four nights staying at the Brooklyn Arts Hotel in Fitzroy. I LOVED it! Came to your shop and met your lovely hubby too! If I was going to live in a city, Fitzroy would be the place. I live in a small country town in S-W Western Australia, called Denmark. Very quiet and peaceful. I found staying in Fitzroy quieter than I thought it would be.
If you ever want to swap for a week or two, let me know
I concur, this really is a great topic. π
I live in Spotswood which is a suburb of Melbourne, to the west. There is a movie called 'Spotswood' starring Anthony Hopkins, its quaint and quirky about a factory that makes moccasins which you gotta love. My suburb is also is known for its kid friendly museum called Scienceworks. I have a primary school right across the road from me which i was a bit worried would be too noisy for my 18 month old sleep wise, but he seems fine with it. Our house has wooden floorboards and awesome detail around the light fittings, art deco-y i think. Our next door neighbours have a magnolia tree which is pink and beautiful and its petals fall on our side. My lounge room is rather spacious with huge windows so i can see out to our back yard where tabby cat Mittens may be sniffing the compost bin. Spotswood is small but has the all the necessary things, coffee, a newsagent/post office and a place that sells flowers AND the most scrumptious cupcakes. It's home for now.
It is so cool to read about where everyone lives. They all sound so exotic but I guess that is generally the case. The grass is always greener, or cooler or more exotic on the other side.
I live in Hewitt, Texas. It's pretty much right in the middle of the state. We are having a drought. It hasn't rained for almost three months, and so everything is very dry and brown. My neighborhood is currently having all of the sewer and water pipes replaced so the road is all messed up and there is dirt everywhere. There were three men in a very large hole in my front yard this afternoon when I got home from work. Usually it is very green here, even in the summer when it is very hot. The highs for the last three months have averaged 104 F. It's humid too but still no rain.
There is a man-made lake about four miles from house. It's large and usually a nice place for a picnic. We also have the second largest municipal park in the country about 8 miles from home, so that's nice too.
It is mostly rural here but there are over 300,000 people in the area. One good thing about living here is that we are a one and a half hour drive from Dallas (to the north) and a one and a half hour drive from Austin (to the south). Both are very large cities with lots of amenities.
Hi Pip,
I live in a lowset 4 bedroom house in the NW suburbs of Brisbane. It's in an estate so the houses are all less than 10 years old. We live at the end of a culdesac, so the kids are always out the front riding their bikes and scooters and playing with the other kids on the street, while the Mum's watch and have a much needed chat. I love having a chat with the culdesac crew – makes me feel much more of a part of the community. We sometimes have impromptu sausage sizzles and beers out the front on a Saturday night. On a clear night you can see the stars really well. I love hearing about where you live Pip as my Dad grew up in Melbourne not far from where you are I think (he's from Sunshine). Thanks for sharing Pip.
I live in a small mountain town in BC Canada. My house is tiny & I am peeling back the layers to discover what it was 100 years ago. Someone who lived in this house back then sewed because when I pulled up the lino & subfloor I found pins, elastic, ribbon & a small trim board that said sewing room on the back.
I work in a tiny studio out back and there are lots of trees, fruit bushes, gardens & flowers all around. I look out at the mountains & in the morning the sun bathes the house & studio in a wash of golden yellow.
It takes about 10 minutes to walk to town which is very small with one main street. We do have have a chocolatier & a lovely cafe with fresh breads.
wow your place sounds magical. even with the noisiness π i live in washington dc, near eastern market. a small one bedroom apartment in a fourplex brick apartment building at the end of the block, there's a little triangular shaped park. we have a narrow back porch and a tiny yard that my upstairs neighbor likes to use as a dog run but i've etched out a space for plants with rocks surrounding them donated from a neighbor across the street. we know all of our neighbors on the street in the back of our house. the sidewalks are made of brick and there are lots of trees and pretty gardens. i can walk to work in 10 minutes which is a coffee shop surrounded by other small businesses and every weekend there is a big flea/art market. there are lots of bars and resturaunts but mostly we drink at home or on my work's patio! (after work of course..) it's pretty quiet even for living in the city minus the firetrucks that go by daily. come visit! π
So fun hearing how people live. I grew up in Fitzroy (very close to the shop) and then I lived in NYC for 11 years and now I live on a boat called Ondine. My family(my daughter Paloma, my son, Ronan and my husband, James) sailed her from New York to the Caribbean then across the Atlantic. We are in Greece now. It's a fun adventure living on the sea, accept I get seasick a lot, which isn't so fun. Thanks for the blog, it's a lovely taste of Melbourne and more.
Hi all, I live somewhere completly opposite to you pip..I live 21 kms up a windy dirt road in a beautiful little valley surrounded by sub tropical rainforest on a 10 acre propety alongside a lovely river. It takes half an hour to drive to the nearest shop, school etc Luckily we have a great community and we make our own fun, lots of parties, morning teas etc There are lots of birds and more insects than you could imagine in summer. No quick visits to cafes or bars though! Quite a different life but we have similar interests all the same!Have fun!
Hi!
I live in Ballarat, Victoria. We have just moved here from South Australia, where we lived on a boat on the River Murray. We have a Border Collie called Matilda which was a challenge when living on a 1 bedroom boat, although she loves to swim and just used to jump off the back deck whenever she fancied.
But now we live in an old miners cottage near the centre of town which is a big change. We live next door to my brother and sister in law and we have a gate that goes through the back fence to each others houses. It's really nice. We finally could get all our furniture out of storage where it has been for years and years. When we unpacked it it was like getting a whole new set of furniture, because we had forgotten what was in the boxes.
I like Ballarat. It is pretty and still in the country and we have family that come over all the time which is so great. Before it was just Chris, Matilda and I, and a whole lot of pelicans and ducks.
I really like reading about everyone's homes. It is like Christmas when I try to see people's Christmas trees in their front windows.
A big hello to all from Geraldton! We're about 450kms north of Perth WA. Our little old house is in the old part of town and was built in 1890. I like to think what might have been happening in other parts of the world when our place was being built. Made of stone with lots of add-ons over the years including ours. We've lived here for over 20 years now. Such a great area, so central. A walk to the beach, art supply shop (where I work) fruit and veg, fish and chips or into town. Our backyard has a bus where my husband works from, a boat(the "water feature") a vegie patch, the trampoline, a shed, and lots of tired old cupboards which I keep rusty things in! Our kids are big now and almost at leaving home stage. I dont know if we'll always live here. I'd like to build something really groovy but hard to leave the area. Have really enjoyed reading about other peoples homes. What a lovely big old world we live in together! cheers, Sue x
Love where you live and reading all the comments… and "seeing" all the different places people call home!!!
Our family, with eight kids, live in a two bedroomed home in a quiet culdesac in a small beach town, Fish Hoek, South of Cape Town.
We are two minutes from everything a tall mountain for clambering behind us. A wide open beach that stretches for miles two minutes away. We are also across the road from a laundry, very handy for the ironing… a block from the library and a block from the store. Luckily we can walk wherever we need to be because our car is always broken!!!
Our house is about eighty years old, but it has an old wall that used to be behind our house that has a row of stone ovens built into it. The ovens were used for baking bread on market day, our house is on the edge of the old town square. We built onto our kitchen to include the beautiful wall… so we have a huge kitchen, where we do most of our living, school, eating – food is life after all!!!
Old houses have big rooms. Luckily!!! Our four big boys share a room and then our eldest daughter has her own bed sized nook off our bedroom and we still share a great big family bed with our little kids and I wouldn't change it for the world…
We have a deck above the kitchen where we can watch the whales right now – it is whale season!!! And a small garden… but a park at the top of our street, to enjoy. I wish we could walk to a good coffee shop, but alas no!!! Even more I wish we could walk to a good book shop, but no!!! There is however a fabulous Indian cuisine restaurant just on the corner.
Probably the most striking thing about our house is that I am mad for funky colors and though we moved into a house where every wall was a shade of white, now their isn't a white wall in sight. Not only do I love bright colors but paint names are so yummy!!! So our walls range from summer lime to winter green and brick red and ocean blue… not a patch of white anywhere!!!
That's about it… Our Home. Thanks for sharing!!!
This has to be the best post EVER! I live on the south coast in England, near Beachy Head where we often go to eat fish and chips and gaze out into the sea and the beautiful views. Unfortunately we don't have those amazing views from our house as we live about 8 miles from the coast in a 1950's 3 bedroomed semi. We had plans to move recently but have decided to stay put and build me a workshop/studio in the garden. I've so enjoyed reading where others live. Thank you for asking us! X
Your place sounds amazing. I am sure I would lose a few pounds if my kitchen was a walk across a courtyard, especially with British weather! We live in a 1970 bungalow in the South of England. We have wonderfully kind and friendly neighbours who are mostly retired. Our house was previously owned by an older lady so when we moved in, it needed a lot of updating. We still have an original turquoise bathroom and 1980s kitchen, which I am currently revamping. We are also making changes to the garden, which wraps around the house and is quite large. Not being gardeners is a bit of a challenge for us, although our 18 year old nephew is helping us to create our dream garden. We absolutely love where we live and can't imagine living anywhere else (at the moment!). Thanks for sharing with us where you live. It sounds like an amazing place. xx
I live on the 20th floor of a new building in Manhattan's west side. I love our apartment because it's so full of light. We're about to move to a small town by the sea in England (if you're going for change, go BIG, I say…). I was in Melbourne in February and actually went to your shop so I can actually picture what you're writing about! Just lovely. Claire
Hi Pip
Were currently living in Vancouver, Canada. We live in the West End which is right down town, next to Stanley Park. We're a few blocks from the water at either end of our street.
We live in an apartment building. The building has a gym & a swimming pool & the lobby & hallways make it feel like you're coming home to a hotel. We have a one bedroom apartment on the first floor. We fell in love with it in spring when the tree outside our balcony had cherry blossoms all over it. Across the street is a faux-tudor style low lying apartment building which reminds me of England when I look at it.
On the balcony I'm growing mint & basil and I have a tomato plant which has tiny green tomatoes on it. This is the first time I have successfully been able to grow anything, living in Alice Springs previously it was just too hot (that or it was me forgetting to water them, they need lots of water, even in a temperate climate like Vancouver).
Alas we are packing up in a weeks time & moving back to Alice Springs, the beautiful Central Australian desert town. I cant wait to see the red sand.
xx
Hi π
I live in Lithuania. My family lives in little city Plung?, where I lived most of my life too. It's really nice city, we have quite big house. Through window of our living room I can see big lake. I like to sit on the windowsill in living room and watch sunrises. The sky is gorgeous when days are sunny.
But in fall I'll have to come back to university so I'll have to move back to second biggest city in Lithuania, Kaunas. I live in flat there so I enjoy advantages of living in house as much as possible while I can π
Always fascinating to know hwere people live – tends to sound much more exotic then where you live yourself! I live in Preston, in the north west UK, in a two up, two down terrace built in 1895. I have a lovely yard full of plants and window boxes. The house is small but with massively high ceilings! We have some lovely neighbours and some noisey neighbours, general inner city life! Although Preston is not preety, in an hour we can be in the beautiful Lake District or the city of Manchester – so its all good!
I lived above a shop in Lygon Street that used to design wedding invitations and the like. My cat Lolly used to run downstairs and into the shop two minutes before I got home every day, which amused the ladies who worked there no end!
Now I live in a rambling Victorian house with a turret in a British sea-side town. When we first took the kids to view it my son said it looked like Hogwarts, so we make him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. Kidding.
What a lovely invitation, Pip… it's wonderful reading about everyone's homes and where they live.
I live in Orelia which is a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It feels a bit like a country town here and it is unashamedly a workers area… you can buy ugg boots at the checkout of the local supermarket… have to love that!
I share my home with a sooky dog, a neurotic cat, an old senile cat, a big pond full of goldfish and four chooks who dash up to me and then squat down waiting for me to pat them… its never boring here!
I haven't been here long so I'm still painting the walls (every room was bright green!) and I haven't got any of my art on the walls yet… can you believe there were no picture hooks?!
Today I bought a bunch of gardening and craft books in a second hand book sale and so they are brightening my coffee table until I pack some of my clutter!
Hello Pip!
I like visiting Melbourne and Sydney but I am glad I live in the suburbs of Canberra! My boyfriend and I just bought our first house and we love it!
We live next to a reserve near a creek and a man-made lake. Canberra is ace because it has lots of good bike tracks and some go through our reserve. I can cycle to the shops past a lake and all the ducks and people walking their dogs.
I like gardening and have enjoyed planting lots of plants (the previous owners didn't have a garden)and making compost.
I have also painted some of my walls bright colours.
We have a lovely sun room where I have sat over the cold Canberra winter crocheting and knitting.
Pip, this post is wonderful, I just read every comment and now I want to live in Fitzroy, Tasmania, cairns, whales, nz, germany, zambia and all the rest. What a wonderful would blogging is sometimes. I know that tonight I am going to have magical dreams about far away places full of beautiful images. I just adore the way you think. I live in melbourne and am currently building my dream home which I hope will be beautiful, but more importantly I hope it is filled with family, friends and love.
Hi Pip and everyone! I live in Horsham in Victoria. It's a small town, but not too small, about 18,000 people live here. I live in a triple fronted weatherboard house that was built in the 40s and still has most of it's original features. Except someone before me built on a hair dressing salon room at the back! My house has three bedrooms and a lounge/dining room, as well as the hairdressing room. I live here just with my two cats, my teenage daughter still has a room here but she has moved to the city to go to university so doesn't come home often. I have lots of space and I feel guilty because I have a big garden and a huge shed (someone else before me built it to house stock for a cannery!) which I don't use at all, I hate gardening. I live on the outskirts of town so get mice from the fields etc. here but they soon change their minds when they meet my two cats! It's very quiet and peaceful here, which I love. I really love my house and count my blessings every day!
Hi Pip,
I live on King Island, Tasmania. It's a small island halfway between Victoria and Tassie. We are living in a 100 year old converted church on 23acres, there is nothing but ocean between us and Argentina (if you travel in a Westerly direction), it's quite remote. We have been here for about 2 months now and we are loving it, we will probably be here for about 18months. It's a bit like going back to the 50's, it's very safe and the older kids can wander without me having to worry too much (a hard habbit to break). The house overlooks the ocean and as such the only noise we hear is the ocean or the wind gusts. We just got some chickens and today we got our first two eggs, the children are very excited. I love that my 8 and 10 year old kids will remember this experience for the rest of their lives. My 3 year old may remember bits and pieces but who knows where we may go next!
Hi Pip and everyone else!!
Pip, I love that you live above the shop! I've always wanted to do that – my granparents used to live above their cafe (ages ago), and I always just found the idea of leaving work, then trudging upstairs to your own warm, yummy home so appealing.
So, I'm a fellow Aussie, living in Canberra. I love my home and it's location is just AMAZING! We live in the Inner North suburbs, highly residential, 5 mins to the hospital, shopping centre, etc.
However, where we are lucky, our house runs parallel to a HUGE nature reserve, so down one side of our house, the side that is all windows, we have no neighbours! Just a rolling hill, a creek, thousands of trees, kangaroos, kookaburras, blue tongues and a gorgeous family of echidnas (so cute!). Its the most amazing place to watch storms too. You can see clear to the Brindabella mountains.
I adore our house too. It's only 35 years old, but it was built by my Mum and Dad before I was born. It came up for sale a few years ago and I snapped it up so quick! I have the best childhood memories of the home and it feels like no other place to me. I'm a diehard sentimentalist! It's all tall walls, exposed beam ceilings, wooden floors and open plan living.
Lucky for me, my Hubby and my cat and pup love it too π We also have a great neighbourhood, and have a couple of street parties every Summer down on the reserve.
Canberra is also suprisingly fun and quirky. If any of you ever visit, grab a local and ask for the good place to go or check out a whats on Canberra guide. Being between Sydney and Melbourne, we also get heaps of great gigs, lucky for my muso hubby π
Luvluv,
Sway
Hi Pip
Your place sounds like a real fantasy home. Awesome.
We live in a small market town in rural Lincolnshire in the UK. Our house is on 3 floors and is an 1839 town house. It has loads of rooms and high ceilings and now we are just 2 we rattle around and just love it. We have a cosy garden divided into little spaces and a large summer house. We count our blessings every day…and I now have a dedicated sewing room…It's only taken me 44 years!!
Jenny
I love thinking about where and how people live all over the world. I live in Malvern, a small market town in Worcestershire, England. It is famous for its water, which you can collect out of the hills and those hills which raise rather magnificently out of the Worcestershire plain. We can see North Hill out of our bedroom. I have lived in many places – Bath, London, Manchesterand NZ as an adult but I have to say that this is where I feel at home – whenever we return my heart lifts when I see those hills.
Our house was built in 1899 and is a typical red brick semi. We knocked the front two rooms into one and that is where we sprawl. The boys tend to gather by the telly/wii taking up more space than you can imagine. I am often found on the 'posh' sofa at the other end using the natural light of the big window to crochet or sew by. I like that we can be in the same space but use it so differently. In the winter we are clustered around the wood burner, rosy in its glow. I love that burner!
We are currently thinking about how we use the upstairs space – think there will be a big move around soon!
hello! we live in a one bedroom flat in Cardiff, Wales. It's a bit of a squish in the flat for two people and a kitty (small rooms no storage) but it's a cute flat and really quiet and in a nice area. we have an amazing arts centre/cinema/bar 10 minutes walk away and lot of little shops and a library. Otherwise we can walk in to the city centre quite easily (takes about 30 minutes).
Our flat is filled with books and cds and little nicknacks.
Oh wow it just sounds magical! My mum lives in Cairnes and I've always been a bit 'meh' about visiting her in Aus, mainly because of the cost, but also because where she lives looks pretty boring and too hot.
It was only when I got into blogging that I realised that there were lots of cool peeps in Aus and have developed a desperate urge to go to Melbourne! Shame it's so far away from where my mum is.
Anyway, I live in a small place called Faringdon, Oxfordshire, England. It's pretty rural and fairly dull, but very pretty and peaceful. We moved here from the coastal city of Brighton 2 years ago as we couldn't afford a bigger place- I miss Brighton lots, but do feel at home here now.
Our house is a 3-storey 2 bedroom cottage with a wood burning stove. Our bedroom is in the attic. Very cozy xx
Hi Pip – I might be your only reader in Zambia, right in the middle of Africa. We usually live on the beach at Bondi, but for now we are hanging out with our family in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Life is pretty different here. We are a long way from the ocean. I wrote about our little wooden house in the bush here:
https://fiveflemings.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/the-little-wooden-house/
I love your writing, in fact it is part of the reason I started my blog. Thank you!
Tsalani bwino as they say in Nyanja. Stay well.
Julia
you do live in a pretty sweet spot!
i live in the inner west of sydney in a 2 bedroom flat with my husband. it's a great spot, and a nice big apartment but my one complaint: it has no outdoor space whatsoever! this sucks in sunny sydney. definitely a priority next time around, but you can't have everything right? xx
Hi Pip!
Thanks for showing your home, I could almost see where you live! :O)
I live in a tiny village in Germany, near Wiesbaden (30km)! We have a pop. of almost 1.000 and only have 1 Resaurant and no Bar, no Cafe, no Bakery, no Shop!
IΒ΄t beautyful, where i live, i can see Dears in my back yard, and my sun and the dog can walk araound without me having to be scared that they might get run over by a car, BUT, i have to DRIVE everywhere! If you do not have a car, you are LOST! My sun goes to school in Wiesbaden, so i have to drive every day (at least to the car pool) anyway!
I love were i live, it is so quiet and beautyfull, BUT your home sounds soooo interesting to me!!!!
Thanks for asking and showing!
Please excuse my english, i am german!
Many greetings from HΓΌnstetten-Bechtheim
Claudi
Well Hello from Napa, California. We live in an older neighborhood (locals say "in the tree streets" as the streets are named Pine, Elm, Laurel, etc.). Our home is rented from friends who live next door–little girls sharing a big backyard playspace while individual yards each hold gardens and chicken coops. Our home was built in 1923 with many original features and newer conveniences built in. Oldest daughter rides her bike to high school (first year) and I drop my youngest at her Waldorf school in the middle of vineyards. Tourists abound–sometimes it feels like we live in Disneyland. But oh the weather here is lovely as are the people. It's quiet here–nothing but crickets and an occasional car passing by. Windows open at night, foggy mornings. Thanks for making me pause a moment to think about this lovely home.
Hi Pip, I live in the outter suburbs of Brisbane on a half an acre and commute to the CBD everyday because I love going home to quietness, lots of trees and birds in my backyard. On weekends I love spending time outside pottering around and kicking balls with the kids. Each night when all the lights go out in my neighbourhood it is almost pitch black, especially when there is no moon and you can hear the possums in tree and the occasional bat flying past. I don't mind the time spent commuting in the car each day because I get to sleep in my peaceful & quiet neighbourhood.
I'm a expat Aussie living the mild life up in Hong Kong .. noisy in most places I've lived but I'm now over the south side in Aberdeen – a lot less noisy at night but my 9th floor apartment overlooks a very busy main road so the days are still particularly noisy.
I live in a one bedroom apartment in Sydney, with my husdband & children (ages 6 & 4.5). It's a bit squished, there's basically 2 rooms plus the bathroom.
The big room has the kitchen, dining table, study desks, lounge, kids' beds and washingmachine (in the laundry section). It means that when the kids go to bed, they can still see us up studying/using computers. We have to whisper until they go to sleep. Luckily, we can turn most of the lights off & still see the computer screens. I guess the kids rarely feel lonely, although they might want more personal space. I don't know how long we can keep this setup, but the kids are ok with it so far.
The other room is our bedroom/ my studio/the kids' playroom. We let them jump on the bed like a trampoline – it burns off energy & they don't annoy the person downstairs by running around.
Luckily, we have many cupboards. We seem to fit everything we need into our home. I'd like a smaller sofa one day, then I could rearrange and tidy even more.
A community veggie garden has started up near us (council approved!) I'm very thankful for that.
Don't we all live in such different places?
I live in Anchorage, Alaska where at the moment it is damp and rainy. I live on an L shaped street that dead ends in the middle of four busy roads. They were not so big and busy when we bought our house 20 years ago. We are a half mile walk from the forest, an elementary school, a video store, and one of my dearest friends. We have another elementary school less than a half mile in a different direction. Even though we are near busy roads our area is pretty quiet most of the time. We have a nice size back yard, and a front yard. Out the front windows I have an awesome view of the Chugach Mountains.
Hi Pip,
Thanks for sharing your world, sounds grand! We live in opposite worlds, I live in a little village (pop. 250!) in Cootamundra in country NSW about an hour from Wagga Wagga with my hubby & 2yo. We live on a little over an acre but surrounded by 'crown land' so it feels allot bigger, our neighbour has ten acres and on the other side is a big farm so it's all open & nice & quite here. I spend my time doing motherly stuff & trying to stop hubby bringing home a zoo full of animals (we only have 3 so far). I love visiting cities but I love living in the country. I grew up on 2 acres but closer to a city (near Newcastle) so I'm kind of used to it being quiet & don't like having neighbours on three sides of me (when we've rented various houses) as I feel cramped, I like being able to be noisy & have no one hear it. Also a bonus of where we are now is no traffic, like ever.. makes for less stress in life! We get to visit Newcastle & Sydney a bit to see family which is nice. I have only been to Melbourne once for a quick long weekend and I'm keen to go back & explore more one day now we're a bit closer. I love shopping, so it's probably a good thing that the shops are a bit lacking in these parts otherwise I'd be broke! π
xo Katie
http://sweetrustic.blogspot.com
Hey Pip
I live in an inner Sydney suburb about 9kms from the CBD. Our little street has houses on one side and a primary school on the other. It is a really good little school with quite a diverse range of students and an arts/music focus. My kids will be going there starting with our eldest next year. It is great that we are so close to the school but at drop off and pick up times our street is full of cars and can be a little frustrating. We can see the city fireworks from our street at NYE which is great. Our property prices have skyrocketed in the last couple of years with everyone wanting to live here, young couples/families & empty nesters. The great thing is that we have a great cultural mix of migrants – Greeks, Vietnamese and with that a great range of shops and restaurants. There are also some funky cafes, yoga centres, galleries opening up which is really modernising the area.
Our house was built in an estate for returned soldiers of WW1. Before that on this site was a Victorian Gothic mansion and rabbit farm! We have a park at the end of our street and another block away is a river with bike tracks and parks either side. We are also walking distance to a major supermarket, buses and 2 train stations. On the weekends one of the parks near our place hosts weekend soccer so that will be good if either of our boys are interested in playing. I love living in such a metropolitan place that is still reasonably quiet. If only our house was a bit bigger for our family of 5.
Are you planning to move after you close the shop?
dxx
Your place sounds great. I live in a beautiful leafy suburb of Diamond Creek, I have the Yarra Valley on the left side of my backyard, & a view of the city skyline way in the distance on the right side. The only noise I get are from the numerous birds that play in my garden, where they find food & water anytime. I have a great big kitchen garden growing on my acre property and probably every type of rose you can imagine. My house is on the highest point in Diamond Creek so my view is spectacular. My house is pretty boring compared to yours, it's just rectangle and regimented like most suburban homes but I'm lucky to have a super-fab art studio attached to it… I like the sound of yours better. I've tried to live closer to the city, but I just couldn't settle. I like to wake up in the morning, make a cuppa and go outside and feel grass beneath my feet and birds singing, sometimes feeling like it's just for me. My back lawn is my meditation mat, my reading room and my painting studio… and I thank the Universe that I even have a roof over my head everyday.
Peace & love
I love the way you write Pip!
I live in Kentuckiana. Funny name huh, well its the border between Kentucky and Indiana in the states.
I live in a semi-quiet neighborhood, except for the occasional thumping beats from a car, or dogs barking (usually mine, named Penny), or the ice cream truck. We live in a brick house with white shutters. If you come to my door around five you might smell something cooking. The three kids running around waiting for daddy to drive up on his moped or he may take his bicycle. Our neighborhood was built in the 60's and house many of the original residents. My neighbor, a widow, told me about the neighborhood when it was dirt and she had her house built. We live about ten minutes from the Ohio River, and it's quite nice to watch barges and ferry boats go by as you can walk alongside. We have a beautiful fireworks show on Independence day. Our summer is nearing an end, and I can't wait to see all the trees change to beautiful fall colors.
I've never left the states before, but I would love to one day π
I think Fitzroy would be a lovely place to live.
I live in Sydney in a little suburb called Waverton. We are a couple of train stops from the city, just over the harbour bridge. You can walk to three different reserves on the harbour in just a couple of minutes from our place, so although we are just a hop from town it is very peaceful. We have a little village of shops with some cute cafes down the hill and the very busy business district of North Sydney up the hill.
Our suburb is full of old homes. We live in a late 1920's art deco apartment in a building with five others. It has beautiful wooden floorboards, high ceilings and seven separate rooms all filled with mess and clutter.
We have a little shared garden where we grow herbs, vegetables and native flowers.
It is a lovely place to live, for now.
I live in New England in the USA. It is gorgeous – just like all the photos you see of the red barns, corn in July and August, pumpkins in October, autumn colored trees in the fall, old houses and towns from the 1700s and 1800s. We actually felt the earthquake here today that happened in Virginia! Scary! But it's been a horribly hot summer and our grass and plants are in a sorry state.
Sounds neat-o. I live in a quiet neighborhood in Athens, Georgia, USA. Our street is a dead end, so there is no traffic, but you can hear the near by streets when it is busy. It is near the fire station, so sometimes we hear that. Our home is woodsy and we have a back yard and front yard. It is so hot here lately, it looks like all my plants are sad! I am ready for cooler days!
Hi Pip, completely different to me π and that makes it wonderful. I live in Upwey, in the Dandenong Ranges, which is at the outer eastern edge of suburban Melbourne. I live on 3/4 of an acre – but it is a steep hillside with a couple of flat areas carved into it. My children have strong legs. It has tall eucalyptus trees on the block, and wattles, and native mint bushes, and other lovely flowering things that we have planted. We have haphazard vegie patches placed for catching the little sun we get and placed where it isn't too steep. It is overgrown and jungle like in parts, we have to get on top of it for the coming fire season again, but it has been so wet that we are hoping for another safe summer like last year, so we don't live on the edge of our seats! We look across the treed valley towards Belgrave South, to the east. There is a horse paddock in the field below and park land next to it where people walk dogs and ride their mountain bikes. We have no footpath just a narrow windy road, that some years back was sealed, but it is still just a track LOL. It is quiet and relaxing here. My husband and I work here (well I try to) we spend most of our time here. We listen to screaching parrots and the beautiful songs of Carrowongs (I love them so much). When it rains it is like living inside a water fall. I couldn't live anywhere else now. But sometimes we have to go somewhere else for a different flavour, then come home and just breathe!
Your place of abode sounds wonderful, living in the city is something I would love to do but it's never happened except for a sleepover some nights to go to dinner or a show. I particularly love the city in the summer, not sure why, I think it's the smells more than the hustle and bustle that I like.
I live in Frankston, yup that's right 'Franga'. I don't wear moccasins unfortunately because I don't have any otherwise I would. I love living by the sea. I'm a Piscean so water is my thing. We have a half acre back yard, a big garden and pool and in the summertime I pretend I live in Bali.
Wow! I want to visit your house!! I think that I would either want to be living out in the countryside on a beautiful block of land (with a creek, orchard, what have you), OR living as you do, right in the centre of the hustle and bustle… Like a story book!
We live on the edge of a very busy main road in Auckland. The night before last a car crashed into the bus stop that is directly outside our bedroom window. We were woken at 2am by the sound of smashing glass (no one was hurt thank goodness!), which was quickly followed by the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.
Sometimes I try to pretend we are a railway house, it makes the traffic noise seem more romantic!