An ode to a house
We leave our little house next month.
I’ve lived here three times. Once while my exhusband’s parents, who first lived here, were away in Europe for three months and we had just arrived in Tasmania and were looking for our own place to rent. Then again when my exhusband’s parents bought a new house and left this one empty, needing to prepare it to sell, and we begged to rent it from them - they allowed it for a year, then my parents bought it from them. And when my exhusband and I separated, he stayed on here and I moved into an apartment - and then a few years later he moved on and I moved back in.
My parents, Dylan and I did lots of work to it - I patched many little cracks, painted it inside and out, changed the front and back yards, worked on lots of little bits and pieces. It has been a constant in Theo’s life; first when his grandparents lived here, then his dad and I, then his dad alone, then me alone, then me and Dylan. It was the house we brought our dogs home to. It was the house we brought Dominic home to. It was the first house Dylan and I lived in together.
It’s a cosy place, sweet, small and comfortable. But we’ve outgrown it. We need more versatile spaces that can grow with us and our new house, two blocks away, will give us this. I am at the stage where I am rearranging furniture in the new house in my mind while I lay in bed at night.
I took some photos of the house to make a Facebook post, to see if any friends might like to rent the house after we have left. It is so hard to have every room in your house tidy simultaneously, especially with children and dogs. It was not possible. I took these photos on different days, after I cleaned one room at a time. It is nice to have nice photos of it (even if I will know about the strategically out-of-shot piles of mess behind me as I am taking the photos). I thought I’d share those photos here and write a few words about this special house which has been the backdrop to so many memories we’ll take with us. And it looks like some friends of ours might move in, which would be lovely.
Things I will miss about our old house
The windows over the kitchen sink, pushed open while washing dishes, with a view over the garden.
The huge lavender bush with fresh purple stalks pointing at the sky, full of bees in Summertime.
Observing the different stages of the Magnolia tree: bare boned in Winter, tiny buds sprouting with the approach of Spring, huge magenta flowers unfurling, majestically blooming, then petals falling, green leaves sprouting, and then in turn yellowing and falling and it all beginning again.
The protea I planted in the front yard, which didn’t seem to be doing so well and then I accidentally snapped off a branch and it bounced back wonderfully and gave me one perfect flower late last year to bid me farewell.
Sitting at the dinner table looking through the little square framed windows at the garden, lush and green during rain.
The old red brick path I made when I was quite pregnant.
The boat shed and fond times when it was once my art studio.
The front door I painted bright red.
The cosy lounge room with no external windows, but with a skylight and a beautiful mantle piece and wainscoting and built in bookshelves and a now-white ceiling which was once a dark terracotta.
The boys’ rooms and memories of them being small in them.
The blue themed bathroom with deep, blue claw foot bath - Dominic has enjoyed splashing in there up to three times a day on especially messy days.
The gas cook top (fingers crossed one might be able to be installed in the new house) and new heat pump (fingers crossed the new house is warm in Winter).
My next door neighbour Kim.
Things I am looking forward to about the new house
A big private front yard with a generously fruiting lemon tree.
A place to park our cars that isn’t directly under a tree full of birds, who enjoy creating Jackson Pollock-esque artworks on my car’s roof.
A yard with space for the boys to have a trampoline and play equipment.
A little covered back area in which to have seating and a BBQ.
A big lounge room with a bay window and a second living space.
A bigger kitchen with space for Dylan and I to cook together.
The big wide eggshell blue hallway with grand little pillars - I’m going to make a ‘gallery wall’ in it.
Living on a quiet cul-de-sac with less through traffic.