The grand reveal. Are you reading, Mum?!
While we’ve been getting used to things like hearing people walking up the stairs or coughing in neighbouring apartments, I have been love love loving the brief walk to the bus and home again! The trip to work is a grand total of 20 minutes, instead of 40 minutes. Who doesn’t love a 50% reduction in travel time?!
Even without all the luxuries, like the grass, forest and pool, from our previous “castle”, we feel very at home here. Amazingly, despite upsizing from 2.5 rooms to 5.5 rooms, we didn’t have to buy too much stuff either. We bought a higher bed to see out the bedroom window (in the Stöckli we had a low bed because of the slanted roof), a cupboard, a clothes rack and two standing lamps. Everything else (except for the hammock!) was from inside the Stöckli too. It was a veritable Tardis!
So without further ado, here’s our new apartment. Sorry about the lack-lustre photography. I’m home with tonsillitis and couldn’t be arsed making art. And speaking of art, all the art work is by Leo. Clever chap!
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- A blanket and neck pillow, along with a sudoku book and pen, live in the hammock, ready at all times!
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- The hammock lives in my office. I love it. Call me a swinger; see if I care!
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- Desk and drawers, from where all the ditties are delivered and divided
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- Candles and lights, trying to be zen
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- I may take the postcard board away … unsure … I like the distraction of colours and memories so it will probably stay
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- A few of my favourite things
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- The little bottle of nice smellies hidden at the back is definitely one of my favourite things
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- Had my first bath today, since my niece’s in Melbourne, November 2014. Delish!
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- There’s a sliding door between the bathroom and toilet, hence the two wash basins. Odd, but it will be good when visitors are here. The bathroom has it’s own entrance door too, but I keep it closed and just access via the loo. This downstairs bathroom has very quickly become mine!
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- The divider between the rooms. Cleaning two basins? No problem!
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- The hall outside the bathroom, with the linen cupboard and entrance to my office at the end
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- I call this the middle room, which is the guest room, as it’s in between our offices. We store coats and shoes in this room too, and use it daily. As soon as we come home we walk into this room and take shoes off etc
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- Shoes and coats, with hats and gloves in the white boxes
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- Leo’s room is long. He’s still sorting things out as he’s spent all his time getting the whole house ready and left his room til last
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- A nice space for Leo to create more paintings hopefully!
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- The front door, which comes at the top of the second set of spiral stairs. You have to close the front door before you can walk upstairs to the gallery level
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- Looking from the front door towards the kitchen, dining room, living room and balcony
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- Love the big windows in the lounge area
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- Can’t wait to cook pizzas in the wooden stove
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- Oh hello skylight and plants up there!
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- Standing near the balcony door looking towards the kitchen
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- We have the space to keep the table extended now. Our drinks cabinet is an ex CD unit.
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- Looking from inside the kitchen through the peep hole to the dining room
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- From one end of the kitchen
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- And the other end of the kitchen
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- Looking from the kitchen door down to the guest room with Leo’s office and the front door on the right
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- The stairwell to the gallery level. We need to hang the painting on the floor (which looks like a slim Winston Churchill running) on the blank wall but need a special ladder to access it
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- This is our kids corner – Roberto Birdo, Freda Vogel and Roger (Rogu) the Rat have been part of our family since shortly after I arrived in Switzerland
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- The gallery is a nice place to sit. I am planning a cactus and succulent garden for Leo
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- Looking from the gallery into the lounge. How very 80s!
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- Practical storage and a skylight which goes into the kitchen. Makes it much lighter in there
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- Downstairs has red stripes in the tiles, upstairs has yellow accents. I like how we matched the bath towels to the Listerine colour 😉
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- The open shower and towel-warming rail. I always wanted one of those
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- Our bedroom
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- Strange built-in wooden bench makes for a nice display space. I’m happy to keep it clear
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- Creatures bring colour
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- The window to the Alps
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- Greenery, music and necklaces. The CD is from the buskers I watched in London last year, where the little girl danced along with her doll
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- Our very dirty balcony which needs to be jet hosed and given some TLC. How appropriate that the bus came past! The tower is attached to the rural supermarket. Conveniences!
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- I want to make the end wall into a vertical garden with herbs etc
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- The bottom of the fields from Oberwohlen. We used to live up the hill to the right
So there you have it! Everything, apart from the balcony, is pretty much finished. Not bad for two schmucks doing it all on their own over three weeks. I think that’s contributed to my tonsillitis though. We’ve worked hard, carrying everything up two sets of spiral stairs to the front door and another set to the gallery level. No fights were had either, I promise!*
I’m really looking forward to working on the balcony and getting it established in spring. We’ll have an outdoor table and chairs and hopefully that vertical garden wall!
We look forward to welcoming guests. Will you be coming over?
Wishing you a wonderful day.
* I lie.
fitfor15in15 ... and further 
Love it Ange & Leo. Looks bloody marvellous.
Keep the postcard board. Love everything. A beautiful home for two beautiful souls.
xxxxxx
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Aww thanks curlymint77, we can’t wait to have you all here! xx
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I adore home tours ;o!! And I love this one, you’ve done so well getting sorted so fast… and I like the Swiss touches everywhere 😉
It does remind me of the Swiss flat we had when I was a teenager in the early 80s with the gallery, you’re right. My mom had a huge collection of plants on the edge of the gallery :).
Gosh, I didn’t realise Leo is such a prolific artist – great colours!
All the best for your new home – it certainly looks as if you’ll be enjoying it. And get well soon – NeoCitran is such a comfort 😮
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Ahahahaha yes, this is the most generic could-be-anywhere-in-the-world apartment for sure. Not a patch on the Swissness of the Stöckli. But I am enjoying not having to duck when going through doorways, staying within my own building to do washing and, yippee, using real stairs instead of a ladder. I’ve been joking that Leo is now sighing with relief that he doesn’t have to see me do my best Bridget Jones impersonation, walking down it backwards!!
Space for Leo’s paintings was limited before and now we have many opportunities! So cool to know your mum filled the gallery with plants too. I hope to have some strand lights and “blooming magic” (potted flowers) there before too long. Slowly, slowly, although yes, we have set things up very quickly – the beauty of being able to move a few boxes at a time over three weeks, as opposed to the removalists dumping everything in your lounge room on one day!
I look forward to reading more of your news and seeing any new knitting again soon. Or are you all knitted out?!
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Looks all very wonderful and sounds like the joys of more space and being close to transport are weighing out the loss of the farm setting/alps. Continue enjoy nesting
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Thanks Judy. The spare room is ready for your next visit! Imagine that – a whole room where you can close a door and hang clothes 🙂 Yahoo!
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[…] the new apartment (here’s a photo tour if you haven’t been here before), we have a bath. I had a bath in Sydney before I moved to […]
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