Q is for Quirky (A-Z Challenge 2020)

In January of this year my hubby and I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage of our lives and move house.  I deliberated long and hard about whether it was a good move to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year (pun intended) given that we could be very busy, but decided on balance that having something to focus on might not be a bad idea.  Of course the decision on a theme was much easier to make – Moving House!  

Then Covid-19 put a stop to any ideas of moving so I’ve had to regroup and rethink my posts.  Which means I’m not as prepared as I’d liked to have been but here goes:

Q is for Quirky

The problem with living in a city, especially London, is that in many areas there are lots of houses that are all the same.  That's without including much of the social housing built after the wars.  There are often roads and roads of houses built at the same time that have a very similar footprint.

Many terraced houses for examples have the simple layout of having a hallway going from the front door to the back part of the house, with doors leading to a front reception room, a second reception room (often used for dining) and then the kitchen.  Sometimes beyond the kitchen is a bathroom but more commonly the bathroom is upstairs with 2 or 3 bedrooms depending on the size of the house.

Of course the houses have their own individuality with the way they have been decorated over time by their owners and some will have had the lofts converted, extensions added and/or walls removed.  Few of them are quirky.

When we were looking for our first house these long and narrow house were the sort we were viewing.  They were in our local area - I didn't want to move too far from my Mum at the time and more crucially, within our budget.

Then we found one that was different.  It was an end of terrace and the layout was a central hallway with the reception rooms either side and then the kitchen and a conservatory were across the back.   This made it "double fronted" i.e. a bay window either side of the front door but in terms of floor area it was about the same as it wasn't as deep.  Think short and fat v long and narrow.  Quirky.

I loved the fact that it was different.  I was sold.  We completed the purchase in 1983 and we were married the following year.  Over time (a short space of time!) our 3 children arrived but with 3 bedrooms we weren't too pushed for space.  We hadn't even decided to move.

Then I got the opportunity to view the house we are in now.  (I knew the owner from our kids being at the same preschool.)

This is the floor plan of our house.  It has 6 levels (the living room and dining rom are not on the same level).  The easiest way to describe it is this: imagine a 3 storey house with rooms at the front and the back, then imagine shifting the back up by half a level.

 

You're probably still confused, so was I until I viewed the property.  It was another quirky property and with so much more space than we had at the time.

Well I knew immediately that I wanted this house.  We've been here almost 27 years now.

Ironically it's the quirkyness that's made us decide to sell.  The house worked well while the kids were growing up - they all had their own rooms at various times or the boys doubled up while 1 room became a playroom. But with the living room and kitchen diner being on different levels it doesn't work so well when all the kids come home, especially now they have their own kids too.  And all the stairs are a nightmare with small grandchildren toddling around.

We're also looking to the future and, as we get older, all those stairs could become an issue.

How soon we'll actually be able to move with this virus situation is anyone's guess.  We'll just have to wait and see. I might have to settle for a house that isn't so quirky this time around.