Listmania 9: The Things That Make Me Happy At Home

I had mixed feelings about this list. I love our little house back in New Zealand. It was decorated to our taste with furniture we had chosen ourselves. Some lucky family is enjoying our wee house currently.

We have lived for the past 33 months in a furnished apartment. The location is fantastic. It is a good size by Singapore standards and it is a perfectly fine place to live. It just isn't us. The furniture is not what we would choose. We haven't really put much up on the walls as we don't know how long we are going to be here. While it feels like home because the people and animals I love are here, it will always feel temporary. The expat life is a transient one and it is tricky to put down too many roots, knowing how hard it will be when the inevitable move comes.

It was a great exercise though, in looking at the things I do like about my home. Funnily enough almost all of those things were outside our actual apartment and more to do with the views and neighbourhood. It has certainly made me think.

 Without question, the thing I love most about my house are the night views. Singapore is a beautiful city during the day but it is just stunning at night. There are so many amazing vistas and we are fortunate enough to look out towards Orchard Road (the main shopping area) from our apartment.

The views looking into the neighbouring buildings aren't too shabby either.

The large tree to the left of this photo is a protected banyan tree and people in the neighbourhood regularly leave offerings for the spirits who live in it.

We do not live in a super flash condo but we do have a nice pool that hardly any of the residents use. I took these photos yesterday afternoon on a warm slightly overcast Sunday afternoon. We had the pool to ourselves for over an hour.

Miss Three loves the pool and is becoming quite a good wee swimmer. It is so nice to just pull on our togs, hop in the lift and be at the pool.

One of the things we love is the falling down old 30's mansion over the fence from us. It is on a hugely valuable piece of land and could have a couple of blocks of apartments on it easily. Given that apartments in this area sell for amazing sums of money it never ceases to amaze me that it remains a jungly plot.

You can see how much greenery we have kept with the dilapidated old house in front of us. We will be very sad when it is eventually bulldozed and replaced with something new.

 

This is the view of our building from down below at the pool. We live half way up it on the ninth floor. We get great views but I imagine those on the top floors are even better. 

 

It is a bit tricky to get a photo in my room without disclosing the usual state of chaos. I do love my bed if not the bed itself. It really is not our style but it is comfortable and very occasionally I get a good night's sleep in there.

Part of the reason it is hard to take a photo is the new addition of Miss Three's Big Girl Bed to our bedroom. We have had ongoing sagas with her sleep which has meant that no one is sleeping very well. We are going to try her in her bed in our room this week. Hubby is away for work until next Wednesday so it seems a good time to try something different. I will love this part of the house if it means better sleep for us all!

 I always love the place where my current crafting project is located. With Project Life it would be fair to say it is often the lounge floor as I seem to need to spread out.

My Ikea cart is another fave. It has all my Project Life supplies as well as odds and sods from various knitting and scrapbooking projects too. It is not very well organised but one day it will be!

My coffee machine must get a mention again. I love it so! It does keep our lives running more smoothly. I had kicked my coffee addiction and was no longer suffering from headaches if I went without a coffee but unfortunately they are back so a daily espresso based drink is a must.

This is a representative photo of the more wide ranging clutter that goes with Miss Three. She does have a big box in which to store her shoes but she loves to tip them all out and arrange them. These are just her school options that she sorted out the other day. She really does like her shoes.

I am not entirely sure that I have a list that is quite what was intended but it is a list of what I like at home right now. It has made me think a bit more about making this place our own but as we might only be here for a couple more months it is hard to get too comfortable!

I would love to see your happy places.

Please link up here at Home Life Simplified and let me know in the comments if you take part. I love to see the spaces that make people happy. Deb has a cracker list prompt up for next week too.