We made our own little heaven…

Have you ever lived in a house that makes you feel as though it has been waiting for you ?

I have lived all over Australia and all though we bought homes and put our stamp on them there was something missing and we knew it wasn’t going to be our forever home.

Eventually the boys grew up and left home and it became less important that dad could be home most nights. My husband decided that we should have our own forever home, and he would travel to work and leave me at home to keep the home fires burning.

You must remember we were living in the desert, half an hours drive got you literally in the middle of nowhere. So our forever home we thought needed everything a girl could want or need, plus be walking distance to a beach!

It truly was lovely but for one thing it lacked soul! After about six months of living the life I realised this wasn’t for me but I never said anything to my husband as he just loved the place…

Then his contract finished and there was three months between this one finishing and the next starting. After about two months he said to me, “we only seem to live in the main bedroom (it was big enough to take a big TV unit two big lounge chairs a Queen bed and bedside tables the ensuite was bigger than most bathrooms we had ever had before) the kitchen and the pool area”! He was right after a few discussions we decided to sell… yep we were moving again!

We still wanted to be near to the coast but with a country atmosphere. After quite a few week end drives we decided on the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands. We scoured the internet for all the areas we had decided on and went looking. We saw a lot but we knew this really was going to be our forever home! Nothing did it for us. Then as we were leaving one house that we thought might be it we saw a very forlorn little cottage on the top of a hill with long grass and weeds were in place of a garden. The real estate agent realising he was losing us, asked if we wanted to look at the latter house, why not we were here!

As we walked up the front steps 18 to be exact (we wanted a low set house) we started to feel the atmosphere. We walked through the front door and started to walk down the hallway it was a typical Queenslander all the rooms ran off this hallway (we wanted open plan) we were smitten. By the time we walked out the back door and saw the view my husband turned to me raised his eyebrows and I nodded that was all he needed. He turned to the Real estate agent and said draw up a contract this is the one. Poor man I thought he was going to take a fit, easiest sale I think he had made in years.

Our house is approximately 110 years old it was moved to the land it now sits on from Toowong in Brisbane. It sits high on a hill which gives us beautiful views of the valley and a creek. From the time we both walked through the front door it felt like home. Oh and by the way the said front door opens on its own accord on a regular basis usually at about 5.50-6 pm every night… a previous owner we believe. We have lived through 2 major floods a bushfire and numerous bad storms and yet we feel completely safe in this house as though it wraps its arms around us and says “don’t worry, you are safe”.

Everybody that comes here loves the feel of the place it is very welcoming. Yes, lots of upkeep but that doesn’t matter as with this house it is a labour of love. All the renovations or add ons we do most of the work ourselves. At the moment we are sourcing things for the bathroom.

We have built a big deck so of an evening we can sit and watch the sunset and we have added to this a cob oven, wow stamping the cob is good for your thighs 🙁 NOT!

We pulled just one wall down so we can have the big country kitchen we both love. We are in the process of putting in a fire pit for winter get togethers.

My garden is my place of meditation. As I mentioned earlier this poor house didn’t have a garden and all homes need a garden. In four short years we have a producing vege garden. We have harvested our first real season of fruits. My roses are looking beautiful, the daisies, pansies, kangaroo paws, lavender and Salvias etc are going to give us a magnificent show this year. We have more species of birds than I can mention but I do love my King parrots and my little finches. Wallabies, bandicoots, echidnas, possums and the “bloody” bush turkey are all visitors. We even get a very randy old koala in a tree out the back. First time I heard it grunting it sounded like someone getting killed!

It was as though this house was waiting for us and all our travels were leading us towards it.

All the creaks and groans are very comforting and I am never lonely even when I am alone as you can almost hear him breathing. Individually each of my sons have mentioned after a visit that if we ever want to sell they want to buy!!! Sell… Never! This house has soul and we belong to it! The sign we had made for our little cottage on the hill says it all “DUNNMOVIN”.

Is your home your special place? What makes it so lovely? Tell us in the comments below…