Dear future
houseguests,
It's been a long time
coming but we're finally ready to introduce our new apartment to the world. All
of the furniture is finally here and after some long nights and a lot of
laughs, it's all assembled and in one piece. It was a long road to settle in to
our home away from home, and we hope that this post will help you understand a
bit more about what our daily life looks like and shed some light on the
process for anyone thinking of moving to Australia as well.
Some of you already know
that when we landed, we didn’t have a long-term place to live. At the time, we
were booked to stay in Tom’s apartment through
Air Bnb. If anyone finds themselves in the
Melbourne area, you’re of course welcome to stay with us but if that doesn’t
work out, Tom’s place is a fantastic alternative. He was a lovely host and we
were greeted to Tim Tams and Australian wine upon our arrival. Tom’s place is
in Carlton, a suburb just north of the main CBD (central business district) of
Melbourne. It is best known for the bustling Lygon street, filled with cafes,
restaurants, shops and parks. Once we were settled it was time to find our new
apartment. This led to Linnea spending hours online booking appointments for
showings and compiling detailed schedules of showings, travel times and
suburbs. In less than a week we’d seen almost twenty different apartments
across the city and northern suburbs. Something interesting about Australia –
individual apartments (or flats) are leased by brokers, not the landlords. This
means the application process is lengthy and competitive. It also means that
full buildings can have apartments owned by many different landlords, instead
of a central building authority like in Canada.
In the middle of this
process we were fortunate enough to meet up with a fellow Queen’s alum and
current teacher working here in the city who recommended renting from a landlord
directly. Well as the legend goes, later that night Oshaen casually went online
and found one apartment on Gumtree (the Australian Kijiji) and we went right over to meet the
landlord. Matt and his wife Heather turned out to be lovely and although the
apartment was undergoing renovations at the time, he reviewed our application
and accepted us that night. Hopefully you readers can appreciate the irony of
this situation – one of us spent hours planning and researching and the other
went with what she felt and it turned out to be the best option. We truly are
each other’s yin and yang.
Once the new floors,
blinds and paint went in, all that was left to do was find some furniture. For
this we took to Gumtree again and purchased everything used. Our apartment
is a chic little nook that we look forward coming home to every afternoon. We
spent a lot of time hunting down reasonably priced furniture and home
essentials that respected our blush / gray colour scheme. We have two carpeted
bedrooms, an open concept kitchen/living room with beautiful, large windows and
a spacious balcony awaiting summer nights. This past weekend we made a trip out
to a local plant shop and bought some plants to liven the space up! Neither of
us have a particularly green thumb (or not yet at least), so we figured what
better way to learn about plant parenting then diving right into it!? Not only
do our new succulents and little Kauri Pine tree give our space character, but
they compliment the pink quite nicely. The only thing our perfect little home
is missing is some wall art. Also, a side note about our eat in kitchen:
the bar is made from an old diving board because Matt was a professional diver.
Cool, right?
We originally hoped to
settle in Carlton or Fitzroy - up and coming neighbourhoods on the edge of the
heart of the city. Both of these neighbourhoods appeal to young crowds and are
packed with unique shops and culturally diverse restaurants. We imagined
ourselves living in a hip, central part of the city that also made traveling
for work easy. Now that we’ve settled in Brunswick East - a neighbourhood
twenty minutes North East from the CBD - we couldn’t imagine living anywhere
else! Brunswick East is it’s own little hipster universe with heaps of second
hand vintage stores and tucked away bars. Our apartment building is located at
the cross section of two major streets, making it easy for us to find shopping
or entertainment by foot.
We’re living our best
lives as twenty-three year old women in a charming Aussie apartment with blush
pink décor. We can't wait to show it off - enjoy some quality photography by
the ever talented Oshaen. Laugh as you will… we love our new
home! All we’re missing are friends to share the space. Now all
that’s left is for you to be our guest – hope to see you soon...
Much love,
Osh & Linnea
Dear future
houseguests,
It's been a long time
coming but we're finally ready to introduce our new apartment to the world. All
of the furniture is finally here and after some long nights and a lot of
laughs, it's all assembled and in one piece. It was a long road to settle in to
our home away from home, and we hope that this post will help you understand a
bit more about what our daily life looks like and shed some light on the
process for anyone thinking of moving to Australia as well.
Some of you already know
that when we landed, we didn’t have a long-term place to live. At the time, we
were booked to stay in Tom’s apartment through
Air Bnb. If anyone finds themselves in the
Melbourne area, you’re of course welcome to stay with us but if that doesn’t
work out, Tom’s place is a fantastic alternative. He was a lovely host and we
were greeted to Tim Tams and Australian wine upon our arrival. Tom’s place is
in Carlton, a suburb just north of the main CBD (central business district) of
Melbourne. It is best known for the bustling Lygon street, filled with cafes,
restaurants, shops and parks. Once we were settled it was time to find our new
apartment. This led to Linnea spending hours online booking appointments for
showings and compiling detailed schedules of showings, travel times and
suburbs. In less than a week we’d seen almost twenty different apartments
across the city and northern suburbs. Something interesting about Australia –
individual apartments (or flats) are leased by brokers, not the landlords. This
means the application process is lengthy and competitive. It also means that
full buildings can have apartments owned by many different landlords, instead
of a central building authority like in Canada.
In the middle of this
process we were fortunate enough to meet up with a fellow Queen’s alum and
current teacher working here in the city who recommended renting from a landlord
directly. Well as the legend goes, later that night Oshaen casually went online
and found one apartment on Gumtree (the Australian Kijiji) and we went right over to meet the
landlord. Matt and his wife Heather turned out to be lovely and although the
apartment was undergoing renovations at the time, he reviewed our application
and accepted us that night. Hopefully you readers can appreciate the irony of
this situation – one of us spent hours planning and researching and the other
went with what she felt and it turned out to be the best option. We truly are
each other’s yin and yang.
Once the new floors,
blinds and paint went in, all that was left to do was find some furniture. For
this we took to Gumtree again and purchased everything used. Our apartment
is a chic little nook that we look forward coming home to every afternoon. We
spent a lot of time hunting down reasonably priced furniture and home
essentials that respected our blush / gray colour scheme. We have two carpeted
bedrooms, an open concept kitchen/living room with beautiful, large windows and
a spacious balcony awaiting summer nights. This past weekend we made a trip out
to a local plant shop and bought some plants to liven the space up! Neither of
us have a particularly green thumb (or not yet at least), so we figured what
better way to learn about plant parenting then diving right into it!? Not only
do our new succulents and little Kauri Pine tree give our space character, but
they compliment the pink quite nicely. The only thing our perfect little home
is missing is some wall art. Also, a side note about our eat in kitchen:
the bar is made from an old diving board because Matt was a professional diver.
Cool, right?
We originally hoped to
settle in Carlton or Fitzroy - up and coming neighbourhoods on the edge of the
heart of the city. Both of these neighbourhoods appeal to young crowds and are
packed with unique shops and culturally diverse restaurants. We imagined
ourselves living in a hip, central part of the city that also made traveling
for work easy. Now that we’ve settled in Brunswick East - a neighbourhood
twenty minutes North East from the CBD - we couldn’t imagine living anywhere
else! Brunswick East is it’s own little hipster universe with heaps of second
hand vintage stores and tucked away bars. Our apartment building is located at
the cross section of two major streets, making it easy for us to find shopping
or entertainment by foot.
We’re living our best
lives as twenty-three year old women in a charming Aussie apartment with blush
pink décor. We can't wait to show it off - enjoy some quality photography by
the ever talented Oshaen. Laugh as you will… we love our new
home! All we’re missing are friends to share the space. Now all
that’s left is for you to be our guest – hope to see you soon...
Much love,
Osh & Linnea
Hi friends, will you please decorate my apartment? Holy cow-- it looks fantastic! Good job on the apartment find :)
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