This is the coolest house

You can see more photos of it here. A friend of ours lives there now. But she is selling. It's a beautiful location, across the road from a quiet waterfront. There's a nice little jetty there to sit on and go fishing. Or have a nice glass of wine.

We haven't caught up with our friend for a while so we're not sure why she's selling. Chris stayed with her for the first few weeks when he started working down here (while he was waiting for the rest of us to move down from Brisbane). Some of the sloping ceilings weren't fantastic for his tall frame to cope with.

Our friend is a great collector of old furniture. She likes to find stuff at kerbside collection time and carries it back to her place. Somehow the eclectic mix of things seems to work really well together. And it all feels really homely and just right for the style of the house.

It's not a house that's really suitable for small children. But it is amazing to see it inside. And it has a library. One of the A-framed sections is lined with bookshelves.

I'm a little bit envious. I would love to have a house with a library in it one day. I have another friend who has a library room in her home too. One of those unfulfilled dreams that might come true one day....

Who paints an internal staircase white?

Today I also visited an open house. This activity has been a passion of mine in the past, but I haven't indulged in it much lately.

This one. Beyond our budget but it had amazing views.

The advertising described it as being "family friendly" and the big block of land with lots of out of the way spots for kids to explore was certainly that. In other ways, though, it was a bit unusual. The bathroom was the first room I saw as I walked in, a hard turn left at the front entry. Not necessarily where I would have expected to find it. Oddly shaped bedrooms located in out of the way spots, one with a "powder room" in the middle of it. (Since when did "second toilet and washbasin" become a "powder room"?) Kitchen and living area upstairs were a little small. Lots of white furniture, benchtops and white doona covers on all the beds. I guess all the white was designed to create an impression of lightness, brightness and space.

But seriously, why would anyone choose to paint an internal staircase white? It might as well have had a sign on it saying "If you have kids, this will need cleaning every five minutes."