I mentioned earlier in the year that we had moved into a rental property. We had hoped to buy that little house, but it wasn’t to be. Luckily we found ourselves a little villa. It’s the rear unit in a group of three unattached properties, just a little 3 x 1, open plan place with a single garage.

The unit we had in Nova Village was actually a good sized unit, much bigger than homes usually associated with retirement villages. We hadn’t considered that move as down sizing at all. This villa though is definitely a ‘down size’, so it’s been a bit of a trial deciding what stays and what goes.

We sold off the bigger things that we knew wouldn’t fit as soon as our offer was accepted. Then followed a garage sale to get rid of an accumulation of the smaller ‘stuff’, and some of my pot plants.

We moved in last week. It’s been tough having two moves within such a short time. Both Paul and I are tired. However, the move did go well with no hiccups really, and only one broken vase (we have tile floors in the new villa, and tile floors are unforgiving when glass vases are dropped on them). We have found a place for most things, and most things are now in their place. We still have a few pictures to hang, a shelf or two to put up, and we’re waiting for a plumber to add the plumbing for our fridge, and to do a couple of minor alterations to the location of taps etc.

Our master bedroom has a small built in robe, and a rather large chest of drawers has been fitted into it. As this has reduced the available hanging space considerably, the previous owner had additional wardrobes fitted at either side of the bed, much like a caravan bed. We thought that was a stupid thing to do! However only a few days into living in the house and our plans to remove both the drawers from the walk in robe, and the robes at either side of the bed changed. They’ve proved themselves to useful, so they’re staying where they are, at least for the foreseeable future. We fitted our bedhead behind the bed, and found some small touch lights that clip onto the bedhead. It means we don’t have bedside tables, so we’re on the look-out for an idea that will allow us to add some sort of ‘fold out of the way’ bedside table for our wake up cuppa in the morning which we usually enjoy in bed. In the meantime we have little urns that tuck out of the way at the sides of the bedroom, each with a solid top that pulls up beside the bed in the mornings to serve as our tea cup stand. It’s working for now.

Although the guest room is small, it also has a small walk in robe, and it fits a queenside bed with small bedsides. It should be comfortable enough for visitors. Plus we have a third bedroom, which we’re utilising as a study, and as an overflow room for all manner of things (every house needs a junk room).

We only have one bathroom which has two way access, from the master and from the hallway. So any overnight visitors don’t have the luxury of having their own bathroom. Also the villa has only one toilet. It’s a long time since we’ve had a house with only one loo, but hey, I grew up in a house with six siblings and we only had one toilet, and one bathroom. Visitors didn’t even have their own bedroom, they either slept in the lounge, or someone in the house gave up their bed for them. They shared our one and only toilet, and our one and only bathroom. In our affluent Australian society I had formed the opinion that as a host I needed to provide almost Hotel like accommodation for any overnight visitors – I’ve since re-thought that idea. They can share!

The toilet is separate from the bathroom, and one day we may add a small hand basin so as to make that a powder room. We also may remove the bath from the bathroom one day so as to make room for a double vanity for Paul and I, and to make room for a second toilet, but that isn’t a necessity. Having lost a considerable amount of money by vacating the Retirement Village (yes retirement villages are expensive to exit, and don’t let anyone tell you differently), we now have to watch our pennies a little more than we’ve had to in the past, so we may just have to ‘make do.’

The villa is only a couple of hundred metres from the shores of beautiful Geographe bay, that’s as the crow flies. To walk there it’s less than 500 metres from walking out of our front door to dipping our toes in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Plus we’re only 1 kilometre from our front door to the entrance door of Busselton’s main shopping centre.

Our villa is small, certainly no mansion for a millionaire, but it’s clean, in good repair, and there’s certainly room for friends and family. With the shops and the ocean so close by, I think we’ve bought well. Oh, and Mr Tilly – he went to a friends and stayed overnight while we did the bulk of the moving. When Beth brought him to his new home after most things had been moved in, he perused all the rooms, plonked himself down, and hasn’t missed a beat since. I think the new place has been given his stamp of approval! And that’s a real pleasure to observe!