With the upcoming move to our new house, and making room plans for where furniture would go, I have been thinking about the layout of various houses and the differences between houses in Australia and other countries.
The average Australian house (at least to my knowledge) is a single level dwelling. In movies and books I frequently hear about American and English homes that have either (or both) and attic or basement. My focus here is attics.
In books attics are generally used for the storage of heirlooms that are not on display and other random objects that are too good to throw away because they have special memories attached or just because they might be useful some day.
The way it seems at the moment, our new house won't fit everything comfortably, or without rooms looking squished. Although we will have 4 bedrooms instead of 3, the other living areas are smaller and I guess you could say there are less of them.
Dad doesn't want a whole heap of things in the garage like we have had in our rented house, but some family members seem reluctant to part with various things, some for sentimental reasons. Inherited items that we just don't have room for, but are still good, are the main issue.
I still don't have all the rooms measured and drawn, nor do I have all the furniture done (although I think the main items are complete), so this may not be as much of an issue as it seems at present.
Ok, so you're still wondering why I'm thinking about attics. Well, if we had an attic in our house we could fit these items in there until such time as we found a use for them (such as the extra lounge suite which my sister may need when she moves out of home).
I know it would increase the cost of the house, but I really think they are a great idea. Instead of paying for an off-site storage facility, as some people do, you have the convenience of it right there, the things are covered by your contents insurance, and you can access them whenever you need to.
