Friday, August 19, 2011

A Commandment Broken

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.  Well, for me it's thou shalt not covet thy house in thy neighbouring suburb!  This is what I've been covetting for the past two weeks.


This is Valhalla and I'm covetting it something bad!  I saw Valhalla appear on a real estate alert & recognised it straight away.  Back in the late nineties Hubby & I were looking at buying acreage at Pullenvale.  The developer had, in his previous development, relocated several historic homes and buildings that were destined for the wrecking ball.  He had suggested that if we were interested in relocating an old home then perhaps he might have one.  It, of course, was Valhalla.  Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for Valhalla, the developer wasn't able to get the house removed so we never proceeded with purchasing the acreage.  Now thirteen years on, Valhalla is up for sale, looking so much better than she once did.

This room is huge. The pressed metal is amazing.

The green glass door opens up to the wide side verandah.
Original fireplace.  Still works too.
Kitchen is v basic. Imagine what you could do with the space.









The original main bedroom. Huge + bay breezes.












Groovy library which leads from old house to new master suite.









Valhalla is on 1300m2 of inner city land. The possibilities.


The bay breeze was beautiful.
















I dragged Hubby through an open for inspection of Valhalla hoping that he would see the same potential as I did.  Look at all the land I would say.  Hubby would say yes, but look at the big block of flats it's next to.  Look at the views I said.  Look at all of the commuter cars parked in the street said Hubby.  Feel those bay breezes I would say.  Listen to those six lanes of traffic Hubby responded.  Look at all of the original features I pleaded. Yes, but look at how basic the kitchen is & the non-existent laundry he reminded me.  Hubby just wasn't showing the same enthusiasm for Valhalla like I was & I was devastated ... but not surprised.  Afterall, he hates buying & selling and is practically allergic to stamp duty & agents fees.  Hubby is also a very logical & practical person & the fact that our house, although recently renovated, is still needing some finishing touches & isn't ready for sale was a major obstacle he pointed out. 

So it looks like I'll have to go back to covetting ... and adding those finishing touches to ours just in case Valhalla doesn't sell straight away.  Surely I'm not breaking any commandments by indulging in a little wishing & hoping and a lot of praying?


Photobucket

6 comments:

  1. Love the feeling of space,our friends have one of those arches in their house only in woodstain.

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  2. Beautiful house! It seems familiar, particularly the name. I wonder where it was originally?

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  3. It's always been there. Just google Valhalla & Rosemount Terrace or plug those names into the Trove website & you can read all about the original family. That house has seen a lot of entertaining & garden parties.

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  4. What a small world! The lovely photographer, who took these photos sent them too me before it went on the market, just for me to drool over. I didn't publish them as I didn't want to get him into trouble! Don't we have fabulous taste, all drooling over the same house! It's beautiful! Love the library! A-M xx

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  5. PS Just read your bio. I too pine for Melbourne and semi happily reside in Brisbane.... and I have never even lived in Melbourne! I get it though. A-M xx

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  6. Unfortunately for me, Valhalla did sell on auction day for $1.24M. I really don't like to use the words "bargain" and "million" in the same sentence but for that much land & less than 5kms from the city, it's great buying. Oh well, back to coveting!

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