At the beginning of this year, we swapped our large two story house in Cleveland, for an apartment located just across the river from the Brisbane CBD.
It’s been a massive change, and a bit of an adjustment adventure – with plenty of pleasant surprises and a few unexpected challenges thrown in!
What I Love About Apartment Living
The best thing about our new apartment? The location!
We’re so close to everything that we barely use the car anymore. Instead of driving, we can walk, or jump on a bus or train. Living in the South Bank area, we are handy to shops, cafes and restaurants, all within easy reach. I walk to my BNI meeting at West End each week, and a trip to the library is a matter of either getting on a bus (if I’m feeling lazy!), or walking across a bridge with an amazing view of the Brisbane River. It’s amazing how quickly you become accustomed to convenience!
For years, our kids used to complain about how far away Cleveland was whenever they wanted to visit. We didn’t think much of it – but now that we’ve moved away and have to make the trip back to that area ourselves? We get it!
It’s a long drive and there’s a lot of traffic to contend with!
Another huge plus is that I feel much safer here.
In a house, anyone can wander up to the front door and as I was often home alone, I didn’t feel comfortable unless I had security screens and doors locked and bolted.
Here, the building has an access control system – so you can only enter if you have an electronic fob.
And even if a random person managed to get into the foyer, they wouldn’t get very far with lifts, security doors and other obstacles to unauthorised entry.
This also means nobody can “drop in” unexpectedly. I’m sure some people would see that as a downside 😉 – but as someone who appreciates a bit of notice before visitors arrive, I’m calling that a win!
And can we talk about housework?
I can vacuum the whole apartment from just the one power point. The smaller space means less cleaning, less maintenance and more time for other things … like going for walks, checking out all the wonderful cafes, restaurants and other entertainment venues!
There’s also no yard to mow; but we do have a lovely outdoor space, a large terrace with a couple of built in planters filled with tropical foliage. I do find it amusing however – whenever it rains the husbear mops the outdoor tiles. I guess this is his way of pottering outside?!
One unexpected bonus has been the temperature. This place must be incredibly well insulated because we’ve gone through winter without needing a heater or adding extra blankets to the bed. Coming from a house that got incredibly cold in the winter months, it’s been a bit of a surprise.
The Downsides
Of course, apartment living isn’t perfect.
The biggest challenge has been downsizing, even though we’ve been planning it for quite some time. We sold a lot of our furniture, and our fridge which was only 12 months old, because they just wouldn’t fit (we had to buy a smaller fridge).
I must confess: we still have a lot of things in storage, which we are slowly sorting through. Some things go to our beach house; others we make room for in our apartment; there’s a lot to go to the tip, or be taken to thrift shops. We’ve had to become MUCH more selective about what gets to stay.
Visitor parking is another issue. At our old place, guests could simply park on the street or in the driveway. Here, free visitor parking is about as rare as a unicorn sighting.
Then there’s the grocery situation.
Every shopping trip requires multiple journeys from the car to the apartment – we clearly need to invest in a little fold-up shopping trolley.
Dealing with a Body Corporate is interesting … and let’s just say the building manager hasn’t exactly endeared herself to us.
The Great Bacon and Eggs Evacuation
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the incident that has left us slightly traumatised about cooking.
One morning we were making bacon and eggs when the fire alarm suddenly went off.
Next thing we knew, the building was being evacuated.
To this day, we’re not really sure if we caused it. The food was only half cooked and there was no visible smoke but we can’t help but wonder … were we the cause of dozens of people (many in their PJs!) having to abandon their apartments?!
Ever since then, we’ve become strangely nervous about frying anything indoors. We mostly use the BBQ or air fryer out on the terrace!
Apartment Life Challenges Nobody Mentions
Drying laundry is another learning curve.
We have a dryer, and use a small clothes rack on the balcony which works well most of the time.
Queen-sized sheets, however are another story!
And then there was moving day.
Anyone considering apartment living should know that moving furniture isn’t as simple as backing a truck into the driveway and unloading.
There were lift bookings to organise, strict time slots to follow and plenty of waiting around. It all took far longer than we expected.
What about the Kitties?
The kitties have taken it all in stride, though initially they were a bit freaked out by the traffic noise if they were out on the terrace.
Overall, though, we’re really enjoying apartment living.
The pros (like security and easy maintenance) far outweigh the inconveniences. Sure, I miss having unlimited storage space and I still haven’t figured out the ideal way to dry queen-sized sheets. But being able to walk almost everywhere and spend less time cleaning has been a game changer – we’re loving the cafe lifestyle as you can see!
The traffic noise can still be a bit noticeable at times, although it’s much better since the road outside was resurfaced. Before that, trucks hitting the potholes sounded like dramatic crashes of thunder and regularly had us wondering what catastrophe had just occurred.
Apartment living has definitely been an adjustment, but it’s proving to be a pretty good one.
Ask me again in six months, though. I’ll probably have discovered another dozen pros, half a dozen cons, and at least one more story involving bacon!
