First a bit of background. We have lived in our area of Mexico, Guaymas, Sonora since October of 2005. We started out renting from our landlord who had built a couple of tiny apartments right onto his own home and that is where we still are. The first winter we lived in the one on the ground level and then the next summer moved into the one upstairs when they finished building it and changing a few walls around for us. We were the first people to live in both places which was nice.
We love the neighbourhood, it is fairly quiet; although dusty as we have gravel and cobblestone streets around us and we love our landlords and their family. Their grandchildren freely visit us and we are invited to a lot more parties than we actually attend. We have the usual free ranging chickens, roosters, dogs and cats that can be seen in any Mexican neighbourhood.
The only drawback to the apartment is that is it very small, which can be both good and bad. Good in that there is not much housecleaning to be done, which I like, bad in that we live in a pretty confined space of around 425 square feet in the apartment and a patio of the same size. If you are wondering about the very dark curtains hanging behind the regular curtains, there is a good reason for that. In the summer it is very hot here, so I made those to keep some of the heat out and they work well. We raise and lower them depending on where the sun is at the time. All of the artwork on the walls is my fault, what hasn't been sold yet or gifted ends up on our walls.
We have no desire whatsoever to own a house again.
So, onto the challenge.
First of all our laundry area. Our washer is located outside on the patio as most are where we live and naturally our clothes dryer is outside also.
Next up, our computer set ups, plural because we both have our own simple areas. We have high speed internet, cable TV and a landline phone through the cable company here called Megacable. We have had good service from them; although I know that in other areas of the country people really complain about their service. We use Skype for our long distance calls.
I have a PC, old style monitor, (which I am hoping dies soon as I want a bigger, flat screen; but am too cheap to buy one until this one dies), All in one scanner, printer, copier, modem, etc. at my desk. Roy has his laptop and various other things at his desk. As you will see we are both set up in a corner with our own recliners in between. Naturally, both desk areas have their own cups of coffee at them in the mornings.
First 2 photos of are my desk and the 3 rd is of Roys.
On to the next area, which is our kitchen area. We elected to buy movable counters rather than regular kitchen cupboards in case we ever decided to move as we can just pick them up and leave. The usual things reside in our kitchen, stove, sink (double one), frig., and a small microwave which I seldom use. The movable counters have shelves, baskets, water jug holder, etc. on them and we have a pantry cupboard and a few other shelves to put things on. I don't like a lot of stuff on my counter tops, frig. top, etc., so I try to put things away when I am done using them. So the empty counter top is normal, not cleaned up just for company.
I am not so paranoid about keeping my art table neat and tidy as you can see in the foreground. I do clean it off enough to eat at though. We do have bar chairs that we used to use at the back side of the counter to eat; but it was not that comfortable and we decided to stop using that and put the long table there instead and just wheel our office chairs over to it when we eat there.
Kitchen side view of the movable counters.
Pantry cupboard and assorted shelves. Door leads into the bedroom and bathroom.
So, that pretty much covers it. Hope you now have a sense of where we reside and how we live.
14 comments:
Sure wish we were either still in San Carlos or Puerto Vallarta. Everything looks familiar!
Cool Brenda. Here we have known each other all this (since 2005) and had not seen much of the casa - I think I recall some remodelling on the patio roof? In any case thanks for letting us in. Hello to Roy.
Thanks John. I guess I never really thought about posting inside photos as nothing was going on in there much lol.
Yes, I had posted photos of the roof going on the patio some years back.
Greetings to Anita as well.
Patricia, glad that you are enjoying it second hand at least.
Our kitchens have quite a few similarities. I plan to do my reveal next week -- I think.
Steve, I sense a fellow procrastinator ja ja ja or perhaps we have both caught the mañana syndrome.
I love the Mexican clothes dryer, just like my mom used to have. I see the mini-split made it in the photos too.
Yes, Rita the mini split is also part of our home here. I actually thought about explaining what it was; but didn't think it fit in with this post, perhaps the next one? Maybe John will do a living room/sala "show me" posting next and I can explain it then.
I have been told that there are some HOAs NOB which don't allow the solar powered clothes dryers as it brings down the vision of the neighbourhood. I think this is hilarious personally.
I like the clothes dryer best of all.
I also like it Felipe, mostly for its ease of use. No instructions needed, not much maintenance, etc.. My kind of equipment. Another plus to it, was that I had had a similar model in Canada for years so there was a very small learning curve.
So, we are able to finally see 'behind the scenes' of the B & R studios, eh? Nice pics Brenda!
Too funny Doug. We have re-arranged things a bit since you guys visited that day; but not a whole lot. Hard to change it around too much when it is that small.
I was just thinking about you guys yesterday. Glad to hear from you, hope you are all well. Saludos a Edna.
Wow, movable counters. I've never heard of that. It's brilliant. It looks like you have more room in the kitchen in your 425 square feet than we do in a 4 bdrm. 2 floor house!
Shannon, I really like the counters, other than they are not closed in; therefore the curtain on the one. It is very dusty here as our street is gravel so stuff gets dusty.
We had only lived here about 6 months when we had to start buying furnishings, I didn't want to make the commitment of fixed cabinets so these seemed ideal, in case we decided to move elsewhere. Water jug holder is also a bonus.
Kitchen is tiny, walkable area inside it is about 8 feet by 3 feet; but it works for me. I do a lot of baking, etc. in the winter and the space works well, the way we have it arranged.
I am waiting to see the photos of your home.
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