20 Harrison Street, Brunswick East VIC 3057

What we love about this home:

This home has cared for and nurtured our family for over 22 years and allowed us to explore a range of ideas about the relationship of Home and Garden. The distinctive front garden was a very important project about materials, geometries, and planting. The back garden offers more physical pursuits in the form of a badminton court (a smaller version of a tennis court) – a jolly excellent game when played outdoors. This court is currently covered over by a top of the range surf skate ramp that is very smooth and quiet and very much loved by our daughter.

We love the no fuss nature of the 1954 era home that we have retained many of the original houses features. Our aim with the renovation was to celebrate everyday activities, the preparation of food, the artwork brought home from kinder or school, the arrival of freshly grown or shopped produce, the space for play, the resting spaces, the reading, music and dance spaces and the welcoming of everyone around the table spaces.

We love the practicality of this home – there is a lot of functionality

• Grey shower water can be diverted to the garden.
• The expansive deck space hides the 20,000 Lt tanks for garden irrigation with the option to also hook up water for the toilet.
• The garden is very productive, with an enclosed area dedicated to fruit, flowers and vegetables, that is nicely plentiful and irrigated from rain tanks.
• The house is very efficient with solar panels and solar hot water.
• Low tec solutions also make this home very livable from season to season with ceiling fans in each bedroom and special feature exterior awning blinds over all bedroom windows.
• Local birds, such as the Currawong have a very beautiful calling and there are also some tiny scrub rens in the back garden, that are super sweet.

What we love about this suburb:

It is very closely connected to things that we love,

• CERES Nursery is one of the best quality nurseries in Melbourne. They stock an excellent range of plant care products and the seasonal plant selections are always exciting, terrific for serious hard core plant lovers and inspiring for beginners. The staff, of course, are brilliant!
• Bike riding with dedicated paths makes for efficient means to get around, so you do not need a car as much for everyday errands as well as an easy commute to work in the city. Exercising is easy to participate in with local gyms and the very beautiful Merri Creek to jog along.
• It was terrific to be close to the local primary school, never having to drive children to school is a huge plus. It also fostered an excellent independence for our child who could happily and safely walk to school.
• Easy to get to places with trams, buses and even walking. Essential things such as the terrific General Practitioner Clinic and excellent Chemist are an easy walk away from our home.
• Excellent quality independent food shopping nearby is a pleasurable experience.

(Farm gate -with Joe’s farm just up the creek, CERES and Wholefoods and Wildlife bakery just to name a few)

• If you own a dog this home will be terrific for you. We have a walk along the Merri Creek that is a big treat for dogs and owners. Then if you feel like something more leisurely the park opposite is a dog off lease area. There are many nice people with nice dogs who go there regularly.

Why we are selling:

We are selling very unexpectedly as we truly love this house and importantly the neighbors are GOLD! Our rationale for selling is that as we are now around 50 years old, and we thought it would be beneficial to explore and experience another suburb to the full. We think a change would be very enriching for us all as a family. We are also keen to explore our hobbies more extensively. Again, we are very surprised about the selling of our home that is beautiful and very sentimental to us.

Any other information:

The local community and neighbors within the street are lovely. We will absolutely miss them!

The Solar PV system is currently on a premium feed in tariff (PFIT), the person who buys this house will get paid 60 cent per kWh they feed back to the grid. This feed in tariff is guaranteed until 1st November 2024. We have never paid for power since this system was installed. The system is 2.7 kW and delivers a lot for only 12 panels. And there is room for more panels once the PFIT expires.

We love the new bridge that crosses the creek as we can now easily visit our friends and high street is now very accessible.