New Garden Apartment, town house, villa,

Welcome to New Garden Apartment. Below you will find great ideas and tips to help you find what you need, and also what you don't. Enjoy!

So you’d love to have gardens like they have at the Chelsea Garden Show but that’s out- you need to live in the city, or if not in the city, close enough to it to commute. You know this- but you still want plenty of healthy plants. You still want a garden atmosphere. The answer? - a New Garden Apartment. Okay, so it could be a town-house or villa. Whatever it is, it’ll be compact compared to that half-acre block they have out in suburbia. Yet despite this, you can have a very nice garden apartment with just about everything you want in it. You can have the colour, the ambience, the rewards of growing your own. But there are some things to consider. Let’s take a look at these…

new garden apartment First consideration, after you’ve worked out what you can afford, is LOCATION. You want it to be close to your place of work but not too close (unless you intend working from home) Then, because you want a new garden apartment, not just a place of residence, you need to consider POSITION. In the Southern Hemisphere, i.e. in Australia’s southern states, it’s best if you can have a place where your living areas lay to the north so that they catch a maximum amount of sunlight all year round. Also, look to windows, glass doors, balconies and areas in which you can establish plants so that they will have adequate light, and shelter from strong winds. Good design is the key here. You need correct positioning of rooms, verandas, those places where you intend to grow a garden. Check for those things you don’t want as well. Avoid, if you can, being too close to shared staircases, and elevators. You don’t want your peace spoiled by too much noise.

A new garden apartment lounge

In the ideal apartment you’ll have a bevy of BALCONIES, verandas and places such as windowsills where you can install pots, hanging baskets and window boxes. You should at least run to one spacious balcony – preferably not long and narrow, but of adequate width for that table which people can sit around. However, if you can’t get that, try for a place with a verandah or balcony which at least catches the sunlight, so you can dine out there at breakfast time – or maybe have dinner there on a fine evening. Preferably, though, go for a balcony big enough to entertain on, even house a mini-greenhouse in one corner, and where you can plant a great many gorgeous blooms, not to mention a few herbs. Oh, and don’t forget, that balcony must been fitted out in such a way that any water on it can drain away. If it’s a solid wall balcony, make sure there are adequate drain holes.

Are there “common gardens” in the apartments belonging to your complex? Do all those living there have legal access – and practical access – to lawn and garden areas? Do you have a swimming pool which all can use? A gymnasium? What FACILITIES are available to you only? i.e. private only unto you? Shared among the other tenants? Be clear on these issues.

Stumpy: Is there a private shed or locker area for your personal gardening implements?
Do you have individual garbage bins? Re-cycling bins? Green bins? The people in this building block are going to be your very close neighbours. What are they like? You might not like a new garden apartment where there are always half a dozen or so teenagers around tuning up their cars and playing loud music. You might not be prepared to perpetually be kept awake on Fridays and Saturday nights to the sound of arguing neigbours and drunken parties. So how good is your SOUNDPROOFING?

So you’ve settled that? You’re okay so far. Who do you go and see if something untoward happens? The power fails and all the lights in the driveway have gone off. Who is supposed to fix it? Is it up to you, or is there somebody designated to looking after such problems? Who makes up the Body Corporate? What firm handles it, and what people from your block are on the committee? Are you prepared to join the committee yourself?

You love to garden- so will you be allowed to garden the common space? Or is that strictly off limits?

PRIVACY is an important issue for most of us. Is your new garden apartment so situated and designed that your neigbours cannot see into your rooms? Do you have windows overlooking your living space? Can people easily see you from the street even when you’re inside your home? These are all commonsense considerations, but you need sort them out before you purchase and move in. No good expecting to buy “off the plan” and then thinking that everything will be all right. When they made that plan they did not anticipate the seventeen-storey high rise across the street!

SIZE MATTERS. Unless you’re a coal miner or ex-submariner, you’ll want an area larger than one you can “swing a Manx Cat by the tail” in. Many complexes say they have, for example, four bedrooms. And this is what they generally mean: you can get a bed in. Nothing more though - one bed! It’s better to have three comfortable-sized bedrooms than four you need a shoe horn to get into. So if you are buying “off the plan” go and look at a display home of similar dimensions.

CAR PARKING is one of the most frustrating aspects of apartment living. You have one car: the family next door with the teenage sons have five! They continually part across your access way. Worse, some hoon always parks his big four-wheel drive in the only access way! (He’s just ducking in for something, after all. He didn’t intend to stay for a coffee…) If you do have to park temporarily in the street, are there any parking restrictions? There are? Do you need a special sticker or permit to allow you to park in your own street?

Your garden apartment ownership can be a very gratifying and rewarding experience, but you do need to give consideration to the things mentioned above. Check everything out. Admit honestly what you can live with, and what you cannot. Then go out and find the new garden apartment of your dreams. We wish you luck.

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Apartment garden Happy house hunting. I hope you enjoyed New Garden Apartment, Marty

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