8 Our own little vacation spot

Buying this over any other unit here was about privacy and the magnificent sunsets to which we are treated almost every day (some days the sun just seems to plop down unceremoniously). 

Our terrace upstairs is like our own little vacation spot at home. 

The terrace (check the upstairs plan) is adjacent to our master bedroom and family room. It is an open space with open views to the west, east and north.

This is a climbing plant by the corner of the jet tub that we are trying to train to wrap itself around the recently-added safety rails.

This is a photo I took before the rails were installed. The wall in the back was a little too low, and too easy for a child to climb. Nadia would never try that (she's not a risk-taker), but I would have been scared of bringing any children here.

The tub is Nadia's toy basically, a glorified inflatable pool. It's nice to have it though. She can play for hours in that thing.

I made the cushion for the chaise using outdoor, waterproof fabric I bought on eBay and exterior-grade thread. I might have to make a cover for the chaise eventually, once other priorities are tended to.

I also made cushions for the chairs on the other side. These have some brown piping in the same type of fabric.  This corner is in serious lack of a little TLC. But there is some repair work pending upstairs that I'd rather get done with first.

On the right side you can see the 10' umbrella we installed so we can enjoy our terrace even when the sun is out

And that is Nadia in the hammock enjoying the view. 

The main use for our terrace, amazingly, is as laundry area. Barely visible, on the left (in front of the umbrella) is a tiny shed that hides the washing machine, a small sink and water heater when not in use. We also have hooks to install removable laundry lines to sun-dry our clothes. It's earth-friendly and a lot cheaper than using a drier. The laundry lines are below line of sight to comply with HOA rules. I'll show you more another day.

Since the terrace has an open view to the town on the east, and the natural reserve on the west, we get to see pretty sunsets and sunrises from the same spot.

This is a picture of the sunrise as I have my morning coffee.

And this is the sunset from our terrace.

Chosing this place was mostly about this. We would have probably chosen something else if it hadn't been because of the privacy and the gorgeous sunsets.  It's like our little vacation spot right at home.