Our unique living situation

I have a very unique living situation. I live together with my brother, sister, and little brother in the house where all four of us were born and raised. We live here together, but also separately. I will provide more details on how this looks later; let me start from the beginning.

My parents lived in a small worker’s house built in 1910. These houses were inhabited by the cook, housekeeper, etc., of the large mansion located in a beautiful park, where these houses are also situated.

After my brother was born and I joined the family (3 years after my brother), this small house became too cramped. So, it was time to move, or at least that’s what my parents thought. They had already found a new house, but just before finalizing the purchase, their neighbor from the small house announced he was moving. This was truly perfect timing and brought a unique opportunity.

My parents decided to buy the neighbor’s house, creating a situation where they would have two small houses side by side. However, 1 + 1 doesn’t always equal 2! They chose to connect the houses from the inside, effectively doubling their living space while using it as one house.

Passageways were created both downstairs and upstairs, but they retained the original layout and structure, resulting in two living rooms, two kitchens, and two staircases. Quite unique, being able to literally run circles in your own home.

As a child, this was naturally fantastic, and it also provided a good solution for my parents. They could enjoy peace and quiet in one living room while we kids could play and be kids in the other living room without disturbing each other.

Eleven years after my birth, we received the news that there would be another addition to the family. It was something we had been nagging about for years, but according to my parents, it wasn’t going to happen. Never say never, as they say…

But having a child as the last addition, with such a significant age gap from the others, wasn’t all that enjoyable. So, my parents were fortunate to have another brother just 1.5 years after my sister’s birth. There is a 16-year age difference between the youngest (my brother Ramon) and the oldest (my brother Louis), something that is less common these days.

Despite the significant age difference, we are true siblings in every possible way. We are incredibly happy to have each other and do our utmost to make each other happy and be there for one another.

I was 18 years old when I moved out of the house to live with my then-boyfriend (later husband, then ex-husband). My sister was 7 years old, and my brother was 5 years old at the time. Until I moved out, I played a significant role in their upbringing. I was their regular babysitter, but I also enjoyed doing things with them so much that we spent a lot of time together. This naturally led to me taking on a caregiving role.

Even after I moved out, I continued to spend time with them. I no longer babysat regularly, but they would come over to stay, and we would go on trips to amusement parks. My older brother Louis and I even had the opportunity to take the two little ones (Monica and Ramon) to Euro Disney for a few days. What an incredible experience that was!

A few years later, we didn’t find the arrangement in the previous photo as suitable anymore, as “the little ones” had secretly grown quite big (and I am now even the smallest of the four of us 😜). So it was high time for a new photo!

Our Living Situation

My brother Louis and I have always had the dream, for as long as we can remember, of someday living together in a large house. We would each have our own part, but also a shared space. Louis and I are not just “brother and sister,” we are each other’s best friends. But we both knew that something like this would only be possible in the distant future…

At some point, my mother hinted that she might want to move when Monica and Ramon moved out. After all, the house would be far too big for her without the children (my father passed away in 2010, so he was no longer in our lives). When she mentioned this, it got Louis thinking. Louis is incredibly good at coming up with unique but brilliant ideas.

Louis proposed to me how I would feel if we bought our mother out together. The goal would be for each of us to have our own house, but still live close to each other.

I should explain that at that time, Louis and I were already sharing a house, along with another friend of ours. This was a result of various circumstances, including breakups, which led the three of us to search for a home at the same time. Our hometown, Zeist, is an incredibly expensive municipality, and it’s very challenging for single individuals to find decent housing. So, this arrangement was a feasible interim solution for us to continue living in Zeist.

I was immediately thrilled! Not only would it mean that we could move out of our temporary living situation, but even more exciting, we would fulfill our dream!

The location of the houses is perfect as well. They are right in the middle of the village, just slightly outside the city center, which allows for easy parking and everything is about a 10-minute drive away. Additionally, the houses are adjacent to the park I mentioned earlier, providing a beautiful view of the trees and a touch of nostalgia because we were born and raised in those houses.

But, we couldn’t do anything with our enthusiasm yet… Monica and Ramon were not at the point of leaving home, as they were both still studying and living at the perfect distance from their school without spending much money on renting a student flat. Yet, we didn’t really want to wait for a few more years, because once you have such a cool idea, you want to achieve it yesterday, of course. Time to brainstorm and come up with a solution!

Suddenly, we thought that we could buy the house, including the two “little ones” ;-P We got along well, and there was plenty of space! Louis had been playing with the idea of adopting a more tiny house lifestyle for a while. And in the garden (which was actually two gardens), there was an incredibly large shed that could be easily converted into a dwelling. The plan was there, Louis would move into the sheds, I would live in one house, and Monica and Ramon in the other. But now we had to convince our mother and figure out the financial aspect…

Convincing our mother was fortunately not a problem; she was immediately thrilled! But now the financial piece… buying two houses (on paper, they were still two houses), taking care of the monthly expenses, and everything that comes with it, even for Monica and Ramon, that took some work… But we made it!

Then, it was finally time! The finances were sorted, everyone was excited, time to move! So, Monica and Ramon have never left, and Louis and I came back. What it ultimately came down to was: Mom out, and the kids living like kings.

We eventually settled as planned. I have a cute little house for myself, Monica and Ramon share a house, and Louis lives in the shed. The passageways between the houses have all been closed, but we do share a hallway where both back doors lead, and we also use the garden together. It’s our own little utopia!

I mentioned earlier that Louis and I are much more than just siblings; we’re also best friends. No one will ever mean exactly the same to me as Louis, but Monica and Ramon certainly come close!

And what Louis and I mean to each other, Monica and Ramon mean to each other. The four of us together truly make a dream team! We all have our own unique qualities that complement each other perfectly.

I couldn’t imagine a better living situation and better neighbors. I’ve created my happy place with my most favorite people, and I can tell you, I’m not leaving here anytime soon 😉