THE SEARCH
For the downsizer who isn't ready to stop hosting.
You've done the big house. The lawns. The weekends that belonged to the property instead of to you. Now you want less to look after. Not less to live in.
You want room for everyone to come home at once. Christmas at your table. A bedroom for every grown child and every friend who stays too late. And the freedom to lock the door and leave for a month without a second thought, without having to wait for plans and a three-year build.
Height. Space. Ease. The next chapter, without the compromise.
THE STORY
Welcome to The High Life. The sub-penthouse at 9 Porter Street, Hawthorn East.
The lift opens eleven floors up. Behind your front door is far more than you'd expect.
The room keeps going. Living and dining curve around a long wall of glass, north sun pouring in. Oak herringbone, warm under bare feet.
Guests arrive at one, and you're already behind the bar. The bench where you read the morning news over coffee now holds the ice bucket. Glasses up.
Behind it, the second kitchen does the real cooking. Grey marble. Something in the oven. You slip back to check the sauce and still catch every word.
Twelve sit down to lunch and nobody is squeezed. The doors slide open to the balcony, north sun across the table. Lunch becomes afternoon, then dinner.
Right on cue, one of the kids walks in. Of course they do, but it doesn't matter. There's a room for them and one for the friend who was never leaving, each with their own bathroom.
As the light goes, someone sits down at the grand piano you. Everyone gathers round, with plenty of room to dance.
When the house finally goes quiet, the main bedroom curves with the building. In the marble ensuite, you sink into a bath eleven floors up, nothing between you and the clouds.
You wake slowly, and Sunday belongs to the building. A few quiet laps of the heated pool, then a sunbake with the book you've been meaning to finish. By late afternoon the family is back, and the barbecue is going up on the rooftop terrace. The concierge has your parcels waiting downstairs.
And that, right there, is The High Life.
THE LIFE
Some mornings you do the school run for the grandkids. Camberwell Primary is around the corner, with Camberwell Grammar, Trinity Grammar and Scotch College close by. It's why this pocket holds its value.
Friday nights, a movie at the Rivoli and a slow walk home through the Junction. Saturday, you wander down to the Camberwell Market for the long lunch ahead. Coffee on Burke Road with a neighbour. Camberwell Station is minutes away when the city calls.
You didn't downsize your life. Just the upkeep.
By Storyhouse.
Stories Told. Houses Sold.
