Housing /Living Conditions

Устройство городской квартиры/загородного дома. Flat / Cottage Layout

My Flat

There is no place like home. I would like to tell you about my home. Our family lives in Novosibirsk, at 12/1, Smolenskaya Street, flat 23. We have a nice three-roomed flat with two loggias on the seventh floor of a multistory block of flats in one of the largest newly built residential areas. There are passenger and goods lifts in our house to move people and different heavy large-size things as well as family pets separately. There are parking spaces and a big supermarket in our building. The supermarket is on the ground floor and it’s very convenient to do everyday shopping.

We are satisfied with our flat where we moved only a year ago. It’s very comfortable, well planned and with all the modern conveniences (with every convenience): electricity, running hot and cold water, central heating, air conditioner, electric stove, cable television, telephone, Internet access, storage space and refuse chute. To my opinion it’s quite a modern-looking flat. The layout is perfect. The rooms are spacious with lots of light from windows on three sides. The living room windows face the park in front of the building and the view is really wonderful. We often watch beautiful breathtaking sunrises and sunsets because our kitchen looks east and the bedroom looks west. There is an entry with a coat closet, a box room, a laundry room and a larder in our flat. We store our hoods, jackets and coats in the coat closet which is close to the front door. The box room is used as a storage room where we keep our household appliances, sports outfit and old things.

To begin with the entry or the foyer I’d like to say that this is the first space in the flat that greets us and gives us a lift обрадовать, поднять настроение as soon as we step through the front door after a long day. There is a coat closet and a full-length mirror, which is not only esthetically pleasing but makes the small space appear larger. The floor in front of the door is covered with a small washable throw rug маленький коврик. Two stands serve as a temporary place for packages or anything we need to put down as we come through the door. There are two shelves above one of the stands to hold a vase of flowers, keys and mail. A small bench in the coat closet is functional as well, serving as a place for removing shoes. A small chair at the opposite wall provides a place for a visitor to rest.

the entry the coat closet (a box room)

The sitting room is rather large. It is 22 square meters. As my parents don’t like much furniture in the house there are two comfortable armchairs and a sofa, a coffee-table and a nice thick carpet on the floor in this room. The curtains match the wallpaper and the furniture. Opposite the sofa there is a wall unit where we put a TV set and DVD player. Here we are fond of entertaining our guests.

the sitting room

Now I’d like to describe my room. Every person wants to live independently. And I'm not an exception. I like my room very much because it is my room. It is not as large as our sitting room but is very cozy. At first it was my daddy’s study, but as I grew up, it has become mine. There is a sofa, a writing table, a desk with my PC, a bookcase, a wardrobe. On the wall there are some shelves full of books, compact disks and different souvenirs [ˌsuːvə'nɪə] which remind me my dear people, interesting places and unforgettable events. And the central decoration of my room is an electric fireplace which is used as a heater when the weather is bad. It imitates the flames and crackling sounds of burning wood and makes me feel very comfortable. It became my favourite place in our flat because I can study and have rest here as well as spend leisure hours without noise and fuss. To tell the truth I am very happy to have a room for myself, that’s why I always try to keep it tidy.

my study room

Our bedroom is the largest multipurpose area and a place of refuge in our flat. We can relax when we feel tired during the day and my parents sleep for the night there. Furniture and other items in the bedroom are for my parents’ taste. It includes a double bed, two bedside tables, a wardrobe, a built-in closet ['klɔzɪt], a small dressing table with drawers and a mirror, some accessories (such as lamps, telephone, a flat-screen TV, an alarm clock) and a carpet. My dad installed some gadgets that allow him to control the lights, television set and stereo from the bed. The bedroom set includes two armchairs, a pouffe [puːf ], a small table and a chest of drawers. The furniture upholstery matches the wallpaper and makes the room comfortable to be in.

the bedroom

But the most popular and favorite place with all of us is the kitchen. The living room, in spite of its name, is no longer the lived-in room in our flat. The kitchen has taken over this honor. It has become the heart of our home, reserving the living room for our guests. For us the kitchen is the place, where we not only cook our food, dine and even entertaining our guests, but have a chat about our problems, have tea or just have a rest. I think it is indeed our family room. My mum always has flowers in the kitchen. They caress the eyes by blooming in winter and blur the lines between seasons making our kitchen cozy and friendly. Flowers also decorate other rooms bringing joy all the year round.

Our kitchen is rather large, very light, functional and fully-fitted modern kitchen with a sink with taps for hot and cold running water. We have got large and small electric appliances such as an oven, a kitchen stove, a microwave oven, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a coffeemaker, a toaster and other food processing machines. The kitchen cabinets are arranged according to a modular design. There are knives of different kinds, ladles, can openers, pots, pans, and kettles of all sizes, shapes, and materials specifically suited for certain ways of cooking food. There is a kitchen cart and an extension table with some chairs around it and two stools in the kitchen. Next to the kitchen there is an air-conditioned larder or pantry where our foodstuffs are kept in cabinets.

the kitchen

the larder the larder cabinet

Scientific enlightenment suggests showers are a good way to clean up our act. I like showers for day-to-day cleaning. I love the feel of the little drops splashing feverishly over my skin, so if I want to freshen up I shower. But I prefer a nice hot soak in a bubble bath for relaxing. It depends on what mood I am in. Our bathroom can serve to all my needs and desires. It is stylish and with all necessary plumbing fixtures - a stall shower with sliding doors in order to protect the floor from spraying water, a bathtub with a shower integrated into it, a sink or hand basin, a flush toilet and a bidet ['biːdeɪ]. Ceiling, wall and floor are decorated with ceramic and smooth plastic which are impervious to water and readily and easily cleaned. Such surfaces are cold to the touch, and we use water-resistant bath mats or bathroom carpets to make the room more comfortable though the floor is heated by conduits heater.

Lighting across the entire bathroom space is uniform and bright. It minimizes glare and highlights skin and hair with a tinge of yellow light. The mirror area has two sources of light to eliminate any shadows on the face while all the activities like shaving, showering, grooming etc. Electrical appliances, such as lights, heaters, and heated towel rails are installed as fixtures арматура, with permanent connections without plugs and sockets.

the bathroom

We wash, dry and iron our clothes and bed linen in the laundry room (also called a utility room) which is next to the bathroom. It is equipped with an automatic washing machine, a clothes dryer, a large basin, called a laundry tub, for hand-washing delicate articles of clothing such as sweaters, and an ironing board. There are some storage cabinets, worktops (countertops) for folding clothes and all necessary domestic electric appliances.

the laundry room

As I’ve mentioned two rooms in our flat are extended with loggias. One of them faces the west and is an extension of the bedroom. As my mum is fond of flowers she creates a beautiful oasis of greenery with potted plants and flowers there. The pots with pink and crimson roses, yellow and blood-red tulips, purple, blue and white violets, orange lilies and many others with different flowering time convert this loggia into a beautiful and intimate nook for reading, relaxing and feeling comfortable and pleasant. Green color is so useful for eyes and plants clean the air from carbon dioxide and give us pure oxygen. We use this west loggia for enjoying the warm days without going outside of our home.

Our second loggia is the kitchen extension. It also became a place of relaxation. We use it to entertain friends or it can be used for dinner. It is our favourite place to gather as a family and have a cookout.

They say a man’s home is his castle. My flat is my home where I take shelter when I want to get away from the rest of the world. I like my home very much and miss it badly when I am away. In such moments I feel homesickness because I connect many pleasant things with my home, my dearest parents, friends, flowers, music, books and so on. That’s why I always look forward to homecoming and am delighted to meet my parents and relatives.

Subject List for “Housing / living Conditions” (Тематическая карточка)

Nouns	Verbs	Adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech	Colloquial, common, figurative and fixed expressions
Housing / living conditions / habitation	to move	three-roomed flat	with every convenience
residential area	to face	a multistoried	central heating
Flat / Cottage Layout	to store	well planned	running water
view	to match	modern-looking	to be close to
space	to install	spacious	to give smb a lift
apartment	to touch	in front of the building	to step through the front door
entry / foyer	to highlight	washable	to be impervious to water
coat closet	to install	cozy	to be heated by
box room	to convert	fully-fitted	to be equipped with
sitting room	to create	sliding doors	to have a cookout
bathroom		smooth	Internet access
cable television,		water-resistant	block of flats
loggia		heated
storage space
rubbish chute
laundry room
ceiling /wall /floor
the opposite wall
the front door
furniture
stand
a coffee-table
wall unit
bookcase
wardrobe
built-in closet
dressing table
double bed
extension table
bedside table
kitchen cabinets
bedroom set
upholstered pouffe
chest of drawers
plumbing fixtures
heater
towel rails
a stall shower
a bathtub
a sink or hand basin / sink with taps
bath mats
ceramic
flush toilet
a larder кладовая (для мясных продуктов)
electric appliances
household appliances бытовая техника
flat-screen TV
gadget
refrigerator
kitchen stove / electric range
microwave oven
coffee maker
a toaster
dishwasher
clothes dryer
washing machine
conduits heater
carpet / throw rug
curtains
wallpaper
surface
alarm clock
source
plug /socket
fixtures
ironing board
storage cabinets
laundry tub
worktop
carbon dioxide / pure oxygen

Tasks

1. Give a detailed description of your flat by answering the following questions:

At what address do you live? Please write down your name and address in your exercise book. (Your address is the number of the house, flat, and the name of the street and the town where you live.)

Do you live in your own house or in a block of flats?

Which floor is your flat on?

When did you move to your flat?

Is your flat well-planned?

Is your flat comfortable?

How many rooms are there in your flat?

Have you got a loggia (built-in closets, box rooms)?

Where do you usually have your meals?

Is there much furniture in your flat?

What colour are the walls in your room?

Are there any pictures on the walls of your flat?

Do you change your furniture round from time to time?

How often do you redecorate your room?

What is there in your room?

What is your kitchen like?

2. Self-study tasks

Situations

You have come to your granny who lives in the other city. Tell her about your flat after the refurbishment and offer her to improve her bathroom and give more modern look to it.

Look around your flat. Find something you’d love to improve. Or modernise. Or modify. Or even just fix!

Our flat is not very large, its double-roomed. If you know the word "khrushovka", you may imagine what is our flat looks like. It's just a pity that the architects forgot to give people who actually lived there any real space; the flats are still quite 'compact', and you're very cheek-by-jowl рядом, бок о бок; локоть к локтю with your neighbours, when you might not really want to be.

3. Render the story into English.

У нас хорошая квартира в новом многоквартирном доме. Наша квартира на четвертом этаже, в ней есть все современные удобства: центральное отопление, газ, электричество, холодная и горячая вода, лифт и мусо­ропровод. В квартире три комнаты, кухня, ванная комната, при­хожая.

Гостиная - самая большая и удобная комната в квар­тире. В центре комнаты стоит круглый обеденный стол и шесть стульев. Справа от стола стоит мебельная стенка. Она состоит из нескольких секций: серванта, шкафа, не­скольких полок. У противоположной стороны - пианино со стульчиком. Между двумя большими окнами находит­ся маленький столик с телевизором. В левом углу находится ма­ленький круглый столик и два уютных кресла. На этом маленьком столике всегда лежат газеты или журналы. У стены напротив окон стоит диван, а рядом торшер. Папа привык отдыхать, сидя на диване, читать или смотреть телевизор.

Спальня меньше по размеру, чем гостиная, и не такая светлая, потому что в ней только одно окно. В этой комна­те находятся две кровати и между ними тумбочка. На тумбочке стоит будильник и небольшая лампа с розовым абажуром. В левом углу - туалетный столик с большим зеркалом. В этой комнате есть встроенный шкаф с вешал­ками для одежды. На полу лежит толстый ковер, а на окнах висят одно­тонные светло-коричневые шторы.

Третья комната - мой кабинет. Она небольшая, но очень уютная. В ней мало мебели, только самое необходи­мое. В пра­вом углу стоит шкаф с книгами, журналами, дисками и сувенирами. Рядом стоит стол для ноутбука. В левом углу мой любимый диван с мягким пледом и несколькими подушками. На диване мой друг детства – медвежонок Винни, которому столько же лет, сколько мне. Мои родители купили его для меня, когда я сделал первые шаги. Рядом с окном стоит шкаф для моих вещей два стула. По-моему, этот ка­бинет - самая лучшая комната в нашей квартире.

Но самое теплое место в нашей квартире - это кухня, место, где вся семья собирается каждый вечер не только для того, чтобы поужинать вместе, но также и для того, чтобы поговорить и отдохнуть. Мне нравится английская пословица: "Мой дом - моя крепость", потому что моя квартира - действительно, моя крепость.