saudi homes, outside

I've tried to include a good variety of subjects in my blog. I choose things that interest and/or affect me. Of course one of these subjects would be Saudi Arabia, where I now live. I want to share all the wonderful and fascinating things, here in Saudi, that I think people not only don't know much about, but things that might just surprise them.

I went online searching and searching for pics of Saudi interior design. I mean, the houses are GORGEOUS inside! But, believe it or not, I did not have much luck finding pics. But don't worry, I won't give up, it may just take more time. I did however, find a few pics of houses from the outside so I can show you those. Here is a typical looking house in a typical looking neighborhood:

This house is on the corner of the street, which means it's value is a bit higher, but this is a pretty average sized house. Notice the wall going around it? All houses have this feature and I personally like it. Inside the wall is an outside, private area. Women enjoy this because they don't have to cover the same way they would when they go out in public, so yes, women do get to uncover outside sometimes. ;-) Notice the garage door on the right side? This inside area has space to park car(s). Families design this area as they like. Some are set up in a patio-type style, some ppl plant grass and trees so that they have an actual yard, and many houses have swimming pools which could be in this area although many ppl have indoor pools too.

Why so many doors? Houses usually have at least two entrances. When a family hosts a gathering women and men are usually separated into two areas. They can use seperate doors which would lead to the area they will go to. Is this to hide away the women because they're so oppressed? hahaha....no, not at all! Actually women don't mind this at all. Muslim women cover almost everything except their hands and face when in the company of men who are not close relatives so being in a women-only room means that they get to dress up all girly, with fab fashions, make-up, hair, you name it. Also, think of a typical gathering in the US. I know in my family, women tend to gather in one room, talking about girl stuff and the guys all end up in the room with the biggest TV to watch whatever game is on that day, so it's kinda natural if you think about it.

But back to the door thing...there's also a smaller door (for this house it's to the left of the garage door), that's for the driver. Women can't drive here but a lot of them have drivers who live on the property. All houses have a special room, think studio apt, for a driver to live in. The family of course pays the salary of this driver, but also provides housing and food. These rooms are equipped with a bathroom too.

Here's a picture of a typical street in Saudi:

These houses all look the same, but not all neighborhoods are like that. In this case these houses were probably built by an investor who rents/sells them. But in many neighborhoods the houses are all different and very unique because a lot of ppl buy property, design and build their house the way they prefer. See the trees? Those are date palm trees. Don't be fooled by their height, they're babies, they'll grow to be quite tall.

Here's another neighborhood pic:

This neighborhood is a bit older than the previous pic but I imagine their value is quite high. Why? See that big tall building in the background? It's filled with offices and businesses. They have some great restaurants, too. I've been to one of them and you can go out onto the balcony and walk all the way around and see Riyadh from an awesome view, beautiful at night I must say. It also has an awesome mall too! Because of this building, houses here are higher in value.

See the yellow garbage can on the right? I can't tell but there may be a cat on/in it. This is common here, there are many street cats who like to hang out near the garbage cans in search of a good meal. But my point for pointing this out is that these are placed throughout the entire city. This is where we put our garbage and it's taken every morning, free of charge.

Since I have to wait to find good interior pics, I can at least share a few tidbits about inside the homes.

Not all houses have basements, older style homes are built from the ground level up, but the newer styles do have foundations built into the ground and have basements which are used as additional rooms such as family rooms, guest rooms, play rooms, even swimming pools are built there.

All houses have at least four rooms on the first floor; living room, dining room, and two sitting rooms to entertain guests (one for men, one for women). Sometimes one of these two are converted into a bedroom for an elderly member of the family (nursing homes are almost non-existent, the elderly are taken care of by family). The first floor would also have two sets of bathrooms for guests and a kitchen.

The second floor would house all the bedrooms. There's usually one bathroom for every 1-2 bedrooms. An average house would have about 3-4 bedrooms with about 3-4 bathrooms, sometimes a bathroom inside each bedroom. Some ppl design a family/living room on the 2nd floor, or an office. A bigger house could have 5 or more bedrooms. It all depends on size and design.

There's a third level of the house and it's not like a typical American style 3rd floor with a pointed roof. If you notice in the pics the houses here in Riyadh are flat on the top. The third level is what I call the "roof area", but I made that name up. Picture a patio type area with a wall going around it but open to the sky. On this level there's almost always an extra room/rooms built. This is were the housekeeper stays. She has her own room and bathroom. Also people tend to have a laundry room here and since the housekeeper usually does the laundry it's easier being next to her room. But there's an outside area big enough for kids to play/families to hang out.

So that's all for now, I guess. I'll keep working on finding some beautiful pics of the interiors. If you have any questions, you can post them in the comment section and I'll be sure to answer!

Have a beautiful day!!! :-)