Living Room

This is the old living room (lounge) with former owner's furniture. A small traditional room with dark wood panels and trim, which the heritage advisor asked we try to keep, even though the room looks smaller and darker with it! We decided to try and work with it and come up with something we like, (without doing too much and keeping the same furniture we had!)







New living room, with a fresh coat of paint and new timber blinds. The fireplace has a small woodstove insert and heats up the room and the kitchen next door. A cosy room for reading and hanging out!

Cole's Caravan

Our 1970's caravan (trailer) parked at the end of our long driveway, which gives a private abode to our eldest child, presently at university. It has an authentic 70's colour scheme of gold and mustard and has a great layout of a double bed at the back, couch and table, along with a kitchenette and entertainment centre. (tv, dvd, sound system, laptop with wireless internet and a printer)in the front. It opens up to our back gate and is just a few steps from a home-cooked meal in the family kitchen! It is now autumn, so the greenery is minimal, but in summer it is very private. We've installed a heating system (safe) for the winter season here.

Turning an old Garage into a Studio!

Here is the original 'shed' - an old garage with a pull-up garage door - very drafty in the winter, and leaky too. We wanted to take this door off, frame a wall in it's place, and build it in to seal the space and make it into Isy's art studio. We lacked the necessary skills until our brother-in-law Phil came to visit after Christmas, and volunteered his precious holiday time to do some building!





The door is removed and the space has been measured up, and Phil has already built the frame before lunch on the first day of the project! Once all framed-up, we stood the thing up, moved it into the space, and with a few taps of the mallet, it squeezed snugly into place - incredible work Phil!







With the frame in, we clad the wall with masonite (cement) sheets done in a faux wood grain finish. Phil had designed the wall to have a row of 5 small window spaces to give some light but to keep the space private and secure. Here he is cutting out the window holes. Little wooden frames were then made and tapped into the space - another series of perfect fits!






Phil and Karl after a hard day's work - the wall is up and the window frames in. Phil cut the glass window panes back in his Melbourne factory (glass with a bubbled pattern to match the era of the house), and sent them to us in the mail. I fitted these later, as well as building in the wall on the inside - things I could do relatively unassisted now that Phil was back home in Melbourne!







Here is the final product - painted in heritage colours to match the house colours. Looks great (don't you think Phil!) Isy is thrilled to have a 'new' studio, and the first painting sold within minutes of the show opening! Isy says the light coming in from the windows is perfect!

Theo's Little Room

Original state of the little room near the back of the house, when we moved in. We pulled out the shelving and built in desk, replaced the carpet and painted to make it into Theo's bedroom. The walls look like a nice yellow in the photo but were actually a very acidic yellow, hard on the eyes! The carpet was the original one, from 1920's and in rough shape.












Theo's bedroom now, in creamy white, with a nice soft grey carpet. His window looks out into the backyard (or garden, as they call it in Australia). He has toys and books in a corner of his room as well as a toy/craft area in a hall area just outside his room.

Master bedroom

The master bedroom, at the front of the house, as it was when we first looked at the house. The carpet was 30 yrs old and very worn out. Window trim was dark brown, with beautiful original stained glass in the top frames. The walls are original horsehair and plaster, and wood boards on the bottom half.






The same room, just after painting and pulling up the carpets. The floorboards were in pretty good shape, but with a floor just suspended above a cold airspace (built on piers, no basement or slab and no under floor, just floorboards with cracks to the bare air below!) Soft grey carpeting was the choice for all three bedrooms for the cold winters (down to -10 C), as well as insulating under the floor of the entire house- a big difference!

It is now the master bedroom, about 9 x 12 ft (3 x 4 m), with 10 ft ceilings. It has no closets, so we have two large wardrobes along the left side of the room. Eventually, we'd like to get tall built-in closets along that side. Karl and I love this room, a calm oasis in a busy home! The flowered curtains are temporary, until we figure out what we really want for the windows. Bookshelves along one wall and antique bedside tables. The wall colour is Zen, helping us to mellow out at the end of the day!

The house and history

Our first home, bought in August 2008, is a Californian Bungalow, cottage style, built around 1925, in Armidale NSW, Australia. It has a deep, narrow block, a total of 920 sq m. It is a heritage-listed property, due to its original facade and intact interior, as well as being an excellent example of this particular style, popular in Australia in that era. (the Inter-War era)

One unusual aspect of this house are the cross symbols in the front brickwork.

Being heritage-listed means that while we can do any changes we like to the interior and back of the house, we cannot change the front facade. We love so much about it that we love to try and keep to its' original design, inside and out, or at least keep the changes 'friendly' to the origins. The 'heritage' guy came up from Sydney to give advice (for free!) and he was impressed with the place and how original it is.

We now live 3 blocks from downtown, just off the main street running through town. Armidale, a town of 26,000, has two main hills with downtown in the middle. We live on the lower slope of the North hill, close to schools, a park and walking and biking paths. It is a friendly neighbourhood, where people look after their homes, a mix of old and new. We're adjusting to living in town after living for 4 years in the country, but living in town has its' perks and conveniences. We still miss the space and peace and quiet of our old place but are also excited and pleased about our first home and improving and enjoying it for years to come.