Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 14 i Australian Country Homes

Hello readers, Welcome to the first issue of Australian Country Homes for 2021. This issue, we’re excited to bring you more new and inspiring features designed to help you style, renovate or build your dream home, right alongside feature articles that will warm your heart and inspire you. And let’s be honest — after 2020, we could all use an extra dose of inspiration. In this edition, we look at one of the most functional rooms in the house that often gets overlooked when it comes to design: the laundry. We uncover some of the latest in technology alongside some practical design tips to help you ensure this area of your home is not only optimised for everyday use but looking good too. Also, as per usual, we have some…

According to Coco Sheils, if you were to compare her style with that of her sister Lamb, she is Vivienne Westwood to Lamb’s Collette Dinnigan. The two women run an endearing mutual admiration society, but it’s easy to understand the analogy. While Lamb is elegant and restrained, Coco’s signature is whirlwind, all colour and movement. Coco, who is a marriage celebrant and jewellery designer, and Mike, who has his own security company, live with their two children Fallon and Nash. Coco also has two adult children, Kieran and Brittany, and family is clearly very important to them all. The couple bought their land on the Mornington Peninsula in 2005 and moved into a shed at the back of the block. In 2009, they found a derelict house nearby that they…

Creating the perfect laundry Crafting a laundry space that works seamlessly can turn laundry day into a fuss-free experience — one that could even be, dare we say it, enjoyable. The biggest mistake you can make when it comes to setting up your new laundry is not asking yourself some key questions about your needs. From budget to layout to silent appliances to highly organised spaces, there’s a lot to think about. Here are a few tips and tricks that will ensure your laundry is top-of-the-range and, more importantly, works perfectly for your family’s needs. All about space The amount of space you have access to is key to the planning of your laundry. Start by analysing what you can feasibly fit in the amount of space you have. For…

When the Thompsons first visited the Mt Wilson property that was to become their home in the NSW Blue Mountains, their responses could not have been more opposite. Beverley saw a block that was bare except for marauding masses of blackberries, bracken, thornbush and native undergrowth. Graham saw only great potential to create the landscape of his dreams, a sentiment reminiscent of one of his garden heroes, 18th-century English landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown. Thirty years after that initial viewing, it’s hard to imagine that the four-hectare showpiece garden inspired by the sweeping lawns and water features of English country parks was not always so. “Initially, Beverley thought I was out of my mind,” Graham says. “At first I probably was as it took us four years to clear the…

SLEEP IN STYLE We fell in love with this stunning two-piece merino PJ set the second we laid our eyes on it, and it’s not hard to see why. Even in the photos, the 100 per cent merino jersey manages to look soft and luxurious — the perfect recipe for a good night’s sleep. Long sleeves on the top and shorts on the bottom allow you to maintain the perfect body temperature as you drift off into the land of nod, and if you need a little extra warmth on some of those cooler nights, you can team it with a merino dressing gown to ensure you’re super cosy. The two-piece merino PJ set from Smitten Merino is proudly made in Tasmania from Australian merino wool. This item is available…

Mickey Robertson would probably hoot with laughter at being called a domestic goddess, but on hearing her philosophy on household duties the phrase keeps coming to mind. Take laundry for example: “We all have to do it,” she says in her pragmatic way. “So we might as well embrace it. I make doing the washing a joyous event. There are no plastic baskets or utilitarian pegs in my laundry. I have beautiful cane baskets and lovely wooden pegs. I keep in mind the unbeatable smell of sun-dried washing, which makes the chore worthwhile. And then I iron with lovely linen water so everything smells fresh and fragrant when you use it.” Always a glass-half-full kind of person, Mickey has applied this philosophy to the restoration of the home she shares…

To most of us, colour is a passing interest, generally noticed only when it’s used badly. But to colour consultant Sue Lenehan, colour is both a precise science and an absorbing career path. Sue began her working life as a nurse and diverged into sales and marketing for a pharmaceutical company. But at the back of her mind she always knew there must be something more fulfilling. She’d always had a strong interest in interior design, so when she heard about the Sydney International School of Colour and Design she decided to take a career break and enrol in a year-long course. The experience opened her eyes to the wonderful world of colour and, by the time she went back to work, she was well on her way to forging…

With so many products on the market, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when choosing a sink and tap when you’re renovating your kitchen. Here we’ve rounded up some sinks and taps from the very top of our dream kitchen wish list, complete with information on their unique features, to help you choose the ideal combo when creating a new culinary space. Box it up The perfect combination of washing area and food prep space, the Franke Box Centre is the ideal solution for those who want to add extra functionality to the ever-important working triangle. It features two tap and button configurations and several accessories, including chopping boards, knives, knife holders, colanders and more, which can be organised neatly into the compartment bowl. Box Centre, franke.com/au Colour your world This…

The old adage about truth being stranger than fiction could well be applied to Ararat real estate agents Kim and Greg Kerr. As Kim takes up their story, she “won” Greg in a scavenger hunt. “I grew up in Horsham in the Wimmera region and Greg was originally from Ararat, although he has lived all over,” she explains. “We dated briefly as youngsters, but went our separate ways and married other partners.” Roll forward 20-something years and Kim was on a bus-tour hen’s party outing to Ararat when she spotted Greg’s office as they drove past. When she announced to her fellow travellers that she used to go out with a guy from the agency, her friends offered 20 bonus points in the game they were playing if she went…

We’ve all read those travel memoirs written by a wander-lusting expat who throws caution to the wind and sets up camp in the European countryside. The restoration of an old character-filled house is usually part of the storyline, as is the charmingly challenging adaptation to rural life in an enchanting foreign land. For South Australian couple Michael Norris and Judy Richards, that narrative is one they know well. Very well. “We live the dream in two small villages,” Judy says. “One is in one of the most beautiful regions of France and the other is here in the Hills, in my opinion, one of the world’s most stunning places.” The adventurous couple have known each other for more than three decades and tied the knot in 2008. That was when…

Margaret Strelow has a slew of qualifications in education and history, but it’s her certificates in horticulture that she says are among her proudest achievements. The self-confessed “perpetual student” and previous mayor of the central Queensland city of Rockhampton has used all those skills plus some in her previous occupations, which include stints as a councillor, directing a childcare centre, running a wedding venue and hosting a bed and breakfast. Australian Country Homes can testify she could also add “gracious host” and “dab hand in the kitchen” to that CV as she took time out to welcome us to the historic Queenslander she shares with her husband, Darryl, in Rockhampton’s CBD. In between showing us around, filling us in on the history of her home, providing lively commentary on the…

A few kilometres outside the town of Beaufort in western Victoria is Glenview Park Farm, a 145-acre property owned by husband and wife Rob Pelletier and Kate Blood. The farm comprises many acres of bushland, some pastured areas, an orchard and a fruit tree nursery. No one driving past would guess the extent of the garden hidden behind the hedges. The front of the house is mown grass with well-spaced trees and behind the house is a “relaxed perennial garden” with deciduous trees. “There are several different areas in our garden and bushfire protection is a big influence on their location and design,” says Kate. “We have larger areas of grass with curved hedges, specimen trees and avenues of deciduous trees.” Rob and Kate are both horticulture graduates from Burnley…