Staying home: Beautiful houses

FOR A FAMILY THAT LOVES TO COLLECT ALL THINGS VINTAGE, THIS 1880s QUEENSLAND FARMHOUSE PROVED TO BE THE PERFECT FIND.

KATIE ROBKE’S CHILDREN are forever running wild — and this is something that pleases her no end. Growing up on a ginger farm 15 kilometres outside of Pomona, Queensland, gives Asher, six, Koda, four, and three-year-old Luna plenty of space to dig holes, play superheroes and screech about. “They’ll be outside until the sun sets or their stomachs rumble — or the mozzies get even hungrier than them,” says Katie with a smile. “This is exactly the kind of childhood we wanted for our kids and the reason we moved here.”

Home for Katie, her partner Luke Bickley, both 34, and their children, is a charming 1880s worker’s cottage they moved into about 18 months ago. “I spotted it online and at that point the farmhouse had a raw-timber exterior,” says Katie. “It was all pretty primitive, but it was affordable and the kind of home we were after.” Now, with a long-term lease in place, the family has been given the owner’s blessing to treat the house as their own.

But before they moved in, the farmhouse received an update: a lick of barn-red paint outside; the raw timber floors polished; and the wiring improved. Part of Katie’s reasoning for seeking out a property such as this one was that it aligned nicely with her passion for antique furniture and vintage items of all kinds. “A lot of the pieces in our home we owned before moving here — but they never quite worked as well as they could in our previous house,” says Katie. “Here, though, it’s as if they were meant to be. We have a tiny house but, amazingly, there seems to be a spot for everything.”

Among her favourite pieces is an 1840s hutch she bought years ago that looks like it’s been in the kitchen forever.

“It was important to us to create a sense of nostalgia in our home,” she says. “When we moved in we hung some light fittings throughout and removed two small wall cabinets that had been tacked on in the 1970s. Aside from that, we love the house’s charm and its quirks.” For Katie, there’s joy in the unsealed timber wall panels and the silky-oak window frames that enclose the original — and, incredibly, uncracked — stained-glass panes. And there’s so much to love about the house’s high ceilings and funny little rooms with too many doors — “it’s the opposite of open-plan,” she quips.

When the owner of the house saw how good the cottage looked with Katie and Luke’s antique furniture in place he was impressed. “I think he can now see the possibilities,” says Katie. She now plans to work with the owner to restore an old barn behind the house so it can be a studio/workspace for Luke. He’s a cinematographer who specialises in underwater filming and she works in the business alongside >

Asher, six, (top) and Koda, four, play in the treehouse while their three-year-old sister Luna stays closer to their parents Luke Bickley and Katie Robke. The Moreton Bay fig is about 150 years old and beautiful views of Amamoor State Forest can be seen in the distance.

RIGHT Katie hangs the washing on a simple line rigged up by Luke. FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Lace curtains grace the home’s original timber-framed windows; Luke and Katie with their children, from left, Asher, Koda and Luna. The farm’s ginger grows in the paddocks beyond; the home’s exterior; in the kitchen are antique pieces including an 1840s hutch, an 1860s table and an 1800s meat safe used as saucepan storage. The oil painting is by an unknown artist.