COVER LOOK
BUILT WITH LOVE AND SALVAGED CENTURY-OLD MATERIALS, A BEAUTIFULLY CREATED HOME IN TASMANIA IS THE PERFECT RETREAT FOR ITS HISTORY-LOVING OWNER AND HER FAMILY
WITH STUNNING DEEP BLUE WALLS ALONG WITH SINK-INTO CLASSIC FURNITURE,
OUR COSY LAUNCESTON COVER STAR SIMPLY BECKONED US TO ENJOY ITS WINTERTIME
LUXURY. DISCOVER THE REST OF THIS BEAUTIFUL HOME
NOSTALGIC NOD Lovingly built with reclaimed materials, homeowner Amanda and Skip’s home on the outskirts of Launceston echoes the past, but still offers the convenience and practicality of modern-day living for the couple and their guests, including their daughter’s Staffy, Theo (top left, in the dining room). Textures abound in the 17-year-old home, thanks to Amanda’s collections: on the dining table, old stoneware jugs display florals (top right), while taxidermy birds from Austria, bought on Ebay, paired with Indian exercise batons from the Evandale market, create a unique vignette (below right). In the atmospheric front sitting room (below left), a model ship from Amanda’s parents’ store, Longford Antiques, calls to mind a gentleman’s den, and a cabinet she painted in Noir by Jolie Paint reveals her penchant for boldly reimagining old pieces.
LAUNDRY
Amanda, a fan of beautiful utility, explains that: “I don’t want things to be precious. I need things to be functional because I use what I’ve got.” Hanging up in this laundry nook (right), a few steps from the kitchen, are brushes, brooms and linen aprons, above an elegant wicker basket from The Vintage Rose. Similar styles available via frenchknot.com.au.
No need to take your shoes off, it’s a country house!” says Amanda, as she welcomes guests into her Georgian-style home on the outskirts of Launceston. The property, designed and built by the homeowner and her husband, Skip, looks as if it has been standing firm in the ground for 100 years or more. Although it was built only 17 years ago, the combined age of the materials used amounts to centuries passed. Every internal door in the home has come from the old hydroelectric substations in Launceston while the exterior is made from salvaged century-old Tasmanian Machen’s bricks. “It feels good to give purpose to old materials,” explains the history lover, who grew up spending her holidays restoring furniture in her parents’ antique store.
During the build, Amanda quickly discovered that working with recycled materials can be labour-intensive, making use of the barn that was completed four months into the 13-month construction. “It was becoming too much to juggle our two young daughters and the construction, so we sold our cottage in the city and moved into the barn to be closer to the site,” she recalls. The family lived in the fully equipped two-storey barn for nine months while work on the house continued. Besides assistance with elements of the roofing, the couple completed the bulk of the work themselves. “Every single facet of this build was time consuming, there are no two ways about it,” says Amanda, who acknowledges that by using reclaimed materials and doing the work themselves, they were able to keep their costs down. “That was the most important factor in the whole process – we had a budget and we were going to stick to it.”
After nine years of country living, the family moved back to the city while daughters Chloe and Amy finished school and Amanda established her store, The Vintage Rose. However, once their girls had flown the coop, the couple returned to their home in the country. “We realised we missed our place,” she says. With a heavy heart, Amanda recently closed her shopfront in Launceston, but relishes more time spent in this special place. “We built this house with our own bare hands, so we have a huge emotional attachment to it,” she says. “It feels like home.” >
“I LOVE collecting AND I THINK THAT COMES FROM MY MUM AND DAD OWNING AN ANTIQUE SHOP”
~ AMANDA
KITCHEN ISLAND
“Doing the build was full on for me, but for Skip it was a privilege, because he had always wanted to build his own home and this was it,” says Amanda (pictured opposite with Skip), whose talent for evoking a sense of rustic charm is apparent in the beautiful kitchen, characteristically brimming with vintage treasures. Sitting atop the central island bench (top left) is an old pastry board from the Evandale market, which now acts as a chopping board, while the mortar and pestle sourced from Devonport’s Antique Emporium completes the timeless scene. A wicker basket, mesh sieve and vintage landscape adorn walls painted in Haymes Organic 1.
KITCHEN BENCH
Rustic chopping boards (top right) are just some of the many objects that Amanda both collects and uses regularly. She and Skip will often be found in their kitchen bottling preserves or whipping up big lunches for their friends and family to enjoy. With bountiful vegetable patches across their eight acres of land, the couple is edging closer to becoming fully self-sufficient.
KITCHEN STORAGE
When Amanda found the armoire (left) at Armitage Auctions, the timber’s tone was very orange, so she used white finishing wax from Jolie to give the piece a beached look. The armoire offers storage for plates and cutlery, while the top of it is the perfect spot to showcase French stoneware, some of it from Red Fox Antiques in Launceston.
KITCHEN
Handy Skip built their kitchen (opposite) using recycled blackwood and cowrie pine. Amanda added her own flair by washing the central island in Wattyl’s Antique Linen. The basic pendants were also reinvented by Amanda, who used Instant Rust paint from Porter’s. “I could not find lighting I liked, so I decided to make some,” she says. Here, the couple’s dog, Macey, waits patiently for a treat. >
“I’VE NEVER BEEN MASSIVELY influenced BY WHAT OTHER PEOPLE DO. I DO THINGS THAT MAKE ME AND MY family COMFORTABLE”
~ AMANDA
BATHROOM
The bathroom’s French doors flood the room with light (opposite) and provide direct access through to the home’s outdoor entertaining space. Greenery, a taxidermy duck and a vintage landscape painting (artist unknown) work to bring the outdoors in, while Thunder Stones flooring continues outside (in paver form), further highlighting the indoor-outdoor connection. Amanda made the shower curtain by waterproofing Ikea tablecloths; they hang from a custom brass shower rail manufactured by Rankin & Bond in Launceston.
BEDROOM DETAIL
A soft, soothing colour palette (top left) creates a calm feeling, as does the graceful lady featured in the vintage portrait, sourced from Arabesque Interiors UK. “I find vintage portraits intriguing,” says Amanda. “I always think, ‘Where have you come from? What’s your story?’” Atop the oak side table from French Country, an antiquestyle lamp from Emac & Lawton and a stack of vintage books also celebrate her passion for the past. (The linen covered headboard is also from French Country).
BATHROOM
Storage in the bathroom (top right) comes by way of an apothecary cabinet from Armitage Auctions in Launceston, which displays old medicine bottles, perfumed oils and stacks of waffle linen hand towels. A glass jar holds textural Savon De Marseille And Est soaps.
BEDROOM DETAIL
Every bed in the couple’s home is layered with gorgeous linens from Amanda’s vast collection. “I was a fashion designer for many years and I was doing linen in the eighties, when natural fibres were big,” she explains. The wicker side table (right) is second-hand and the rusty look of the pendant light was created by Amanda with Porter’s Instant Rust paint. The macrocarpa pine floorboards in the room have also been finished by the clever homeowner, who used whitewash paint and also applied Porter’s Stucco Wax. >
THE BARN Neatly trimmed hedges, a quaint English garden and an old barn complete the provincial look. The couple rescued the barn, once a draught horse stable, from a property 50km away; it took four months to rebuild. “Every part of the barn was upcycled, so there was a lot of de-nailing and making good before we could utilise the materials,” says Amanda.
INSIDE STORY AMANDA & SKIP’S HOME
WHO LIVES HERE? Amanda, a merchant and curator; her husband, Skip, semi-retired; and their dog, Macey the cairn terrier.
BIGGEST SAVING IN THIS BUILD?
Amanda: “We saved more than $50,000 by making and painting all the casement windows and French doors ourselves.”
IN HINDSIGHT, WOULD YOU HAVE APPROACHED THIS BUILD IN ANOTHER WAY?
“I would never have done it at all! I had no idea what I was in for. In my head I was just putting on the finishing touches.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO COLLECT? “I have a real thing for vintage oil paintings at the moment. Addiction is a better word.”
FAVOURITE MATERIAL?
“I have always loved linen and I like bleached timber for its practicality.”
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
“I’ve always had an affiliation with history, from when I was very young.”
SOURCE BOOK INTERIORS The Vintage Rose, @thevintagerose_
“WE WANTED A HOUSE THAT WAS FUNCTIONAL YET HAD THE APPEARANCE OF AN OLDER HOME” ~ AMANDA