A SENSE OF PLACE
Shifting house to Tasmania gave this young family a new lease on life
Anna and Paul Thomason fell in love with Tasmania when they holidayed here 13 years ago. It was the little snippets of England everywhere and the historic buildings that captured their hearts. Two years later they packed up their Queensland miners cottage. The house they chose was an “ugly duckling” clad with shiplap weatherboard and topped by a period butterfly-roof in historic Richmond: a 1960s house still in its original form with big square rooms and high ceilings.
“We didn’t know anyone in Tasmania, but we just wanted to try something new and make a fresh start,” says Anna. “It’s great to live in such a gorgeous place like Richmond, where we are so close to everything; the mountain, the national parks, the beaches and the convenience of the airport and the city.”
Åt the top of their to-do list after moving in was ripping up the old carpets, giving the walls a lick of paint and taking down the lace and floral curtains. “That instantly gave our home a bright and airy feel,” Anna says.
Their corner block basks in sun and Anna says they enjoy the warmth of the morning sun as it streams through their timber-framed windows into the main living spaces, including their mischievous pet Weimaraner, Willow.
A plus in moving away from Queensland’s humidity for these keen green thumbs was the joy of transforming the garden. They’ve been working on it since they moved in and it continues to evolve and flourish.
“We started off by planting over 100 hedges, which have grown up to be a living green fence,” Anna says. Next in the ground were silver birches, elms, maples, magnolias and roses. Two trees already in the garden are among Anna’s favourites: a horse chestnut and a Mt Fuji. She still marvels at the latter’s pure white blossoms when it’s in flower and loves cutting its branches to display in a vase. The Thomasons also have an impressive orchard with plums, peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, passionfruit, kiwi fruit, raspberries, apples and apricots as well as citrus fruit trees.
Anna enjoys the garden from her studio where she runs her Salamanca Skincare Company business making creams and candles, diffusers and cleansing washes.
“The gardens have been our main focus, up until now, but now it’s time to transform the exterior and turn this ugly duckling into a beautiful swan,” she says.
Anna says the house was a rabbit warren when they first moved in but they lived in it for a year to get a taste of the four seasons, before they started to knock out a few walls. Seven years after moving in, they are just about to embark on a big renovation — the footings have been poured and Paul is a carpenter so he’ll be doing it himself. There will be a new bathroom and laundry, a revamped kitchen with a walk-in larder, an extra bedroom, an extension on an existing bedroom and lots of wonderful outdoor spaces including a large deck at the back, which overlooks the Georgian architecture of St Luke’s Anglican Church.
“We look out onto the old rectory from the kitchen window, which is just stunning,” Anna says. “It’s a renovation to reshuffle the rooms to make it more workable for a family of five.”
Anna has a natural flair for styling and says surrounding yourself with special pieces can transform a house into a home. A deer antler from her childhood farm sits on a side table in the lounge room. She treasures a wooden box that was given to her when her father died when he was just 47. Within it she keeps one of his handkerchiefs, a pen, his comb and a couple of pocket knives. The box sits on an old pigeon hole shelf, which is perfect for storing her magazines.
Family members smile from antique photo frames. The cosy retro kitchen they are replacing is filled with preloved treasures such as plates and white jugs, which Anna loves to collect. “I don’t go with trends, I just go with what I love,” she says. “Our home has a lot of antique and second-hand store furniture finds because they’ve got so much more character than newly bought ones.”