FABRIC OF LIFE
HOW ONE FAMILY FOUND FRIENDSHIP AS WELL AS THEIR DREAM HOME IN THE NSW SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS.
Elizabeth Pilkington and her family found a community they could rely on in Bowral, NSW.
TWO YEARS AGO, as Elizabeth Pilkington lay resting, her 1910 weatherboard home in Bowral, in NSW’S Southern Highlands, talked to her. And it spoke a language of love. Diagnosed with breast cancer, and suffering from the effects of chemotherapy, Elizabeth would hear the wooden boards of her home’s front verandah creak and groan as friends crept up and left meals for her husband Col and their daughters, Annie and Audrey. “I’d often hear them coming onto the verandah, although I never knew who it was, as they wouldn’t knock in case I was sleeping or particularly unwell that day,” says the 38-year-old. “They would leave these beautiful meals and gifts for us. Every day for months on end. That feeling of absolute love from our friends helped me so much.” Knowing Elizabeth’s penchant for beautiful and unique home accessories, one friend even found the perfect receptacle for all the meal deliveries — a wooden Esky. “She knew I’d hate a plastic Esky sitting on the verandah, so she found a wooden one,” says Elizabeth, with a laugh. We’re in the front sitting room, nicknamed ‘the green room’ due to one wall’s emerald colour. It has French doors and a mantelpiece decorated with knick-knacks collected on holidays she, Col and the girls — now aged seven and nine — have taken. It’s been 12 months since Elizabeth’s last treatment and her prognosis is positive. Nevertheless, the threads of that experience are sewn into the fabric of this cottage. “When I first received the news, I was here in our home, and my feelings immediately flashed to our girls and the possible implications for them, because my mother Cath died from breast cancer when I was 21,” recalls Elizabeth. “Her death was very hard on me, my sister and brothers. But it made me more vigilant with my health and, in some ways, probably saved my life.” At the time of the diagnosis in 2o15, the family were set to return to the city. Col, who works for an agricultural technology business, and Elizabeth, who was planning to rejoin the corporate world working in mediation for a Sydney law firm, both felt that Sydney was the place to be for their careers. The cancer made them reassess their lives. “Within hours I was cancelling our leaving party,” says Elizabeth, and eventually the move was put off altogether. While she was in treatment and regaining her strength, Elizabeth began focusing on her love of fabrics and launched her own homewares and fashion label, Piece By Piece Home, in November 2016. Cushions from her label are strewn throughout the house. Each one embodies her design ethos: old fabrics with new; vintage with designer. Walking through to the heart of the house, there are lovely dark wooden floors and three bedrooms with much of the original panelling, set off the central kitchen and living area. A modern tin and glass extension was added in January as Elizabeth’s new studio. It has floor-to-ceiling windows and looks out to the back garden and Col’s office, where he often works from home. Brought up in NSW and Queensland, Elizabeth went to high school in Bathurst, NSW, while Col is from Bombala, >
five hours south of there. An old road sign that reads ‘Bombala River’ hangs on the kitchen wall — they both love collecting. “My style is eclectic,” says Elizabeth. “Ever since I was a girl, I’ve loved fabric, collecting and making things. I’m finding so much joy in losing myself in fabric and making things people genuinely seem to love.” In the past year, Elizabeth has travelled to France, Hong Kong and the US to source fabrics. Some favourites are by Nathalie Lété and Anna Hayman, as well as Australian Zoë Ingram. Elizabeth designs and tacks each piece before local seamstresses expertly sew them together. “I like the idea that you may have a room with white walls, but by adding something unique it can change the look completely.” The family’s house is also alive with an extensive art collection. Paintings picked up at fetes hang beside works by renowned artists such as illustrator Sophie Blackall, who was married to Elizabeth’s uncle. “She’s one of the best children’s illustrators in the world and now lives in New York.” There are works by her brother, artist Matt Pilkington; as well as Archibald finalist and fellow Bowral resident Zoe Young; and two nudes of Elizabeth by Lucy Culliton, another Archibald finalist and family friend. Like many of their paintings, this house was bought based on gut instinct. “It’s nuts really, but we bought this house minutes after laying eyes on it. It was 2008, we were living in Cremorne Point, Sydney, and thought we’d see what we could get in the Highlands for similar money. We turned up just before the auction, walked through and were smitten.” Forty minutes later, they were signing the papers for the cottage — the oldest house on the street, set elegantly back from the road. “We were looking at each other going, ‘So this means we’re actually buying this?’ We’d just found out we were pregnant and it was like a dream house.” Today, a rocking horse sits on the verandah waiting for the girls to come home from school, a creaking reminder of the kindness the family has experienced here. “I genuinely believe our friends’ care helped me get well again,” says Elizabeth. “It also showed us we had actually been in the right place all along.” For more information, visit piecebypiecehome.com