Homebodies
Rebecca williams lives with her partner clay and daughter zavian on the west australian coast.
It’s pretty easy to find somewhere to rent in the seaside town of Dunsborough in Western Australia – if you’re after somewhere for a holiday, that is. If you live there, though, like photographer Rebecca Williams, it’s a bit more of a struggle. “There are never more than a few places available at any one time,” she says.
Bec’s first place – a little pink house she called the “Sugar Shack” – was a beauty (so sweet, in fact, that we featured it in SPACES volume two). The next one was definitely on the darker side. “I tried to make it work, but couldn’t,” she admits. While looking for a lucky third abode last year with her daughter Zavian and partner Clay Foster, she came across a house on a 10-acre block that was bigger than they needed, with rent way out of their league. One look at the kitchen, though, with its working AGA cooker, and “I pretty much stopped thinking about anything else,” Bec says.
Fortunately, there was a little cottage on site, which the family was able to sublet to help pay the bills. Even luckier is that Amy and Shannon, the couple who now live there with their little boy Milo, “grow exotic Chinese mushrooms and are beautiful people,” Bec says. “It’s so nice to have them here; it’s become like a little family. I’ll be having a bath, and Amy and Milo will come and sit in the bathroom, and Milo will jump in after me. I love it, it feels so homely.”
There’s a lot to love about the seaside abode, which Bec guesses was built in the past 20 years. The spacious proportions of the rooms; the light streaming in through every window; the whitewashed floors “that have been trashed and scratched up, so they’re not precious”. (They’re also a great backdrop for Bec’s favourite possessions – her collection of rugs.) Then there’s the wildflowers that blanket the
property in spring, and the whopping big tree in the backyard. “I’ve strung heaps of lights through it, and it’s just the best place to lie down or have a nice meal,” Bec says.
Like most houses, though, it’s not perfect – not that Bec is particularly fussed. She reckons “creativity is born when you have to make do with what you’ve got”. She’d love to paint some of the walls a different colour, and isn’t mad on the orange-tinged timber in the kitchen. Given half the chance, she’d add a quick whitewash or replace it with something “more rustic and earthy”. A few more hooks for her artwork would be good, too – favourites include pieces by her mum; Western Australian painter Susanna Hawkes; and Californian Daren Thomas Magee, aka Real Fun, Wow!
The windows might be nice and big, but they also have some “ugly aluminium frames, which I’d get rid of, for sure,” Bec says. Unfortunately, it’s not possible – so the next best thing is to disguise them, and Bec’s super-creative on that front. Some days she’ll hang dresses in front of them; others, she’ll raid her collection of textiles (she used to have a business making clothes out of retro fabrics) and attach them to the curtain rails with clips from IKEA. Turkish towels do the trick, too, she says. “I found a whole bunch of them in lovely colours like pinks and mustards, with a bit of metallic thread through them. They’ve got tassels – I love tassels, they should be on everything.”
Things don’t stay in one place for long in the Williams-foster household. “I don’t want to spend lots of money buying new stuff when I can just move things around and make them feel new again,” Bec says. “I’ve been a nester since I was a little kid – my weekends
were spent shuffling my room around, so it’s always been in me.” Most recently, she’s been giving her brightly coloured stuff a bit of a rest, going for slightly quieter things instead. “The house is still full of colour and pattern, just not as much as it used to be.”
Furniture is mainly a mix of op-shop finds and pieces from Bec’s family, including two favourite chairs given to her by her aunty – one is Mid-century with fake leather upholstery and studs, and the other is “solid wood, and very curvy and organic. My aunty is the original bowerbird and has been a huge influence on my life.” Other precious pieces include her grandfather’s army-issue trunks; some vintage chairs from her gran; and a timber coffee table made by a friend. There are a couple of new purchases, too, like the leather sofa from Freedom. “I used to visit the online catalogue every now and then and think about whether I could afford it,” she says. “One day, it wasn’t there anymore, and I thought I’d missed my chance.” But she managed to nab the last one and couldn’t be happier. “It’s my first proper grown-up couch. I’d been waiting for Zavian, who’s now nine, to be past the vomiting and sticky fingers phase.”
Bec’s other big purchase was a striking king-size bed, bought as something of a pick-me-up. In the middle of last year, Bec was diagnosed with cancer, which, unsurprisingly, has thrown her world into chaos. “I decided if I’m going to spend a lot of time in bed, it’s going to be the most beautiful place ever,” she says. With her treatment taking place 250 kilometres away in Perth, she also spends half her time living in the city with her mum – but makes sure to take some favourite bits and bobs with her. “I realise they’re not that important in the scheme of things,” Bec says, “but I still take great joy from having them with me.” When she gets home to Dunsborough, the first thing Bec does is buzz around the house, creating a happy little nest. “I also get up early to look after my plants, which has been very therapeutic,” she says. The medication Bec’s on makes her super-sensitive to light, leading to some very early starts. “I’ll sometimes be up by myself at four in the morning – it’s actually really beautiful to watch the sun rise.” She’s super-grateful to Clay, who keeps stress at bay as much as possible. “Like, if the plumbing goes weird, he speaks to the real estate agent and keeps everything kicking along,” Bec says. “I’ve been given permission to do anything I want.”
One of those things was adopting Dandelion the kitten – Clay’s allergic to cats, but Bec’s heard they’re good for helping the healing process along. She’s taken up pottery and been whipping things up on her sewing machine, too – for fun this time, rather than meeting customer orders. Then there’s the ‘anti-bad vibe’ door hanging she’s crocheted that incorporates precious trinkets, bells and dismantled necklaces. “Every time people walk under it, they leave their shit at the door,” Bec says.
As happy as she is in her Dunsborough home, Bec would love to own a place of her own some time soon. “I want the freedom to do whatever I like,” she says. “If I wanted to stencil the floor, I could.” There’s been talk of communal living with her tight-knit family, too, who she sees most days, and “misses as soon as they walk out the door”. “There’d be a great big shared veggie patch and straw-bale houses,” Bec imagines. “All the babies would be running around, and I’d have a studio for my personal creativity. That’s the dream we’re all moving towards.”