Our stable conversion: how rundown farm buildings became a gorgeous Byron retreat
After years in the spotlight in the ilm and TV industry, Amanda Coutts swapped city living for the Byron Bay hinterland and hasn’t looked back, says Hande Renshaw.
For Amanda Coutts, it was merely a matter of time before she would relocate back to her roots and settle in the country. Growing up in rural Victoria, country life was always something she craved to return to. “After living in Brisbane as a teenager through to my adult years, I knew the country lifestyle was where I wanted to go back to, I threw myself in the deep end when I moved into this property, but I knew what to expect as a country girl,” says Amanda.
Amanda, who owns Peace By Piece, which specialises in handmade leather goods, shares her Byron hinterland home with her two sons Charlie,
12, and Pedro, nine, and their two beloved kelpies, Janey and Black Jack.
She stumbled on the charming property with her then husband, musician Pete Murray, from a cutting from a real estate magazine. “We were sold before we even arrived to view the house – driving down the tree-lined winding roads, dappled sunlight and the green rolling hills opening to vast mountain views … all down a dirt road and into a garden full of 100-year-old trees; I was an absolute goner!” says Amanda. “We really wanted to play hard with the agent, but there was no hiding it – I was home.”
These days, Amanda lives in what were the original stables, once home to horsemen and their horses when the property ran as a dairy farm. The stables were literally one tin shed when Amanda rst moved in eight years ago, with power, running water and tin-covered walls, but without a single window.
“I quickly set about creating a cosy home overlooking the valley down the backyard,” she explains.
The renovations have included pulling off all the tin and putting in recycled timber ooring and creating individual spaces. “For the windows, I hunted high and low – I wanted to create little frames for the view outside, so it was like looking at a painting,” says Amanda.
Each vintage salvaged window takes in the magical view, with trees in every frame. “I feel like I live in a grown-up treehouse,” says Amanda.
For the three-bedroom interior, Amanda is drawn to textured timber, old family pieces, the recycled and the handmade. “I just can’t have massproduced things around me – even in my kitchen I use glass and ceramics, and have wooden plates,” she says.
“It just seems so important to me to have everything made from wood or iron, glass, ceramics, leather and natural bres. It also keeps the crafts alive.”
From the marble sinks, which were once used in a Turkish bathhouse, to her grandmother’s reupholstered sofa covered in an Australian wild owers print, everything in Amanda’s home has a story.
Her antique collection started when she was just 15 years old and it shows little sign of slowing down. “I have a retail shop and workshop, which are also full of fabulous pieces found over 30 years ago. The rest has come from family,” says Amanda. “I’m big on sentimental pieces. Even if they don’t seem to t, they belong because they are a part of my history.”