Bluestone Feature wall

It seems like there are so many things that could not be tolerated about this house but one of the worst features was surely the rustic brick feature wall. Dominating the room with all its textured hideousness, it even mimicked the wooden dado with a seemingly pointless horizontal line of end on bricks sticking out about 1 " across the width at chest height. built into this was an equally demanding structure designed to hold wood and support Audio/visual junk. A very early decision was to replace this and we happened to have some spare cash after the house purchase and found ourselves in the bespoke tile area of Church St Richmond. After being blown away by some awesome cut stone tiles, we decided on this bluestone with aerated inclusions. Some of the bubbles have quartzite accumulations like mini olivine bombs that look like fossils.

We finally saved enough money to have the tiles installed by a guy from Colac who did an awesome job. He utilized a laser to line up the tiles and convinces us to stagger the vertical grout lines which gave the installation a much more dynamic appearance than simple grid lines.
You will also notice the new wood heater. The old one was too big, both visually and in terms of economy. After perusing some sexy (and expensive) scandinavian designs, we found this (Kemlan Tempostack) which is much more discreet and less folksy.

We are so happy with the wall, especially as it echoes the walls of the mighty NGV by Roy Grounds. Just like the great hall, hours of fun are to be had, lying on the floor staring at the wall, reading its patterns.

Oh Give me land

Another blot that you notice in the initial photos of the house was the quaint post and rail fence. This hideous monstrosity was a relic of when first built, this place being used as a horse-riding stopover. We demolished it very quickly (to the distress of the local blokes who built it, and who came to see if they could have the timber) and proceeded to think of ways to utilize the remnants, before being tempted to burn it all.

Here are some results.

Three raised garden boxes which will soon house our home paddock crops.


A dry shelter for our woodpile. At last able to hold our heads up in the face of neighbours fancy pants woodpiles.

Knock it back

One of the first challenges in making our small home more visually palatable was the exterior. Although the cement brick is (for me) structurally sound and durable, its stood out from the hillside like the proverbial 'dog's balls'. We decided that the most effective and economic ways to deal with this was to paint, but what colour?

After much deliberation we decided on a hard wearing exterior colour called 'raku'. This is a deep grey, as the name suggests, reminiscent of the raw clay on vessels exposed to the eponymous japanese firing process. I was more than happy with the choice being a previous devotee.

You can see here, the exterior transformation so far. Note also the lack of geegaws on the verandah, the removal of the front door (more on that later) and new windows (more on that later also).

"Country Ambience"

Our previous endeavour, to build on a bush block further south, had hit a wall on account of council permits and zoning regulations. Therefore we resolved to find a place with a house on it already. Near the coast but not in the thick of seachange sprawl (and affordable), rural but not too isolated.


After cruising the Otways for a couple of weeks, looking at other people's failed dreams, with woodrot and encroaching bushfire hazards, we found this place and immediately saw the potential. There was a lot to be nervous about, to say the least. Blue carpet, salmon pink tiles (more on those later), low ceilings and, most disturbingly, the entire house had hideous pine dado halfway each wall. Despite the advertised 'cottagey' ambience, there was also a great potential. I liked its soundness, as it is under 20 years old and cement brick exterior. Lily liked the fact that the living area was open with the bedrooms off each end. In a very simple, and rectilinear way, this reflected the Rory Hyde designed house (pictured below) that was our dream. Without the cosmetic atrocities, we thought it had a simplicity that could work.
After we got rid of the hideous furniture, curtains and light fittings, and knocked off the curliques from the verandah and the finials from the roof (which we did immediately) we had our blank canvas. Unfortunately, having made the purchase we had no money to do the many things we would need to.

Background

It is my great good fortune to be married to a person with an amazing propensity for joyous adaptability. The u-turn or about face is for her just another opportunity for change and invention. So when our previous endeavour, to build our modernist dream home in the Otways (viewable at asculptureforliving.blogspot.com ), met with the final dead-end, it did not take long for us to be back on track with a new plan. This blog charts our current living project, in the hinterland between Dean's Marsh and Lorne, still the Otways. Why Heide? Like those awesome patrons of Australian Modernism, John and Sunday Reed (McGlashan and Everist), we always planned to make a house that was also a gallery. What we have now is not the dream we wanted but probably the home we deserve.

http://www.heide.com.au/exhibitions/living_in_landscape