"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.