Dream House, So Close...

What sort of house is your dream house?

I must admit I love all styles of houses and have been lucky enough to see many wonderful places over the years I have been writing and photographing them for magazines.

One of my own "dreams" has been to live in an old rambling weatherboard farmhouse and here I am, almost. We have lived here in the old, heritage-listed house for a number of years now since gradually extricating ourselves from our house right in the city of Sydney. The complete opposite of this, I suppose.

In between our beach house and commercial renovation projects and other careers, this house has waited for us to get our act together. Our friends have waited for dinner invitations - we don't have a dining room. My office in is that room, as is the guest bed. I guess that shows what our priorities have been. It has been a case of putting up with things....

My husband Rob, who is (conveniently for me) an architect and heritage specialist, has been my long-suffering partner in our renovation exploits. We actually bought our first renovation project within months of meeting each other. I reckon he proposed to me only a couple of weeks after we met as I was the first girl he'd gone out with who had renovated her own place.

So here we are living long term in a renovation. The main hallway of the farmhouse we lined with boards and very cool paneling (more than two years ago) are still in an undercoated state, waiting for a new pressed metal ceiling to magically appear.

The church hall is painfully close to being habitable, now all the walls and ceilings have been patched and lined and electrics done. The 165 year old floorboards lay covered by masonite and I am looking forward to the day when we reveal them and get them sanded and finished. The high boarded ceiling with exposed trusses looks fabulous.