You had me at ‘heritage’
When friends recently emailed me asking for some design advice on their newly-purchased heritage home, I knew this was the job for me.
You see, deep at heart I am a homesteader, someone who is quite content to stay at home stitching a quilt, making jam or growing veggies. One of my earliest childhood goals was to live in a pioneer village like the one we used to visit on school excursions – quaint little cottages fit out with all the goods and chattels of yesteryear, complete with horses in the paddocks and dairy cows ready for milking. It was my idea of heaven and now I had the opportunity to step inside the home of my dreams and help my lovely friends craft a modern space incorporating all the architectural features of this 150+-year-old build.
Needless to say, it’s been so rewarding working on such a beautiful home located in the picturesque Adelaide Hills – a little 2-up, 2-down cottage with adjoining shop and huge basement. When I asked my friends on a scale of 1-10 how adventurous they’d like to be, they enthusiastically answered, ‘ten’, which gave me free reign to conjure up a warm and interesting space that incorporated their own family heirlooms, furniture pieces, artwork and teenage sons’ requests.
In order to keep us organised and on-track, I designed a Fixtures and Fittings Schedule – it's been an invaluable tool in keeping everyone – including suppliers and trades – abreast of updates and amendments, a way to convey the complexities of the design concepts and monitor budget spend. This simple-to-use template can include everything from lighting, paint selections, furniture options to soft furnishings and flooring – anything part of an interiors project.
You can purchase this Google Docs template for yourself, or watch the tutorial on how to use it here.
And if you need some design advice for your own property – be it a heritage dwelling with all the details like my friends’, or a contemporary clean slate – please feel free to contact me for more information and let’s get you started on your own exciting journey.
Jane Cameron