A New Start

This Gorgeous Family Home Has Emerged From the Brisbane Floods of 2011, and Is a Testament to Community, Good Design and Second Chances
 

- Rosanne Peach

 

RISING UP Following the flooding of her inner-Brisbane cottage, homeowner Eliza renovated and elevated her abode, which now has a beautiful tree-house feel. A ‘borrowed’ landscape of established trees is framed by a huge window at the rear of the home, with bench seating below. “Everyone always gravitates to that point,” says Eliza, who shares the home with her children, Eva, seven, and Hugo, five. “The kids have used that bench from the moment we moved in, as a stage, jumping platform, breakfast spot and just somewhere to sit and dangle their legs.” The living room (below), which features a Jardan ‘Wilfred’ sofa and cushions by local designers Everingham and Watson, has been furnished with a light touch. Decorating steps up a notch in a seating nook near the stairs (opposite), with bespoke plywood hand-painted tiles by artist Georgina Forbes making an impact. The custom cushions are by Square Fox.

Painted a watery blue, the front door of this Brisbane cottage tells a story of renewal and remembrance. The colour flows inside and streams along the lower half of the hallway, across doors and down the length of the Queenslander. In 2011, flood waters took the same route, rising up the walls and swamping the home, the neighbourhood and many suburbs that line the Brisbane River. The owner of the cottage, Eliza, was living and working in Hong Kong when news of the floods broke. “I went to bed hoping it would be okay,” recalls Eliza. “I got up early to watch the coverage and saw a journalist reporting from a boat outside our house! I thought, ‘We’ve gone under!’ They were in a boat. In our street!”