COTTAGE REVIVAL

A BRISBANE WORKER'S COTTAGE IS BROUGHT TO LIFE WITH CLEVER CHANGES AND A KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOUR

- KYLIE JACKES

INTO THE BLUE Forced to cancel a long-awaited Mediterranean holiday, Monica, pictured with cavoodle Doug, and her family decided to embark on a dramatic renovation to the upper level of their home. Interior designer Hayley Hayes of Porch Light Interiors devised the inspired new layout and look brimming with colour and pattern. "I was really relaxed about the whole process and trusted Hayley with all the decisions, big and small, and she's given us a unique and vibrant design which complements the cottage's character," reflects Monica. The heritage exterior (opposite), previously brown and white was also refreshed in Porter's Paints Explorer Blue, with trims and filigree screens accented in Dulux Whisper White. 

For Monica and husband Joe, the highlight of 2020 was set to be an idyllic month-long holiday taking in the sights and delicacies of Italy, villa hopping with friends, before cruising down the central Adriatic coast to Croatia. But like many people's plans over the past few years, Covid threw a spanner in the works and the trip was cancelled. With time on their hands at home, the couple instead decided to redirect their travel budget into renovating their 1930s worker's cottage. Charmed by its character and leafy location not far from Brisbane's CBD, the couple had bought their heritage home 12 years earlier and not long after sought to maximise its modest footprint by building-in underneath, to add three bedrooms, a bathroom and extra living area. Yet over the years, as the lower level had increasingly become a teenage domain for their two children, it was time to show the upper level some love.