My Houzz: A Worker’s Cottage Embraces History and Efficiency
In Australia, an artist blends existing spaces and additions into a cohesive home design
Rejecting shiny and new in favor of embracing the past, Terri Brooks stripped back her worker’s cottage, in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, to its original style to reveal beautiful original floorboards and spaces that welcome in the natural light. Brooks uses her keen eye as an artist to curate her home, adorning many walls with her own paintings. She creates her works of art in a detached backyard shed just a short stroll away across the garden. It’s a happy abode in which Brooks can relax and unleash her creativity.
Brooks designed the wood security doors for her house and studio. When she couldn’t find anything she liked, she gave a sketch to a security door company, which fabricated them and added her design to its collection.
She also added a walkway and a patio mosaic to the entrance.
She also added a walkway and a patio mosaic to the entrance.
In 2006, after returning from an artists residency in Germany, Brooks reconfigured the interior spaces to free the circulation from the confines of the hallway. She also converted one of the bedrooms into her living room and allowed more light into the spaces.
Upon removing the unattractive carpeting, she was surprised to discover five layers of flooring between it and the original pine floors. Despite their poor condition, she retained and restored them.
Upon removing the unattractive carpeting, she was surprised to discover five layers of flooring between it and the original pine floors. Despite their poor condition, she retained and restored them.
Brooks wrote a paper titled The History of Making Do for her doctorate, and the influence of this philosophy is apparent in her decorating style: Minimal and natural finishes, self-made artworks, heirlooms and relics are displayed throughout her house. Upcycling is also important to her; the base of her coffee table was once part of a washing machine.
Now that the apricot-colored walls are painted white, light seems to bounce throughout the living room. Before the shed was built in 2010, she used this space as her studio.
Now that the apricot-colored walls are painted white, light seems to bounce throughout the living room. Before the shed was built in 2010, she used this space as her studio.
The original wood floors are kauri pine from Western Australia.
Brooks remembers watching a film on Jackson Pollock’s home, and loving the French doors and windows, the simplicity of the objects the artist found on the beach and hung on the walls, and how he had created a meditative flowing space to inspire his art.
The interior reconfiguration of her own home opened up the floor plan to light and continuous sightlines.
The interior reconfiguration of her own home opened up the floor plan to light and continuous sightlines.
The front room became an art storage space and office, to save Brooks the cost of renting storage for her paintings. She built in racks so that she can easily rummage through piles of works, looking for stock or specific pieces for gallery owners without potentially damaging the work in the process.
Brooks stained the floor in the bedroom with Black Japan by Feast Watson to eliminate the need for sanding and refinishing them. She likes the low maintenance and the contrast.
In the kitchen, Brooks closed off access through the back wall and redirected it through the living room. She removed an island to create more space and replaced the original aluminum window with a wood one. While in Germany, she had the idea to install wood shutters on the windows to make them secure and keep the warmth inside. In the winter, she can close off the spaces to retain the heat.
The rest of the windows in the house were replaced one by one as she retrofitted each space.
The rest of the windows in the house were replaced one by one as she retrofitted each space.
Most of the doors, windows and fixtures in the home are from a restoration warehouse store that was in the area until the owner retired. Brooks’ handyman reconfigured the shutter for a tight fit inside the window frame. When he started to strip the paint, she had him stop. She liked the Shabby Chic look of the lightly sanded paint.
Brooks discovered that she liked the patina of the concrete floor found underneath the floor tiles too, and decided to leave it exposed in the kitchen.
Brooks discovered that she liked the patina of the concrete floor found underneath the floor tiles too, and decided to leave it exposed in the kitchen.
A lot of Brooks’ furnishings belonged to her grandparents, with whom she grew up. Their stories of the Great Depression, their resourcefulness and the need for thrifty living affected her. She was fascinated by the beautiful salvaged pieces that turned one thing into another in a make-do economy, when money and resources were limited.
On the table are some of her cherished examples. “People would use Hessian sacks and turn them into tea towels and a beautiful apron in the 1930s,” she says.
On the table are some of her cherished examples. “People would use Hessian sacks and turn them into tea towels and a beautiful apron in the 1930s,” she says.
The laundry and the bathroom had rainforest wallpaper when Brooks bought the house. She rebuilt the wall, installed the tile and the faucets, and took down the wallpaper. A future renovation may include moving the laundry into the bathroom and turning this space into a guest room or home office.
The bathroom door is one of the original slab doors that were standard throughout the house. Brooks watched a period drama set in a big English house with wallpaper on the walls and the doors, and decided to cover the original door in a floral print to contrast with the stark concrete and black-and-white finishes.
The garden was quite beautiful when Brooks moved in, with an abundance of plants and a beautiful fuchsia. The tree by the shed was covering the garden and growing over the house, so she had it trimmed back. All the plantings that were used to shade, and were then suddenly exposed to sunlight, died back. The patio mosaic is the artist’s creation; the concentric circle details are based on indigenous symbols from central Australia.
Her backyard studio is made of corrugated iron. It’s painted green to blend into its surroundings.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
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Her backyard studio is made of corrugated iron. It’s painted green to blend into its surroundings.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style: Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: Terri Brooks
Location: Northcote, Victoria, Australia
Size: Two bedrooms, one bathroom
Brooks made the leap from renting to buying in 1993. The cottage was in decent condition when she moved in, but it had wall-to-wall carpeting and apricot-painted interiors.
Previous inhabitants included a Greek family, which converted the house from a three-room worker’s cottage into a family home in the ’70s, adding a new kitchen, bathroom and hallway. Brooks says she loves the history of her neighborhood and its close proximity to the city center, parks and rivers.