A country home. Shay and Dean’s beautiful family home renovation comes to life

“In this project we really wanted a warmer feel and to be bold with some of our colour choices. We definitely created a vision board early on to ensure that house was cohesive. We love that we were able to repurpose some of our favourite furniture pieces with the new style we have created in this new project. The home had a hint of a Tuscan feel. Every internal wall in the entire house was rendered which we at first were going to embrace but as the render started to fall off the walls when we began the renovation, we quickly realised it had to go. We hand scraped all the render off every wall.”

The kitchen is a real feature of the home, with bursts of colour across the joinery that bring character in abundance. The living spaces utilises both the surrounding view and the fireplace as focal points, creating a hub in the living room. As the family gravitate to the living spaces, the flooring selection became key in the overall look and feel of the scheme. A warm and inviting spotted gum engineered timber flooring was settled on, reflecting their love of the Australian landscape.

“We knew early on that timber flooring was really going to be the feature of our home that created lots of warmth. To do this, we have stopped outside the traditional species that people choose like oak and blackbutt and gone with an incredibly beautiful and warm spotted gum. It has been hard wearing with our Kelpie enjoying inside time and three kids keeping us on our toes.”

Their busy family life was a key consideration for many design decisions throughout the home, from the material selections to the colour palette and flooring. It had to not only look great but also withstand the additional wear country life brings, adding children and dogs to the equation. It had to be durable, easy to maintain and bring a layer of warmth and unpretentiousness. The carpet that was installed in the bedroom spaces, Somerset Cottage Farmhouse, also had to tick a lot of boxes and an SDN (synthetic carpet) fibre proved to be the best bet.

“We knew we wanted the bedrooms to feel cosy and inviting so carpet always felt like the right decision. All it took was one bare foot on this carpet and we knew it was the right choice. We’ve never felt softer carpet in our life. And we love the way the colour tone has helped create the sense of calm in these spaces.”

The team at Sapphire Coast Flooring Xtra installed the timber floors and carpet throughout, with attention paid to the smaller details, like brass inlays and difficult floor plan angles.

“The flooring has really been such a hero in the new look of our house. We had some tricky angles to work with and the team have done an amazing job installing the timber floor, so it looks like it was always meant to be in this space. The team at our local Merimbula store gave above and beyond every time and the installation process was amazing. I won’t lie, I can be very indecisive, and they were supportive through the whole selection period!”

…..

Shay and Dean entertain and inform their online followers across Instagram where their travels, renovation and busy family life are well documented. We highly recommend following their adventures at @shayanddean for a dose of wanderlust and inspiration!

All photos by Dean David Photography