TREE
CHANGE
HINDSIGHT
UPSIZING HAS ITS BENEFITS,
BUT IT ALSO COMES WITH SOME
UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES – AS
THIS YOUNG FAMILY DISCOVEREDTALLEBUDGERA
VALLEY, QLD
AUSTRALIAor Lauren Roe, founder of online
homewares boutique I Love Linen,
moving from a two-bedroom
Melbourne townhouse to this airy four-
bedroom home in the Tallebudgera Valley,
Queensland, was literally a tree change.
“I grew up in Queensland but had lived in
Melbourne for 15 years,” she says. “I had
a great desire to move to a warm climate,
where I could wake up to 360-degree views
of nature.” She spent three years looking for
this place, which ticked many green boxes.
“It had windows at every opportunity and
was built in a pavilion style for maximum
airflow.” Wide eaves keep the place cool
in summer while a rainwater tank provides
water for her lush garden.
Lauren made a few cosmetic changes
to the ’90s home, such as changing the
lighting and refreshing the paint. “It just
needed an overhaul of the fittings and
finishes,” she says. She also turned one
bedroom into an office, from which she
runs her business. Her brief to herself?
“We wanted a well-considered home, with
beautiful pieces but not shelves filled
with lots of objects. I wanted to keep things
simple. Clutter wouldn’t have suited the
home’s Australian bush-style architecture.” AF