HGHOUSES

84 | AUSTRALIAN HOUSE & GARDEN

W

ork-life balance can be tricky to evaluate, but Juliette

Wright has it sorted. For her, it can be measured by

the drive between inner-Brisbane, where she works

as the CEO of innovative non-profit body GIVIT, and

the bucolic property she shares with her family in a

semi-rural pocket north-west of the CBD. “We live on eight acres [3.2ha],

but we’re only 25 minutes from the city,” she explains.

Built in 1867, the home was originally the farmhouse of a large dairy

property and had been sympathetically extended in recent times. In

2003 the owner – a friend of Juliette and her then fiancé, now husband,

Glen – happened to mention that the house would be going on the market

the next day. Already living in the area and loving it – this house in

particular – the couple seized the opportunity and bought the place “on

a handshake” that afternoon. Today, their two children – Sara, 10, and

Hudson, eight – have the run of a picturesque property that features a

creek, fruit orchard and rustic farm equipment, where they can play

freely with their dogs, horses and ponies, and watch the neighbour’s

cows grazing contentedly.

The size of the holding makes homecoming a beautifully staged

progression, through steel gates patterned with magnolia blooms (the

couple’s wedding present to each other) and along a drive lined with>