I
t might seem unlikely, given her taste
in antiques and curiosities, that
Heidi O’Rourke once lived in a modern
home. But finding her possessions and her
suburban house discordant she decided, along with
her husband Jason, to pursue her dreams of leading
a more rural life in the wilds of the Australian bush.
‘I was ready for a more traditional farmhouse-style
home,’ she says. ‘I was excited about it no matter
what problems we might face.’
In 2008, after only one viewing, the couple bought a
house on the north-western outskirts of Sydney, close
to where they grew up. Much of the property’s allure
came from its large two-and-a-half acre garden.
‘Although we compromised on the size of the house,
which is smaller than our last place, the garden is
much bigger,’ says Heidi. Found at the bottom of
a long and meandering road that passes through
bushland, the house sits amid neatly trimmed box
hedges, while further out towering gum trees lead to
the miles of bushland and Blue Mountains beyond.
When the couple bought the house over 10 years
ago, the property market had been sluggish and
consequently, it hadn’t been lived in for a year. ‘The
gardens were completely overgrown with the gutters
full of weeds and the grass shaggy and wild,’ says
Heidi. ‘A lot of the fences were broken, too. The
house was in relatively good condition with only
dust and a few spiders’ webs to contend with.’
Despite its traditional looks, the house was actually
built in the mid-Nineties, though many salvaged and
reclaimed materials were used, from the bricks and
floorboards to the French café doors. During the first
year, the lion’s share of the couple’s efforts went into
restoring the garden. ‘The house just seems to sit so
well in its surroundings,’ says Heidi. ‘We continue to
spend plenty of time outdoors, shaping and
maintaining the land, but we’re not into anythingtoo fussy. We prefer lots of box hedges and specimen
trees to give the garden good structure,’ she explains.
The house provided the ideal setting for Heidi’s
antiques, curiosities and traditional furniture. ‘We
knew our rustic belongings would work perfectly here,’
she says. To show these to their best advantage, and
to give the house a more expansive feel, Heidi kept to
mostly white paint with the odd feature wall, such as
the earthy mushroom brown of the guest rooms and
the daring black in the kitchen. ‘I rarely buy items for
specific spots,’ she says. ‘I just buy things I love and
think about where to put them later.’ The bush has
found its way into the house within the many plants
that Heidi changes periodically. ‘The bushland is a huge
influence,’ she says. ‘I bring in cuttings that I’ve found
on walks.’ To achieve a clean, uncluttered look, and
due to the fact that the house is completely secluded,
Heidi chose not to hang curtains in the ground floor
rooms but gave the bedrooms delicate sheers.
Heidi’s traditional farmhouse-style kitchen is the
focus of the house, with its raw wooden ceiling and
Shaker units imbuing it with rustic character. Heidi
repainted the cabinets and installed an island. But she
was so troubled by the purple wall behind the sink, that
she immediately painted it black, a detail that remains
to this day. ‘I wasn’t ready to paint the whole room
but I just couldn’t live with the colour,’ she says.
In 2009, the couple built an outdoor room with an
open fireplace where they spend much of their time.
Here, the large fleshy leaves of fiddle-leaf fig trees
blur the boundary between house and garden. The
ranch-like feel of the property is at its most potent
here, with the skull of an Arizona bull overlooking
the room from the bare brick chimney breast. It’s the
perfect place to while away the hours transfixed by
the wide Australian sky. ‘Sitting watching the sun set
over the Blue Mountains is such a joy,’ says Heidi.
‘We feel so lucky to live here.’&INSPIRATION