A two-year labour of love nears completion

THE PERSONAL touch

To say this new home build is a labour of love is an understatement. The owners have done most of the work themselves, right down to the furniture.

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY: NICOLE THOMSON

Family home: Gavin Law, Kate Hartley and their dog Billie at the front of their new house. Gavin Law and Kate Hartley purchased their 0.8 ha Echuca Village property in November 2019 with the intention to build a traditional, country-style, Queenslander home. Two years later, the fi nal touches are being put on the build. Gavin, owner-operator of Gavin Law Carpentry, and Kate have been working on their house when they are able to — as is often the case when working on your own home, their project gets put behind their customers’ projects. “It’s been sort of a ‘when we can’ situation because it’s our own house,” Gavin said. “Whenever we had the money and the time we did it bit by bit. “Now we’re near the fi nish line, we’re just smashing it out.” At the time of writing, the house was about three to four weeks from being completely fi nished — a long way from where the project began. “We bought the land early 2019, and we drew the plans up ourselves, with a couple of alterations along the way,” Gavin said. One of the alterations has been to an entire side of the house, rearranged to better suit their needs. “You look at the plans, and then what it looks like internally now, it’s very diff erent,” Kate said.

Home sweet home: The house is nearly fi nished. “One end of the house has completely changed — we’ve moved a few doors, hallways and the alfresco fi replace.” The design is based on a traditional Queenslander house and, true to form, has the charm of the style down to a fi ne art. It features timber as a prominent feature throughout the home and a verandah wrapping around the house. “It’s a traditional-style house, we wanted to build something a bit diff erent,” Gavin said. “We wanted to build something that not many people build. “I’ve always loved ironbark, and all of the exposed timber in the house is ironbark — the bench tops, fl oors, alfresco, verandahs.” One thing that hasn’t strayed from the plan for the couple’s house has been the commitment to prioritising local suppliers and artisans where possible, with Gavin picking up the task of building the furniture. “Gavin is making all of our furniture to go in the house — our coff ee table, dining table, and he’s made all the bench tops,” Kate said. “It’s hard work choosing what timber to start with to build the furniture,” Gavin said. “We’ve got a lot of timber left over from when we did the Echuca

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Distillery — all of our bench tops are made from timber left over from the distillery when we did all of the furniture there. “All of the timber that we’re making our TV cabinet and our coff ee table and dining table out of were from the old Morley Ford building that was there before the distillery.” “The reclaimed timber matches in well with our ironbark, too — we’ve used so much timber that we want to make sure it all matches and isn’t a timber mess,” Kate said. The stained glass window at the front door was also made locally, with a custom design. “The windows at the front of the house took a very long time to come up with the design, but Glenda Phillips from in town did them for us,” Kate said. “We’ve tried to keep everything as local as possible, and everything is except the windows and doors.”

Worth the wait: Gavin Law, Kate Hartley and their dog Billie. They’ve been working on the house since buying the block in November 2019.

Focal point: The high ceilings in the living room fi ll the house with bright natural light.

Craftsmanship: Gavin made all of the bench tops with ironbark timber.

Custom kitchen: Big kick-boards and skirts give the kitchen a country-style feel, as well as the old-style details in the cabinetry. Artisan: The stained glass that surrounds the front doorway was designed and made locally.

Local support: Almost everything was sourced locally, including this fan from Roundabout Lighting in Echuca.