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00:02Building a house is more than just bricks and mortar.
00:06It's also about dreams and aspirations.
00:09Design and execution.
00:12Making memories and mistakes.
00:15Ultimately, it takes more than building a house to create a home.
00:19Join us as we go Beyond the Build.
00:40On this episode of Beyond the Build, it's TV Renault vs Real Life,
00:45as block winners Jimmy and Tam take the plunge on a Sunshine Coast doer-upper.
00:50Will living in the house, completing most of the work themselves
00:54and keeping up with everything life throws at them be too much to handle?
00:58Or will they climb to the top of the renovation mountain
01:01and achieve in creating their dream family home
01:04with all the colour, style and optimism they are known for?
01:12Can I say what I'm calling it?
01:13What are you calling it?
01:14I'm calling it Bohemian Cottage.
01:16I'm calling it Farm Springs.
01:20Well, that's catchy.
01:22It could be something.
01:24Farm Springs, I mean, if you think about it.
01:26It's a farmhouse.
01:27Put some cacti in.
01:28Yeah.
01:28No, it's good.
01:29It's really good.
01:30It's really good.
01:30I'm not allowed to call it Farm Springs apparently.
01:33No.
01:34This episode, we're in Pomona.
01:37Two hours north of Brisbane, Pomona sits inland from Noosa Heads
01:41and is known for its infamous mountain, heritage-listed buildings
01:44and distinct hinterland charm.
01:47Mount Karura, home of the king of the mountain race of the past,
01:51overlooks the town like a comforting friend or seductive challenge.
01:56Whichever way you look at it, the area is blessed with natural beauty.
01:59And being in subtropical Queensland, the natural beauty is also privy to natural disasters,
02:06bushfires and floods.
02:12The mountain and the region even inspired Australian band Midnight Oil in their song
02:17King of the Mountain.
02:20Sugar Train stops at the crossing.
02:22Cane cockies cursing below.
02:24Bad storm coming.
02:26Better run to the top of the mountain.
02:31Jimmy and Tam, their daughter Frankie, and their two dogs Archie and Belle
02:35had always dreamt of living on the Sunshine Coast.
02:38And being back in Brisbane after the block, it was time to strike.
02:41We were at a crossroad really, and we decided,
02:45why are we in Brisbane?
02:46We really don't want to be here.
02:47Let's just move to the sunny coast.
02:49You know, the block had ended, auction was over.
02:52We didn't really have jobs at the time.
02:54So we were like, why are we even in Brisbane?
02:56We wanted to be up here, close to all of Tam's family.
02:58And my family's not in Brisbane either.
03:00So we just bit the bullet and did it.
03:02And we ended up living in our caravan for about four to six months on and off.
03:08Which was amazing.
03:08We're the battlers from Queensland.
03:12We're the battlers.
03:13Yeah, buddy I think we are.
03:15And these legendary battlers from Queensland love a challenge.
03:20For Jimmy, a plumber by trade, and Tam, a bar manager at a Brisbane bolo,
03:25the opportunity to get on the block was one they relished and absolutely thrived in.
03:30What?!
03:31From pouring beers to the biggest block winners to date at that time,
03:35Jimmy and Tam won many fans with their practical builds paired with their bright mid-century inspired tastes for which
03:43they became known.
03:44And they are excited to inject this style again here but also pay homage to the original home as well.
03:51This house is absolutely beautiful.
03:53It's got so much character.
03:55It's got the 360 wrap around verandas, the vaulted ceiling internally, the fireplace.
04:01I mean the list goes on.
04:02Yeah, it's got great bones, great character.
04:04So we were drawn in from the start.
04:07After some nervous moments in an ever competitive property market,
04:11they eventually secured this home in their dream location and they couldn't be happier.
04:16We just love this little town. It's so beautiful and it's up and coming.
04:20There's an awesome gin distillery. It's got a great vibe.
04:23Everyone we meet is so lovely.
04:24For this family, a fresh start was what they craved.
04:28Or was it a fresh challenge?
04:32Inside the house, it's actually got a really strange layout.
04:37Well, it comes back to the 80s.
04:39Yeah, exactly.
04:40In the 80s, that's what they did.
04:40They had separate dining areas.
04:42They wanted to make that dining space a little bit more intimate and not so open.
04:46We don't want that.
04:47We don't want that.
04:48We want open.
04:50You can see right behind us, the front entry makes no sense whatsoever.
04:55Another thing is the laundry is bigger than the bathroom, which I don't get that at all.
05:02Someone loved doing washing.
05:03They spend a lot of time in their awning or something.
05:05I love washing, but I don't love it that much.
05:07The wish list is growing, but with the house in reasonable enough condition,
05:12the family can live here whilst they plan and execute their renovation.
05:16And the plans they have to get it to their dream home are extensive.
05:23We do have some pretty big plans for this house and it's going to be a very cool house.
05:28But it is going to pay homage to the character of the house.
05:31We're not going to take the whole character away.
05:33We do want to keep its characteristics, but it's going to have a nice edge to it.
05:39The floor plan of this circa 1980s built house has remained pretty much intact for 40 years.
05:45A wraparound balcony, a pokey kitchen and living area, three bedrooms, one bathroom and an oversized laundry.
05:54Jimmy and Tam plan to make this into a three bedroom, two bathroom house by converting the laundry into the
06:00main bathroom.
06:01The existing bathroom will be reconfigured into the en suite and walk in robe, connecting to the master bedroom and
06:08creating a parents retreat or as Tam likes to call it.
06:12Our, I don't know, adults area.
06:14Master suite.
06:14Master suite.
06:15Adults area.
06:16Yeah.
06:17Make us sound like a bloody swingers pad.
06:19Up to the adults area.
06:20In the living and kitchen, they plan to rework the entire layout, making it one large open space with a
06:28new kitchen and reconfigured living room centered around the existing fireplace.
06:32A new, huge sliding door will lead to the space they are most excited about, their new outdoor living area.
06:40We've got a thousand square meter block of land, so we've got a lot of land to play with.
06:44And when we moved in, the land is completely unused.
06:47There was a crappy little carport, there was overgrown gardens.
06:51So we're clearing all that out and up the top side is going to be a nice big shed for
06:56me.
06:56When I get in the bad books, that'll be where I disappear to.
06:59Yep.
06:59And then as we work our way down the brackyard, we're going to have a plungy pool.
07:02So, four by three meter plungy pool and then a little bit of grass and then a nice big deck.
07:09It's Queensland.
07:10In summer and a lot of winter, you spend so much time on the deck barbecuing.
07:15We're entertainers.
07:16So, I mean, that part for us was the most important part.
07:20Definitely.
07:21And because of the way construction materials are at the moment with COVID, we are going to start outside and
07:26work our way in.
07:29When Jimmy says big shed, he means big shed.
07:33This baby will be a whopping 5.4 metres high, plenty of room for the laundry, the cars and even
07:40the caravan.
07:42The colour of the shed will also indicate a new modernisation of the entire property.
07:47And there's even been talk of going completely black.
07:52This is where Tam comes in.
07:53She can see the colours.
07:54I get nervous about different colours, especially bold colours.
07:57I mean, we've been through it before.
07:58Yep.
07:59With the fuzzy peach in our block bathroom.
08:01Which looked absolutely amazing.
08:02And that's why I don't doubt you.
08:04Yeah.
08:04I just get nervous about it.
08:06Well, it sounds like the vision is kind of clear enough.
08:10Coming up, we see how far this budget will take them.
08:13And we find out if Fortune does indeed favour the brave with some very bold decisions.
08:21And later, can we reveal the finished home?
08:30We're in Pomona in the Noosa hinterland to follow the renovation of this 1980s house into a mid-century inspired
08:38dream home.
08:39But before any big works took place, a housewarming was due.
08:44We're having a housewarming in a couple of weeks.
08:46So it's not just a housewarming, though.
08:48But because of COVID, we never actually got to have a party or celebrate with our family and friends of
08:53us winning the block.
08:54So it's a housewarming slash come and party with us and celebrate winning the block.
09:09The next time we visit, the revellers have recovered and a tonne of work has taken place.
09:16What a difference natural light and ventilation can make.
09:24So as you can see, we've opened it right up.
09:28So a lot has happened since you guys were here last.
09:30We've pulled out all the internal walls in the kitchen, living, dining area
09:33and put some Velux up there in the ceiling, which has made a massive difference to that space.
09:38It's really opened up that vaulted ceiling area.
09:42And, you know, there's so much natural light coming down in there now.
09:44It's just that big wow factor as soon as you walk into that space.
09:48With the ventilation of the air, you can really tell the difference as well with having those in.
09:53It's been amazing.
09:54We've only had them in for a few weeks and it's just been life changing.
09:58With Jimmy and Tam's house orientated towards the north, the best way to take advantage of this ideal sun
10:05was to let in as much as possible from above.
10:10The only compromise of opening up the space, the need for a structural post right in the middle of the
10:16room.
10:16So pulling out all those internal walls, we knew we were going to have a bit of an issue.
10:21The structure that was there was supporting the roof.
10:24So the engineer came back to us just recently and he's told us that we need to put a post
10:28in that space,
10:29which we're a bit bummed about.
10:31But to be honest, I sleep better at night with a post there.
10:34These things happen along the way in your build.
10:36It was in our original design anyway to have the post.
10:41So we've already included it in our kitchen design as well.
10:44It's not the end of the world.
10:45It's not the end of the world.
10:47And now the space is an open canvas, ideas have been bubbling.
10:51What we've done is we've put an outline on the floor over here of our design for the kitchen
10:56just because we're very visual people.
10:59I know I am especially.
11:00Jimmy was like, why don't we just put electrical tape on the floor so we can like map it out
11:04and work out where everything is.
11:06There's definitely been a few nights up awake sort of thinking about the design
11:10and making sure that everything's going to work and it's all going to be nice and open.
11:14It's good to get that feel for the space because it's one thing to look at it on paper,
11:18but when we've taken all the walls out and then we taped it out on the ground,
11:21we had to sort of tweak a few different things and to bring that post into it as well.
11:26So it's good to get that visual feel for your space.
11:30Looking around the property, Jimmy and Tam have taken this idea outside as well.
11:35There'll be no mistaking where the big deck is going.
11:39At the back I've sprayed out where the big deck's going to be.
11:44The grassed area where the plunge is going to sit
11:46and then up where the shed's going to be as well.
11:49I can't wait for it because that deck is that big.
11:52It literally doubles our whole entertaining area.
11:54And in Queensland there's nothing better than a big deck.
11:58Just in Queensland.
12:02The other big change out here, the fence is up.
12:05But there was quite a lot of work to get it to this stage.
12:09Previously this was also overgrown with a big garden there and then we've done a retaining wall.
12:15So you can see that land used to slope up to that point.
12:18But we've dug it all out and we've got space there for our plungee.
12:22Big deck there, nice grassed area there.
12:25The modular wall that we've put in, it gives us that extra added privacy and it's a good sound barrier
12:30as well.
12:30Exactly.
12:31It just looks so neat.
12:32For a lot of the build coming up, having materials on site and ready to go will play a huge
12:38part in the timeline of this reno.
12:40And in this post-COVID landscape, getting the materials is becoming the hardest and costliest part.
12:47As everyone would know, the material shortage is a real thing and it's really expensive as well at the moment.
12:53It's been hectic.
12:53So making sure you've got everything is key.
12:57Our design and renovation has changed and scaled back about three times just because our original design now would be
13:04a $400,000 reno,
13:06which would have been a $250,000, $200,000 reno, but everything has just doubled.
13:13So we've had to redesign and scale it right back and that's where Matt from Tonic has really helped us
13:18out in that way.
13:19Because we did the whole design with him, you know, we sat down a couple of times,
13:23sometimes at the gin distillery down the road and we just sort of drew out exactly what we wanted to
13:28do.
13:29And then, you know, as prices were rising, we were scaling back to make sure that we could get the
13:34reno done.
13:35And I mean, even now it's still going to be touch and go and time is going to blow out
13:39a lot
13:40because the availability of materials is not there.
13:43Something that's not the most expensive but always makes a huge difference with any project, paint.
13:50We've got to go pick up the paint today and we are going to be painting all weekend.
13:55And the colour of choice, black.
13:58We've chosen to go with the black theme in this house because it just makes everything green pop.
14:05Traditionally, everyone's just going white on white on white on white, you know.
14:08And this house lends to that, it really does.
14:11It does.
14:11But, you know, we've never been ones to sort of follow the mainstream trend, so we're going black.
14:17Yeah, the black colour palette, it's really cool.
14:19It's still got a country vibe about it.
14:22The outside is going to be black, but inside it is going to be quite white with pops of colour
14:27here and there.
14:28Jimmy and Tam plan to paint the fence black, the shed will be black and all the bricks black.
14:34So it's going to really all come together beautifully, I think.
14:39Hopefully.
14:40It will.
14:42Also, I don't want to be painting over the black brick with white.
14:45I think that's going to take a little while.
14:47We're not going to have to do that.
14:49I've got a vision.
14:50I can see it.
14:53Not all the bricks will be painted.
14:55Inside, the fireplace will be left as is, as well as some feature bricks on the exterior.
15:00I think it's all going to happen at once.
15:02Yeah.
15:03It's sort of like the calm before the storm right now.
15:05It's getting everything ready.
15:06And then I think the plunge is going to come.
15:07The shed's going to come.
15:08The kitchen's going to come.
15:09It's going to be all hands on deck and pretty full on in about a month's time, I think.
15:13I don't think there'll be much sleep.
15:14It might even be like on the block.
15:15We're building the shed at 3am in the morning or something.
15:18You can do that.
15:18I'm not.
15:20Exciting times ahead, but there is a mountain of work to be done.
15:23Later, Sean visits Pomona for the reveal.
15:26But how much will actually be revealed?
15:37It's been five months since our last visit to Jimmy and Tam's house in Pomona.
15:42Winter has hit and the fire is on.
15:46On the Sunshine Coast, you've got to make the most of these colder, ah, weeks.
15:52The fire's roaring.
15:53It is roaring.
15:54Well done.
15:58And the project is roaring along as well with extensive works completed.
16:05Out the front, we've got the shed done.
16:07The massive shed.
16:08So that's up.
16:09The deck behind us, you can see that.
16:11The pool's in.
16:12The pool's not operational yet, but it's in the ground.
16:14No.
16:15Ready to go.
16:15Roof.
16:16Oh yeah, new roof.
16:16We've got a new roof.
16:17That wasn't expected.
16:18So that's one of those things that you hit a little bit of a roadblock along the way.
16:23So that's slowed us down a bit.
16:25Yeah.
16:26And caused a lot of internal damage after all that rain that we had at the start of the year.
16:31We got a lot of ceiling damage from the roof not being installed in properly when it was first done.
16:37So originally we were just going to paint the roof because it wasn't in bad nick.
16:40But the part that was installed incorrectly, I pretty much had to pull the whole top roof off to fix
16:45it.
16:46So I just thought if I'm pulling the whole top roof off, I'm not going to put old iron back
16:49down.
16:50So.
16:52And the first thing to go in was the pool.
16:58Our plungy, we had to get that in before we built the shed because the difference between a Franna crane
17:03being able to drive it in and drop it in the hole and a hundred ton crane sitting on the
17:07street and lifting it over the house is about six grand.
17:09So the shed had to wait till we got the plungy in the ground.
17:13So we dug the hole, pour the blinding slab.
17:15Plungy rocked up on a semi, Franna rocked up, Franna came in, semi reversed into the Franna, he lifted it
17:22up, put it straight in the hole and we're done.
17:25The other big change outside, the shed.
17:29Jimmy's wish of a big shed has come true.
17:32But what does Tam think?
17:33Okay, yeah, I can tell you what I think about the shed. The shed is a bloody big shed. And
17:38the shed is not what I thought it was going to be.
17:41So Jimmy gave me plans and he told me about the shed. But then when the shed went up, I
17:46was like, mate, that's a bloody big shed.
17:51Now that we've had it for a while, and we've been using, like, our caravan's in there, our laundry's going
17:58to be put in the back of it as well.
18:00Yeah, it could literally be bigger.
18:02And Jimmy's, all his toys and stuff.
18:04Mentals.
18:04Mentals.
18:05It's actually, yeah, the sizes, it's understandable.
18:11There's been some new changes inside as well.
18:16I found a lovely lady by the name of Dee who does feng shui.
18:21Oh.
18:21And so, so with the feng shui in the house, we needed to make sure the fridge was in the
18:28right spot.
18:30She came into our house and took all these calculations of all the energy lines in the house.
18:37So when we had the fridge over here, it wasn't activating the right gear line, which it messes up with
18:44everyone's energy flow.
18:46So we needed the energy to come from this spot.
18:49And when I told Jimmy, he lost it.
18:53I didn't lose it.
18:54Well, you were like, it's not going to happen.
18:55Yeah, I was like, no, we can't do that.
18:57It's literally changing the whole design of the kitchen where we, you know, we'd found the perfect design and it
19:03was going to work perfectly.
19:04Yeah.
19:05And I was like, nah.
19:06And just throwing a spanner in the works.
19:08But it's one of those things that like, once you know, like once you've got that in your head, you
19:12can't not do it.
19:13Because then if something bad happens, you're like, oh, I should have put the fridge over there.
19:16Yeah.
19:17But since we did it and since we've changed things, stuff has happened.
19:22And Jimmy's like, you know what?
19:23Yes, it's, hasn't it?
19:25Yeah.
19:25Yeah.
19:26See?
19:27Probably stuff that was going to happen anyway.
19:28You don't know.
19:29Oh, don't be like that.
19:31When the feng shui talks, you've got to listen.
19:34And talking about unlocking a space's potential, check out the new door.
19:39I think one of the big things Tam missed on the inside is this seven metre bifold door.
19:44Oh, yeah.
19:44We've got the pedestrian access door here.
19:47And then we just fold back each section as we go.
19:50So when we sat down with Matt from Tonic, we said we wanted a big entertaining area.
19:55Because our internal space, the kitchen, living, dining, it's not big.
19:58And we know we needed to pretty much double it, if not larger.
20:02So with three handles unlocked, we get a massive open space to go out onto the deck.
20:11And it just makes this whole space work together.
20:14I love it.
20:16It's so good.
20:17Our internal space is about 70 square metres.
20:19Our deck is 90 square metres.
20:21So it's more than doubled our living space.
20:25And in Queensland, outdoor living is paramount.
20:32Jimmy and Tam are using recycled timber decking, not only for this new outdoor area, but for the entire wraparound
20:39deck.
20:40And they are making sure not to waste the old deck as it gets replaced.
20:43That timber that we pull up, we've been using it for kindling for our fire.
20:48And we're nearly done burning up that timber.
20:50So I've got to start pulling up the deck so we can get more timber for winter.
20:54Yeah.
20:55The new fireplace is also in the theme Jimmy and Tam are going with for the whole house.
21:00Black.
21:01And it's all starting to make sense.
21:04It's one of those things people start seeing black and they're like, oh, I'm not too sure about that.
21:08Yeah.
21:09But then when they start seeing the different stages come together, like when, you know, some of our neighbours, they
21:14saw the black fence and they were like, oh, that's a bit out there.
21:16Then they saw the black shed and they're like, oh, it's starting to make sense.
21:18So now they can see the black roof.
21:20Yeah.
21:20It's all starting to like make a lot more sense.
21:23Then landscaping is going to make a massive impact of this house because that's sort of what we're relying on
21:28to really, to really bring it, bring it out.
21:31Bring it all together.
21:32I think we're pretty confident with what we've got in our vision for the landscaping.
21:37Yeah.
21:37Are you?
21:38I don't know.
21:40Well, questions about the landscaping still remain, but life for Jimmy and Tam in Pomona is moving forward nicely.
21:47We're so busy.
21:48So I've got my own plumbing business, Bell Art Plumbing and Gas.
21:51Tam's got Velzi Lane.
21:53Yep.
21:53So I've got my own homeware store now, which is in the centre of town.
21:58And I've also just recently become a firefighter.
22:01So it's a lifelong dream of mine to become a firefighter.
22:04I tried out about 10 years ago and didn't quite get there.
22:07Yeah.
22:07But just recently joined the QFES up here in Pomona.
22:11So I'm having lots of fun learning and training to be a firefighter.
22:15It's all stations go for Jimmy and Tam and juggling their busy lives whilst also living in the renovation has
22:22been testing.
22:23We are living in the house whilst we're renovating.
22:26So at the moment we don't have a kitchen.
22:28We have very little lighting.
22:30So you'll see around, we've got a few camp lights and a few torches and things around.
22:35We're living off our air fryer and the barbecue at the moment.
22:39And the microwave.
22:40Yep.
22:40That's how we're cooking food.
22:41It's fine.
22:42Good things take time.
22:43Absolutely fine.
22:43That's right.
22:44That's right.
22:45It's fine.
22:46Yeah.
22:46Are you just pretending to tell yourself that?
22:48No, I'm fine with it.
22:50We've got so many little things going on that I need to prep for and do bits and pieces.
22:56And because, you know, I'm trying to do a lot of it myself because I enjoy doing it.
23:01I love the self-satisfaction of doing it myself.
23:03With another Queensland summer right around the corner, they'll need to step on the gas
23:07to get this chain reaction of jobs in motion.
23:10Let's hope they can before living in a work site all gets too much.
23:20Three months later, we return to Pomona.
23:23Although there are some exciting changes to see, they are not coming as fast as Jimmy and
23:28Tam had hoped for.
23:29Things haven't moved as quickly as we wanted to, but I mean, I think with the weather combined
23:34with trade shortages and supply material shortages, it's sort of been something we've
23:39been battling the whole year basically to try and get this done.
23:43And I'm trying to do a lot of it myself, basically to save money, but also for self-satisfaction.
23:48I mean, this is our home, this is our house, and we really wanted to be able to put our
23:53own love and blood, sweat and tears into it.
23:57So, I mean, it has taken a lot longer, but it's all good.
23:59We're not in a rush.
24:00We're just chipping away.
24:01But we can start to see the finish line, especially with this outdoor area.
24:05I mean, we're just about to get the pool operational, which is really exciting because
24:10it is really heating up here in Queensland and it'd be nice to be able to just go for a
24:14dip.
24:14So that's where we're at.
24:16We've got the internal floor done.
24:17Kitchen's not too far away, so it's very exciting.
24:23One of the biggest things that's made such a massive difference for us was putting a coat
24:29of paint in the lounge room, dining area, kitchen area.
24:33It has just really brightened up that space.
24:35And the flooring, it's just completely transformed everything.
24:46They've also had a big change of mind about painting the bricks black.
24:50The bricks on this house, they're made from a local brickworks, Kuroi bricks, which you actually can't get any more.
24:54They're quite a rough texture.
24:57So it actually looks like the bricks are just slapped together.
25:00But back then it was a feature they did.
25:02After learning about the history of them and growing more and more fond of their colours and charm,
25:08they've decided to work with the original bricks and make them a feature.
25:12The Kuroi brickworks opened in 1951 and produced much of the bricks for homes and businesses in Noosa and the
25:19surrounding areas for decades.
25:22A blow for the workers and town of Kuroi, the factory closed in 2010.
25:27The bricks have become a reminder of the past for the area and keeping them is a nod to the
25:32old style and history.
25:33It's got that rough feel about it, that rough country feel.
25:36Yeah, and it's kind of a timeless design as well.
25:38So I think no matter what design you go with it, it's going to work.
25:43This is a huge turning point for the final look of this house and retaining features you originally thought should
25:49change
25:50often happens after living in the home for a period of time and learning about its history.
25:57Now that the outdoor area's foundations are built and uncovered, the space can finally be appreciated and just in time
26:05for summer.
26:06We've got the Bondor roof up there, 200mm thick sandwich panel.
26:09You sit under here, like today and yesterday, we were sitting around 34 degrees, I think it was.
26:14Because it's such a nice open space, the breeze coming through, it felt like, you know, 15, 16 degrees under
26:20here.
26:21It was just perfect.
26:23There's been some great progress around the pool also.
26:26As well as a never been done before breeze block addition.
26:30We've done a few things that have never been done before.
26:32Like right behind us, that wall behind the pool, the modular wall with the breeze blocks.
26:36That had never been done before.
26:38I just thought, you know, let's give it a go.
26:40And it works perfectly.
26:41Like literally the 2.4 panels spaced out the breeze blocks perfectly for it to, you know, really work without
26:48having any sort of half bricks or anything along that whole space.
26:51Jimmy and Tam jump back on the brushes and paint this feature wall in unbleached calico.
26:57The mid-century slash country theme is coming together nicely.
27:01With the design of our house, we're trying to take a little bit of mid-century and a little bit
27:06of country and mash them together and make this house feel really cohesive.
27:09Our kitchen, which is getting done soon, really has some cool elements to it that I think people would be
27:16scared to do in a design normally, but we're running with it.
27:20And I think it's going to be a pretty special kitchen.
27:24The best part about this is we're designing this house for ourselves.
27:27We don't have that added pressure of we have to sell it at the end.
27:31I mean, we don't plan on selling this house for a long time.
27:34So being able to make it for ourselves, for us to live in and do what we want to do
27:39and not worrying about, you know, ostracising the buyer or anything like that is really fun because we can do
27:44what we want.
27:50The downfall of living and breathing in your own renovation while you get pulled and stretched to do other things
27:57in your life is that it's difficult to finish.
28:00I feel like this is the real life renovation.
28:02I mean, because we hadn't renovated prior to going on the block, which was like three months, the house is
28:07complete.
28:08Now that we have to juggle our jobs, businesses, family life, budget.
28:14I mean, there's so much involved in renovating.
28:16I think this is a real story of how most people do renovate these days.
28:20It takes time. It takes a lot of time.
28:22But on the flip side, it can also be a joy.
28:25And for Jimmy and Tam, the finish line does not matter because this is real life.
28:30I think Jimmy's going to be that 17 year old man that's sitting on the porch watching, like looking out
28:37over the neighbourhood and the green kids are going to be sitting there and he's going to be like, I
28:43made that gate.
28:44I did that over there.
28:46Come and look at this and holding up his level and all that sort of stuff.
28:49And if we don't live here, I'll be sure to drive past to tell them.
28:52Like every good tradesman does.
28:54Yep.
28:54I made that gate.
28:57Completely finished, I would hope, by mid next year.
29:01Not a chance.
29:04Will they ever finally finish?
29:07And does it even matter?
29:09After the break, architect Sean Lockyer visits Pomona to see Jimmy and Tam's vision come to life.
29:22On a spectacular spring day in Pomona,
29:25architect Sean Lockyer gets a special tour of Jimmy and Tam's home.
29:32Jimmy and Tam moved to Pomona a little over four years ago and immediately set about transforming a tired but
29:39character filled house into a family home filled with the colour, charm and optimism that we've come to know them
29:46for.
29:46What really interests me is how living under the drama of the beautiful Mount Karura and living in this vibrant
29:52community have shaped their design decisions.
29:55In Queensland and the subtropics, how we consider climate is everything.
30:01What I'm excited about is to see how Jimmy and Tam have embraced all of this and how living in
30:06Pomona have shaped their design vision.
30:15Jimmy and Tam, it's been four years since you guys have become Pomona locals, you've changed careers, you've built a
30:22house.
30:23What's the journey been like?
30:25It's been long.
30:26It's been long.
30:27Long.
30:28But it's been good.
30:28Yeah.
30:29I mean we moved to this place for a change of lifestyle, to get into a small community and it's
30:35been absolutely amazing.
30:39And I think that's been one of the most special parts of this whole process is living in the town,
30:45getting to know the people and I feel that has helped us change the feeling of how we live in
30:50our home.
30:50Yeah.
30:52The bricks in this home have got the grit and everything from this area and I feel like that has
30:59really encapsulated how we have created this home.
31:03Yeah.
31:03And the feeling of the home, the colour palette and everything.
31:08I love it when you see a reno where you see the character of the old house and you know
31:12clearly this old brick with a lovely snotted pointing and stuff is a really beautiful brick first of all.
31:18So I think if nothing else you know that is the lovely character of this home.
31:21And then to see kind of how you clearly have embraced what was here but then kind of extended it
31:25with all the sort of freshness of the contemporary black which I love.
31:28You know all the beautiful sort of succulent gardens.
31:31There's a really lovely character to the place.
31:34The renovation evolved over time.
31:36So originally our plans for this house were to go black on black.
31:39Yeah.
31:40And paint the brick black and you know just we loved the black look of that.
31:44But then you know as we were saying living in the house.
31:47We absolutely fell in love with the brick and then the more story we heard about the brick and the
31:53localisation of it.
31:54You know it being from the Kuroi brickworks knowing its heritage.
31:58Yeah that's interesting.
31:58I mean we couldn't touch it.
31:59It had to stay.
32:08The black sort of just sits in the background.
32:10You've got all these elements.
32:11You've got your shed at the back which is a beautifully Australian thing to do in a setting like this.
32:15You've got the little wendy house.
32:16And all the black sort of sits into the background and then you really have here this beautiful kind of
32:2060s modern balustrade and the brickwork.
32:24And I think it's a very very clever strategy.
32:26I think also it makes landscaping pop.
32:28Absolutely.
32:29You know I often say that you know while white in nature is a colour you might see on a
32:34beach and you might see it in you know plants and flowers every now and then.
32:37Overwhelmingly natural colours.
32:39Browns, greens, greys you know maybe towards blacks.
32:41So I think when one thinks about the garden, when the subtropics you think about landscape.
32:47To me darker colours always think are more sympathetic to that.
32:50Yeah.
32:50Around here everyone does do the more native sort of style gardens.
32:54But we knew what we had vision for this property and I can't look after plants for the life of
33:00me.
33:01So a garden that was really easy to maintain and put it in forget about it and it just does
33:07its own thing.
33:08She has forgotten about it.
33:09I'll look after her.
33:30We've come through the front door into the central living space and what I'm already loving about this is the
33:35informality of it.
33:36You know there's no big lobby you know you just come straight into that space and behind us is this
33:41beautifully and critically important subtropical move of just opening that entire edge of the building up between the indoor and
33:48the outdoor space.
33:49And I'm imagining this is the heart of the house.
33:51How much of this was here already?
33:54I mean there's this beautiful pitched roof above us.
33:56I'm imagining there's some new skylights but was this all new or?
33:59There was a lot of dividing walls in here.
34:01There was a formal dining room over there with a dropped ceiling.
34:06A wall here with the kitchen on this side of the house.
34:10Basically a mirrored set of French doors on this side so it was all pretty much a big wall.
34:15Yeah.
34:15And it was all, it was really pokey.
34:17It was really pokey.
34:18There was no flow to it or anything and it was really bizarre so our whole goal was to open
34:23it right up.
34:23And essentially this is quite a small space.
34:26Yeah.
34:26So by doubling it outside it's really opened the space up for us.
34:32Yeah.
34:34We knew in Queensland we needed to, you know, celebrate our way of life and lifestyle.
34:40Yeah.
34:40So doubling this space was a huge benefit for us.
34:44Yeah.
34:44And we spend so much time out there.
34:47At the heart of great architecture I think is just a flow of space, an ability for people to live
34:52comfortably, you know, have relationships, engage with people in a meaningful way.
34:57And for me, a beautiful big opening, spending the money on the big beam that gets these lovely bifold doors
35:03to open what is six or seven metres worth of openings.
35:06Seven and a half metres, yeah.
35:07And connecting with this outdoor space I think is incredibly smart and I imagine this would have changed your guys'
35:13lives.
35:16We haven't made any huge drastic changes to the home.
35:19The footprint of the home is still here and it's a small home but it packs a punch.
35:24So it's got everything we need, it's comfortable, it suits us perfectly.
35:30When we were designing the kitchen, a peach kitchen to some people would be a little bit overwhelming and, you
35:36know, it's definitely a risk taking thing.
35:39But it just flows so perfectly in this house, like the bricks have that peach in them.
35:44Yeah, yeah.
35:45So I feel everything was very intentional when we did choose the colour palette and it just blends beautifully in
35:51the home.
35:51I might also add that I had a feng shui consultant come into the home when we designed it and
35:59I had to fully redesign the kitchen.
36:03Yeah.
36:03And Jimmy wasn't very happy about that.
36:05I'm not joking but this house has a beautiful energy, it has a really lovely feel and it could be
36:13because of where my fridges now sit.
36:16Maybe.
36:16Maybe ns grow this open.
36:20Maybe select Alright.
36:26Maybe, let's just touch a little bit by pouring if you're ready.
36:27No HAMZON
36:27So the house originally was a three in one, with a laundry internal of the house.
36:32So what we've done is move the laundry out into the shed and turned that laundry space into our main
36:37bathroom.
36:38And the main bathroom became the ensuite and master bedroom and two other bedrooms
36:52But kicker is as a lot of people would be familiar with this day and age is we haven't finished
36:57the master and ensuite yet
36:59I
37:03Mean that's that's life life is very fast-paced these days
37:07Yeah, we we haven't completely finished it. So yeah, but we have the bathroom in the two other bedrooms
37:14I love doing the work myself so that that's the whole this whole house has been
37:19Blood sweat and tears from us. So we're not waiting on trades. We're not waiting anything
37:23We're literally waiting on ourselves. Yeah, and so I'm just chipping away at it
37:27Basically myself to get it done and you know put our love into it
37:31As you can see with the rest of the house by living in it
37:34You get a bit of better feel for the layout and again, we're trying to take this
37:38Lofted ceiling open space into the master. Yeah, and really opening that
37:44After the break we continue the tour and sean asks the big questions four years new careers new house new
37:52lifestyle
37:52What have been the highs and lows?
38:06We're in pomona in the noosa hinterland to see this amazing transformation of a tired
38:131980s house into a striking contemporary family home
38:18Jimmy and Tam have expertly managed to infuse a mid-century inspired style while still paying homage to the rustic
38:25charm of the original home
38:28We've seen the facade and the kitchen time to check out the big deck
38:32So we wanted to make it that big open air feeling because we get a nice breeze through here as
38:38well
38:38Yeah, but then in the winter we've got the fire pit area down the bottom
38:42You know no matter where you're sitting in this space
38:44You know we can have the adults here while the kids are in the pool
38:47Yeah, or on the grass or something like that
38:49There's always that sense of connectivity between everyone that's here
38:55What I think is also really smart with what you guys have done here is
38:58You've created a nice solid edge to the south
39:00Which is going to give you privacy and you know
39:03It's going to deal with some of that very very late sun that comes through and behind us over here
39:08You know the elevated roof is just such a clever idea because you're going to get that deep winter sun
39:12penetrating into the space
39:16One of the major features we wanted with this house was low maintenance
39:19So we've got a 360 veranda that when we moved here was all hardwood timber
39:24And I mean anyone that's got a timber deck knows that the maintenance that comes with that
39:28Yeah, so we transitioned to our big deck as a trex deck and then we wrapped the whole house in
39:33that trex deck
39:34We've got the astroturf succulent gardens everywhere in this house is low maintenance
39:39And that's what we were aiming for
39:42What that also means is that you know when kids are running around instead of having all those muddy feet
39:48Which are going to land up on your beautiful timber floors. Yeah, you know the dirt stays outside
39:53You know this ability to keep the house open just works that much better
39:56And the fact that you've got these really deep covers out here and you know, let's grab a seat
40:01With this lovely deep cover
40:04You can actually have furniture out here. You can have upholstery. You can have outdoor carpets
40:08You've got a tv out here. Yeah, and it really is a subtropical room with outdoors
40:16And you would have noticed in the house the breeze blocks that we bought into the bathroom
40:20We did that because they are the main feature of this outdoor pool area and that flows yeah seamlessly through
40:27the home
40:28I also really like that, you know, you've carried this idea of the and the sort of 60s modern landscaping
40:35right the way through
40:35Like you say it is a low maintenance item and some really lovely landscaping that you know
40:41does celebrate that sort of mid-century modern vibe. I like to say it's
40:46Country living, but it's got a palm springs vibe. Yeah. Yeah, it yeah
40:50Ticks all our boxes anyway every single one
40:56Four years journey new careers new house new lifestyle
41:01What have been the highs and lows? Oh, we haven't had too many lows like it's been a good
41:05It's been a great journey like I mean, you know putting our heart and soul into this house and chipping
41:11away and changing our jobs
41:13You know, there's been a lot
41:15There's been a lot but we haven't had any bad
41:17It sounds like it's been a really positive
41:20Optimistic and productive process, you know, there's obviously been a lot of change coming here
41:25But you know, what do you sort of see as the things that sort of maybe not if not changed
41:30you kind of changed your experience of the world being here now?
41:33I think it's slowed us down
41:35Yeah, absolutely
41:36Being in this town and you know, the whole experience of the block and everything else has really reset our
41:43lives
41:44Into a slower pace. Yeah, I mean
41:47Yes, the reno has become slower. That wasn't intentional. Yeah, that's just how it's become
41:52But I mean we I mean for myself when I was a plumber in Brisbane, it was just go go
41:57go we had deadlines
41:58It was you know, there was so much push forward
42:01Yeah, and they're not taking in life and I think absolutely moving to Pomona and renovating your own house and
42:07Taking these new roles and and jobs
42:11Has really made us slow down and appreciate life so much more
42:19When you can go to work and enjoy your job and come home and enjoy coming home
42:25Enjoy every aspect of your life then you've won
42:32Moving to Pomona was obviously a big move at the time did it feel like a big move
42:38And I suppose the second question I've got is you obviously had a whole lot of expectations about how this
42:44would change your life
42:45The dream versus the reality it's obviously being positive you've said as much but how different is it from what
42:51you may be expected?
42:53It definitely was a big move. I mean we uprooted our whole life
42:56Prior to the block in Brisbane. I mean we loved our friends and everyone in Brisbane we were around but
43:01We knew that just wasn't where we wanted to be. We wanted to be out
43:05Up into the you know, Noosa area
43:07Because Tam's parents live up here as well, but it was it was a big shift and we were so
43:12unsettled at the start
43:14Because we didn't know where exactly we wanted to live
43:16Where we wanted to be and then it wasn't until we drove into Pomona and felt that sort of elation
43:23the power of Mount Carora
43:25Really set in that first time driving into the town. We knew Pomona was where we wanted to be
43:30And we had to make it happen. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else in the world
43:36I'm always struck how the design process evolves as owners
43:40Come to understand the character of the houses that they are renovating
43:45And this is a wonderful story about how Jimmy and Tam have worked through the chaos and the dust and
43:50the dirt
43:51And they've rolled up their sleeves and found the energy the passion and commitment
43:55To turn this house into a beautiful family home for them and their daughter Frankie
43:59And I think if houses and architecture about anything it's about people and in the end
44:04This is a good news story about people creating new memories in a space. That's truly about them
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