Tuesday 8 September 2009

A Love Affair With a House





To be in-love with a house which you own is one thing but to be in-love with a house you don't own is another. Have you have ever felt a strong passion for a house or a property which does not belong to you?




My husband and I have had an obsession with a little waterfront house which is located at Amity Point on Stradbroke Island for quite a few years now. It is a cape cod style house which needs lots and lots of TLC {and white paint}. Whenever we drive from Point Lookout {where our little beach house is located} down to the fishing town of Amity Point we always slow the car down to a snails pace for a quick look and and a quick check to see that it is still there waiting for us. On the weekend I took a few photos to share with you. Maybe one day our dream will come true...




I have read stories about other people finding a house they love, dreaming about it for years and then becoming the owners down the track. It seems that sometimes, these sorts of dreams really do come true!

One particluar story I love is that of iconic Australian artist Ken Done and his cabin which he found and fell in-love with when he was 14 years of age. Ken uses the cabin, which is right on the edge of Sydeny Harbour, as his art studio. I have included an excerpt below from Studio International;



Australian Artist Ken Done






Ken Done's Sydney Harbour Cabin above


The Cabin studio at Mosman, overlooking Chinaman's Beach on Middle Harbour, was acquired by Ken Done in 1979, after he had leased it for sometime prior.

His first encounter with the building that subsequently became a most vital source of inspiration was when Ken was 14 when he and a friend took an alternative route from Cremorne to Balmoral Beach. Walking along the foreshore via Chinaman's Beach, Ken Done recalls his delight at discovering the small cottage:

"Suddenly, miraculously, underneath a huge tree was the most wonderful little building that I had ever seen. It was very much in the style of "The Wind in the Willows", but Australian. A house right by the edge of the water on the rocks, under a spreading Morton Bay Fig and a Camphor Laurel tree. It stood at the point where the rocks and sand and water and beach and land all met. A perfect holiday house or a fisherman's cottage."

By the time that Ken Done's previous studio, The Nook was demolished he knew the owner of The Cabin. The Cabin had been let to a series of tenants and Ken Done made it clear that he very much wanted to lease it to use as a studio. His childlike enthusiasm for the Cabin represents his joy and passion for the place. The components of the cabin studio represented perfection for Ken Done: an exquisite view over the Middle Harbour, marvellous trees and flowers, an exotic paradise. The view of the upper level of the Cabin from the wooden veranda provided Ken Done with further inspiration. It is a view onto a myriad of light effects, the endless patterning of boats, the drama of storms, the power and beauty in nature all from a secure vantage point. In the area surrounding the house, he and Judy have created an oasis of garden which Ken has painted constantly and where in the early years there he shared with his family at weekends.





To have loved a property for so many years and then to have been able to acquire it is an amazing and inspiring story. Ken Done certainly expresses a true sense of Australian style in his work and it is evident that his cabin and it's surrounds have been a huge source of inspiration for his paintings over the years. It was obviously meant to be that he would one day own the place of his dreams.

28 comments:

Unknown said...

absolutely beautiful anna! your dream house is gorgeous, and this ken done story is perfect, thank you xx
PS I've been meaning to say congrats for your vogue feature! I've been so busy lately, sorry I haven't had a chance 'til now. I was so thrilled to see it!

Anonymous said...

Hello Anna,
Actually I am renting a Queenslander at the moment and it's the house that I want to buy. Already I have made grand plans in my mind for what I want to do with it. This can be dangerous, I know but I do believe in "like attracting like" so perhaps one day for you, me and everyone else in a similar situation.
LouLou
xoxo

Millie said...

Maybe you should write a little note to the Owners Anna. Let them know you'd be interested if ever they should decide to sell, tuck it under the door & see what happens. You never, never know!
Millie ^_^

michela {mami g.} said...

very lovely place...very lovely house!

Kifus said...

Hi Anna, I longed to buy my grandparents summer house where I spent my childhood holidays. They sold it years ago. When I finally married we were able to buy a much smaller house right across the road! I love my little house by the seaside and now I wouldn't change it for my grandparents house, The memories will stay in my heart. You have a lovely blog!

purple area said...

Looks really great!

cotedetexas said...

I hope you get your wish one day - it looks like heaven to me!
Joni

Amy said...

Have you have ever felt a strong passion for a house or a property which does not belong to you?

Ummm, yes! ;-)

I was recently devastated to drive by my little dream place recently and discover it destroyed by fire. :-( I hope it will be restored.

~Amy

Renae Moore said...

I can see why you adore! I used to have Ken Done bedding!

Karena said...

A dream come true! How wonderful, and a perfect artist's studio.

BALLET NEWS said...

Oh WOW, this is so clever - you have the most gorgeous site here and I had to stop by to leave this comment for you – and to say hello of course ! Your posts are creative and original and you have interesting pictures. It's all perfect ! Thank you for sharing your site and best wishes....

marmee said...

i love this story. a friend of mine actually sold her house this way...someone drove up and asked her if she would be willing to sell her house...they loved and had not even looked at the inside of it. she worked a deal and moved within weeks. nothing is impossible. go for it and see what happens.
happy september.

Black Zebra said...

There is a house close to where we live in a "better' area. It's actually a ruin that was bombed during the second world war. I'm SO in-love with it that Every morning at 6am after I've dropped my husband off at the train station, I take a drive past it and dream.......*sigh*

Vanya Wilkinson said...

I hear you, I am constantly getting dangerously obsessed with out of reach DYI lovelies - but hey they do say, where there is will.... :)

Laura @ EdenRose said...

Gorgeous House, i love it. We have our dream house which iv blogged about before. It's a yellow 4 story georgian house with a walled garden and a long driveway. I know it will be ours one day, i can feel it! Dream big Anna xxx. As
Victor Hugo said
'There is nothing like a dream to create the future'. :)

Exquisite Accessories said...

What a lovley story, hope you get the house one day? I believe in positive thinking. You never know some one could be reading your blog & know the owners, now wouldn't that be great a private sale, fingers crossed!!!

Ness Lockyer said...

I hope you get your dream one day Anna. You would turn it into a masterpiece.

We are living in my dream home. I have always drawn this style of house since I was a little girl...couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
Ness xx

Jasminé said...

Very interesting..love the house.
Hope you get the house of your dreams oneday!
Jas
Ireland

Barbara Jacksier said...

With a view like that, I'd be head over heels in love, too.

Jay said...

I'd say drop a note. We'd been admiring a house on our road for a while and were looking to move as I was expecting our second child. I then spotted it was being repainted inside and out and suspected this was being done so as to place it on the market, so persuaded my husband we should drop them a line. Sure enough my hunch was right and after a viewing (it was even better inside then expected) we agreed a private sale. We've been here three years now and are very happy. It's been joy to make it our own.

Sian

Valerie A. Heck Esmont said...

I am in love with a pig shed my friend converted into an awesome apartment. It is decorated in things all lime green! I was lucky enough to get married on the property and use the hog shed to get ready in.

Katherine Lee said...

I love that house. Anything close to water is perfect in my book. I adore Ken's paintings as well, they remind me a bit of Basquiat, don't you think? On a personal note, I'm back to blogging after some icky shoulder surgery, but while I was in the hospital, your beautiful blog really kept my spirits up, so thanks so much for that!

xo Katherine aka. Urban Flea :)

Sarthak said...

Such an amazing place it is...sitting by the water, wasting time all day long ! an then retreat back to the cabin to prepare some delicious dinner !

i'm already dreaming ! a very beautiful house indeed.

MT said...

My "Love Affair" house is up a little overgrown path next to a railway track, it's an abandoned cottage with wildflowers growing all around and there are countless barns right next to it just screaming to be renovated!

Shelley Trbuhovich said...

it happens, anna! i had a friend that used to ride his bike as an 11 yr old through land that was opposite an australian beach....vowing that one day the land would be his. 30 years later, he received a phonecall from his 'riding buddy' - now a fulltime builder on the same peninsula saying "you'll never guess what, our land is being divided, i'm buying a block, do you want one?" his wife told him they couldn't afford it. he was bitterly disappointed, went out to get over his sadness. while he was walking, she picked up the phone, called the builder mate, and bought it for her hubby as a surprise. they have now built their dream home, directly opposite the beach and live happily ever after. the end. xx

pixelimpress said...

my friend was having trouble conceiving the baby she and her husband so desperately wanted. she cut out a photo of a baby from a magazine and pinned it to her refrigerator. shortly thereafter she was pregnant. the baby born was the spitting image of the one on her fridge. long story short... pin a photo of the house on the fridge. the law of attraction. pam

kelly said...

i love this post! my boyfriend covets a particular house in Hoboken and we always stop every time we pass it. I did want one house on the block I grew up on but then they remodeled it and it looks completely different :(

Flotsam Friends said...

I love this post too. We're in our dream house and have been for five years. Moved from the inner-west (in Sydney) to the northern beaches. All we wanted was an original fibro beach shack and we got it!! Admittedly now with two growing boys we're seriously outgrowing it but we love it all the same. Most people think it's a "knock down" but not us!! We're even too scared to update anything as we don't want to take away any character. We are it's second owners... I'm now yearning for space, acres and acres... I'm sure your dream will come true and until then, keep it alive... It's so fun! P.S. Do you know the book Australian Beach Houses living by the sea? It has some beautiful images and words. Good luck. Px