By Jem Anshaw
There is nothing more intimidating to Leanne Ward than a blank canvas, but thankfully her home has always been a space that can evolve with her needs and moods.
It started as a family home that she had a vision for back in 1992. Along with her two sons and husband at the time, they moved in and got to work on a number of projects in the 1920s era home.
Having grown up in Muswellbrook, in a street not far from where she lives now for a period, Leanne has fond memories of the area.
“I used to ride my push bike to the pool, riding past to go to the river, and I just always like this house having that big front veranda,” she recalled.
“When we were looking at buying there was a place in Karri Place that my husband at the time liked, and it was modern with big archways. I forget how much it was, but it was a lot dearer than this house, I said, what about this house? And he didn’t really like it but I said to him, don’t look at what is in the house, look at the bones of the house.”
In the end the old bones won out, and even after they spent a lot on renovations it still cost less than the new house would have.
Leanne admits they were guilty of what a lot of homeowners do, furnishing the home in a similar way as set up by previous owners.
“We bought this big table and put it in there as a dining room, and then we realised the toilet is right where you come out to,” she explained, gesturing to what is now a sitting room with a fire place.
“So we just started modifying it a bit, we ripped up the carpet and there was wallpaper all through it, we ripped all the wallpaper down, things like that.”
The house was listed as three bedrooms, but over time Leanne has converted the formal sitting room into the master bedroom, cut into a walk-in wardrobe for one of the bedrooms to make a larger pantry for the kitchen, and semi enclosed the back patio.
The backyard has evolved over the years too. There was a cubby house when the kids were young, then a chook pen for a while, there is currently a pergola, but she is considering taking it down to put something new in its place.
A constant however has been the shed, which is her studio where countless hours have been spent painting or mosaicking over the years.
“I’ve got a fireplace out there, and I try to get out there a lot,” she shared.
When Leanne and her husband separated, she began to fill the house with antiques she loved and her art that lead to another realisation about her personal style and the homes design.
“I found with all the antiques it seemed dark, there is no western windows except for the bathroom, so there is not much natural light,” she shared.
“I always swore I would never paint my house white, because I love green, and everything needs to be green, but then over time I pulled the carpet up and I’ve changed it to white so that I can put any painting up now.”
The paintings that adorn the walls are always changing, often as a flow on from doing something as simple as changing the bedding which will not suit the painting in the bedroom, so they all get a shuffle around from that.
Some of Leanne’s artworks get hung when they are not finished because she likes to look at them to work out what else needs to be done to complete them, which is the case with some paintings on the walls at the moment.
Leanne admits she is sometimes concerned about what others who visit may think of her personal style, but given hers is a home that a number of people have suggested we check out for the Not For Sale pages, it is safe to say she isn’t the only one that loves the sanctuary she has created.
