Welcome to “The World at Home: 31 Real House Tours Around the Globe.” Check out where else we’ve visited this month here.

Sarah, her husband Chuck and young family live an hour outside of Melbourne near Tarrawarra—a small town located in the beautiful Yarra Valley. Nestled on 70 acres of working farmland, the creative couple has designed a gorgeous home filled with locally made objects and artwork.

The house itself is a brick veneer built in the 1980s, and one of the first projects they undertook was to renovate and update the kitchen. Chuck installed the tiling and shelving and they opened up the living space. They’ve also invested in adding built-ins to the space. “Building into the space rather than adding pre-made storage invests love and structure into our home and is a pleasure to use day after day,” wrote Sarah.

Sarah works from her home studio as a jeweler under the name Sanctuary Precinct, whilst her husband runs a production nursery from the property.

My Style: Handmade and handed down.

Inspiration: Textures and forms of nature, deep feelings, people who make things, art works.

Favorite Element: I love the high, timber beam panelled ceilings. It’s a design feature of the era that lifts the living areas into something a little less pedestrian.

Biggest Challenge: Creating interesting spaces within a modest and fairly unromantic brick veneer house of the ’80s.

What Friends Say: “As a friend who lives in the city, it’s like a long exhalation walking into Sarah and Chuck’s home full of light and beauty. The collection of artworks and objects made and found by the creative homemakers and their friends means that the home speaks to their community as well as to their well-developed aesthetic sensibilities.” – BS

“Walking into Sarah’s house is like catching your breath. From the warm internal tones and eclectic mix of wares by local artists to glimpses of the Yarra Valley—the space cocoons you with a feeling of calmness.” – RS

“I adore this house, and its occupants! The house and garden hold an intriguing collection of things: the cute phone nook, the perfectly pruned smokebush, and even the clothes horse is divine! It’s a beautiful space to be in; it’s difficult to have a conversation without constantly looking around.” – KB

“Warm, light-filled, spacious, welcoming, with unique pieces and beautiful art.” – SH

“Crafty, green, country, farmy, warm and cosy, and always smells good!!!” – ZL

Biggest Embarrassment: Living as we do on a working farm and production nursery, there are odd moments of unwitting crossover. Let’s just say that sometimes there’s someone outside the window planting a tree or cutting wood when I might have had a shower in the middle of the day.

Proudest DIY: Pulling up the carpet and associated underlying crap in my studio. I  found that I could wield a crow bar with guts and liberty.

Biggest Indulgence: Hand-built joinery from local craftspeople. Building into the space rather than adding pre-made storage invests love and structure into our home and is a pleasure to use day after day. 

Best Advice: To love and appreciate our home for its solidity and practicality. This was my husband’s advice after we sheltered in our house during the 2009 bushfire. I’m grateful for this perspective as it reminds me of the protective function that a home serves, beyond its aesthetic.

Dream Sources:

• Tarrawarra Museum of Art store for ceramics, art books and creative jewelry (@tarrawarrama)
• Mr Kitly for ceramics, Japanese objects of beauty and practicality, and plants (@mrkitly)
• Verso Books for stories, coffee table books of my dreams and emergency birthday presents (@verso.books)
• Morris et al for woolens, hand cream and good things (@morrisetal)
• Swingmaker Kate for handmade garden swings (@swing.maker.kate)
• Free to Fall Textiles for screenprinted, handmade fabrics, bags and homewares (@freetofalltextiles)
• Nicholls Design for handmade furniture (@nicholls_design)
• Anouk Flowers for stylish and eye-catching arrangements, bouquets and installations (@anoukflowers)
• Rachael Rose for artworks and vessels (@rachael_rose_artist)

PAINT & COLORS

• Dulux Natural White throughout

ENTRY

• Clock — Morris et al (@morrisetal)
• Handmade steps — Yarra Glen Vintage & Antiques
• Banksia artwork — Rachael Rose (@rachael_rose_artist)

LIVING ROOM

• Bookshelf — Handmade by Philip Smith, local craftsperson
• Books — Verso Books (@verso.books)
• Screen print — Handed down from my grandfather
• Limestone sculpture — Chuck Stewart
• Ceramics — Collected from op shops, Japan, local artist Jess Rae (@jessrae_clay)
• Artwork — The Arnhem Suite IV, by Frank Hodgkinson 
• Basket — Tjanpi Desert Weavers collective (@tjanpidesertweavers)
• Large oil painting landscape — Mary Stewart
• PNG tribal skirt and headdress — Inherited from Mary Stewart
• Wall installation — Mapping the Dispersal, by Sarah West
• Still life painting — Family friend (Brod N.)
• African grey parrot watercolour — Clare James (@clarejamesartist)
• Rugs — Treasures of Istanbul, Healesville
• Green couch — Nicholls Design (@nicholls_design)
• Cushions — Free to Fall Textiles (@freetofalltextiles)
• Still life — Unknown artist, found at Healesville River St Community Market
• Painting of rock slice — Eleanor Louise Butt (@eleanor_louise_butt)
• Small stools — Nicholls Design (@nicholls_design)
• Pulley-system clothes drying rack — Made by Chuck Stewart from his grandmother’s salvaged hardwood broom handles!
• Still lifes next to indoor plants — Both found in op shop (artists unknown)
• Etchings — Kate James (@valley_maker)
• Ceramic double-walled sculpture — Jess Rae (@jessrae_clay)
• Lamp, cupboard, table and hutch — Yarra Glen Vintage & Antiques
• Gumnut oil painting — James Stewart
• Landscape watercolour painting — Herbert Raberaba

DINING ROOM

• Kitchen table — Blueprint Furniture (Melbourne)
• Chairs — Op shops and Chuck’s grandmother
• Teapot and cups — Jess Rae (@jessrae_clay)

KITCHEN

• Lithograph — ‘Mt Gambier S.A.’ by Kenneth Jack
• Small oil painting — Op shop, unknown artist
• Ceramics — Op shops, Mary Stewart, Mr Kitly, Bridget Bodenham, Clay Canoe, Terunobu Hirata, porcelain markets in Shanghai and Japan 
• Shelf and tiling — By Chuck Stewart
• Copper salt and pepper grinders — Mr Kitly

BEDROOM

• Bed by Chuck Stewart — Made from old stables timber on his Dad’s farm
• Orange ‘Bowie’ side table — Nicholls Design (@nicholls_design)
• Linen — Op shops and Nancybird
• Jewellery at bedside — Sanctuary Precinct (@sanctuary.precinct)
• Rock slice painting — Eleanor Louise Butt (@eleanor_louise_butt)
• Chair and sideboard — Yarra Glen Vintage & Antiques
• Urn — Morris et al (@morrisetal)
• Footed vase — Jess Rae (@jessrae_clay)
• Mother’s Day photo frame — Rex Stewart

BATHROOM

• Tiles — Beaumont Tiles (delete if this is too daggy!!)
• Brass planter — Healesville River St Community Market
• Ceramics — Op shops, Belinda and Jess Rae (@jessrae_clay)
• Tin and brass planter — Midnight, Healesville (@welcome.to.midnight)
• Linocut artwork — Eucalyptus bridgesiana by Sue Jarvis

GUEST ROOM

• Blinds — Kangaroo paw fabric: Ink & Spindle (@inkandspindle_)
• Cushions — Free to Fall Textiles (@freetofalltextiles)
• Side tables — Nicholls Design (@nicholls_design)
• Egret on plywood artwork — Clare James (@clarejamesartist)
• Eucalypt tapestry — The op shop
• Big finch tapestry — The op shop
• Pair of stencil artworks — James Stewart

KIDS’ ROOM

• Desk and drawers designed, made and installed by Ben Banfield of Constructive Works, Healesville 
• Stick tapestries — Rex, Harry, Sarah and Chuck
• Star finch artwork — R. Chandler
• Hand-knitted blankets — Mary Stewart
• Curtains — Triangles fabric: Ink & Spindle (@inkandspindle_)

STUDIO

• Etching, ‘Abby’, above soldering bench — Jess Irvin (@jess.irvin)
• Owl and space artworks — Harry Stewart
• Small framed tapestry, moth embroidery and still life — Gifted and thrifted
• Small wall hanging — Sarah Stewart
• Jewelry — Sanctuary Precinct/Sarah Stewart (fine not to caption if it’s obviously my studio/jewelry!) 

OUTSIDE

• Pizza oven and courtyard built by Chuck Stewart
• Screenprinted table runner — Free to Fall Textiles (@freetofalltextiles)

Thank you, Sarah and family!

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