HOME TOUR | AIMEE WINCHESTER

For this home tour, we take you inside to the Bangalow home of Byron local Aimee Winchester @little.winnie and her husband Dave. Their dream home was a long time coming. The end result is a new build full of character and charm and proves that good things come to those who wait. We chat with Aimee about their journey to creating a home, the importance of advocating for yourself on your build and what simple living means to her. 

 

SHOP THE LOOK 

Smoked oak serving board — extra large | Linen round pendant in taupe — large | Shearling lounge chair | Cotton handwoven cotton mattress in stripe | Timber coat rail — 6 peg | Ceramic mug

 

 Home is… 

A story of who we are and a collection of all things we love. It’s a place of comfort & security, a place we share laughter & happiness, highs & lows, where memories are made and where we will always belong.

 

My home story… 

We had just come back from a 3 month trip around Australia, we still had our house in Mullumbimby but were renting in Bangalow to try something different. Then at the beginning of Covid we found a sweet block of land selling in Bangalow & decided to take a leap of faith, sell our house is Mullum and buy a block of land. We almost missed the boat as the original block we wanted had sold and there was only a couple left. We chose the flattest block and as it turns out we are so glad it turned out this was because for us, it is our favourite block on the street! We never had a desire to build a house from scratch but we found ourselves with this opportunity & to our surprise we knew exactly what we wanted, one evening Dave & I drew our house plan out & sent it to our good friend who is an architect & honestly we tweaked a few things together but essentially the plan is exactly what we drew that night!

 

What inspired the design of your home? 

Even though we never had plans to build we were definitely inspired by lots of friends new builds or renovations & having 5 children & now entering the teenage stage we knew exactly what we wanted & what would work for our big changing family.

 

What are some of the biggest lessons you've learnt while creating your home?

I definitely think that you have to advocate for what you want, there are so many decisions to make & easy to get convinced to do it another way but stay true to your vision & always to speak up during the building process if something is happening that you are not happy with or unsure of, open communication is the key!

 

What do you love about your home?

I love that it is a new build but it feels like us, it feels like it was always here waiting for us. I love the love that we all put into the home as a family, that we all helped build the hemp wall in our living room & that my husband has painted practically every wall in and out of our home. I love the way it feels comforting & secure & the way we flow throughout our home, the way we make memories in our house everyday.

 

What do you enjoy about living in Bangalow?

Our street is actually our dream street, the kids play out on the street every afternoon & on weekends, we have a beautiful street community that is really important to Dave and I & I love that our street even though new feels true to the original Bangalow vibe. We are in walking distance to our charming little town centre, it has everything we need & aesthetically it is just gorgeous. My eldest has a job in town & can walk to work. We are a 15 minute drive from the ocean, Dave’s work & the girls school!

 

What does simple living mean to you?

We put value on the things we do not the things we have and we try to only have things in our home that are useful, meaningful or beautiful! 

 

If you were to have a spare free morning, how would you spend it?

At the ocean having a surf!

 

What are three words that best describe you?

Intuitive, loving, spiritual. 

 

What book can you recommend?

A book that changed my life was You Can Heal Your Life By Louise Hay

 

Also, please share 3 of your favourite products from Imprint House, include links.

The large round linen pendant, the carbon steel 16cm knife and the organic cotton graph towels.

 

 

Photography by Lynden Foss