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PROPERTY
109
May15
Necessary Improvements
It’s difficult to tell exactly what the
interior of the original house looked like;
suffice to say that it’s very different from
its neighbour, having been “patiently
rebuilt” by the previous tenants, who
lived here for 15 years.
Apparently, thehousewas inpretty poor
condition when its previous occupiers
moved in. Theman of the house replaced
all the roof beams, making the master
bedroom, especially, more open and
“barn-style”, in Eira’s words.
When Eira and Simon moved in last
year, there was no air-conditioning at
all – not even in the bedrooms. To have
that option, and to “stop birds from
flying in and shitting”, they blocked the
open trelliswork above the windows
with Perspex.
It’s a relatively cool house, and Eira
explains that the intermittent problem
of haze (smoke pollution from seasonal
burning of plantations in Indonesia) is
the main reason she and Simon decided
in favour of air-conditioning the living
room. They also glassed in the small
area off the living room that is now
nominally her study – “but is actually just
where I keep my files”, she says.
At the back of the house is a useful
scullery, a laundry area and a kitchen
that’s “not huge, but big enough”. The
wooden decking has been extended
around the house, and a herb garden
planted.
Most of the extra furniture they needed,
especially for the big deck, came from
Craigslist: “The two wicker chairs and the
big Chinese cabinets, for example, were
an absolute bargain.” Above the door
leading back into the house from the
deck hangs Eira’s collection of cow-bells
fromall over Southeast Asia –Cambodia,
Indonesia and more.