Deb's property proves that home is where the art is
Deb Guest and Andy Jakeman have been together 23 years, and according to Deb, "We're old mates!" she laughingly says.
"We have been here on our property at Tuntable Falls for 15 years; there are five acres in total. When we started negotiating with the real estate agent while we were at the gate to the property, we instinctively knew that this was the place for us. That instinct has carried throughout," said Deb.
"Our decoration style is intuitive and based on a desire to use other people's cast-offs," laughs Deb.
"I think the result is quirky and eclectic. I have always been an op shopper, taking great pleasure in finding the treasure that someone else thought was trash.
"I still feel that anticipation and excitement that I might find some abandoned treasure when I head off shopping. And even though it may not be in perfect condition, I enjoy bringing that object back to life and giving it a home," explains Deb.
"We have a great old bath and at one stage I wanted a statue of Michelangelo, but I ended up finding a white plastic male shop dummy. That in itself is pretty reflective of our style. It was $10 and it works perfectly for what I wanted.
"The bathroom wall is rendered from empty beer bottles and the garden is designed, in what I like to call the secret garden principle where we plant and allow the garden to be overgrown, with pathways that lead to tables and chairs or a mosaic art work. We have learnt to mosaic as the house is built on a concrete slab, so unfortunately we do smash quite a few things," Deb said.
"At the moment we are painting Picasso-style pictures on an old bar table, like the high ones that you find in pubs. We're always finding things and doing them up. That's another example of our crazy style!"
