In 2012 Rainie Owen was waitressing at Merewether Surfhouse. She didn't know it at the time, but she would eventually marry the restaurant's head chef, Beynon Owen, and start a family with him. They had their first date at Fannies, and the rest is history.
Rainie also happens to be the granddaughter of former Newcastle lord mayor Joy Cummings, who was also Australia's first female lord mayor.
Three years ago, the Owens moved into their house in Lambton with their daughter Poppy. Their son, Louis, soon came along, and they have two cats, Monet and Picasso.
This is the first home they've owned. They wanted a backyard because Beynon's an avid gardener. They love that they're on a hill, so they get a nice breeze.
"We didn't have a lot of requirements for a house. We looked online for a long time, this was the first one we saw in person," Rainie says.
"I've always really liked Lambton. I have an auntie who lives up the road in New Lambton Heights. There's the Lambton Park and the pool; we go there all the time."
Rainie grew up here and went to Lambton High. Beynon comes from Morpeth.
They reckon the home was probably built in the 50s. The previous owners had renovated the kitchen and bathroom, so the house was ready to go when the Owens moved in.
"I loved the old features of the house, the huge cornices, the original windows, the fireplace, picture rails and timber floorboards. It was really nice to have a place we didn't have to do anything to," Rainie says.
The two-storey house is perfect for the creative young family of four. Along with gardening, Beynon makes pottery. He's moved on from his chef career and is now a disability support worker, but he still loves to cook in their spacious kitchen. Rainie works as a fibre artist and provides fibre supplies for other artists.
Her home office is full of colourful textiles.
"It's full of yarn and looks like a big rainbow cloud," she says.
She designs weaving kits and tools and also spins and dyes yarn. This month she'll be releasing a book she has written on home weaving projects. She runs workshops at The Fernery, in Islington, and sells her work online and at the Olive Tree Markets.
They kept the walls white because they have so much colourful art. Her fibre artworks and hanging cranes adorn their home. She's also sold crane mobiles at the Newcastle Art Gallery.
Beynon wrote two poems, his brother's ex-girlfriend painted them and they now hang in the lounge room. The piece Don't be a Dickhead, by Luke John Matthew Arnold, always gets attention as well.
The seven-year-old fiddle leaf fig stands out, and all their plants are doing well.
"Everyone tries to do the same watering schedule," she says of keeping all her plants alive.
"You have to treat them all differently. I check the soil, I water each one (based on its needs). I've killed a few but I'm doing really well at the moment.
They enjoy adding colour, foliage and personality. Rainie took an interior design course before Poppy was born. It sparked a passion, but she doesn't have a specific vision. She likes changing things up and working with what she has, including furniture passed down from their families.
"The table was the first piece of furniture we bought together from a Surry Hills antique shop. It's an old French market table. It's really heavy. The legs are metal," Rainie says.
Her dad, Mark Williams, made the outdoor table from Huon pine. Her cousin, Nic Connell, painted the mural on the garage door of whales in space.
Every afternoon the whole family is likely to be in the back garden. She and Beynon landscaped it the year after they moved and he built the wood fire pizza oven. They love having people over for outdoor dinner parties. From the garden they enjoy grapes, broad beans, dragonfruit, papayas, herbs, figs and more. Beynon regularly whips up amazing meals with their harvests.
Like her grandmother, Rainie is happy to raise her family here in Newcastle. They are a lively little family, making for a true Lambton love story.
