Enter Mel Burgess's front garden, and she might just have handwritten a welcome sign for you.
She runs a BnB and a consulting business from her house, so making people feel at home appears to be part of her identity.
Four years ago, she and husband Adam bought the Lambton property, two flats on one block. One she rents out as her retro granny BnB and the other is her home and business, Love Parenting Newcastle.
Along with raising her two kids, Sol and Sierra, and their Lab-poodle mix, Chewbacca, Burgess is a parenting mentor and consultant.
This is what she's passionate about and why she was more than happy to chat with the Herald about her home and work.
For much of her life, she's worked in evidence-based parenting programs. Now, she takes strongly researched strategies and applies them in a non-clinical setting.
Her house was previously owned by Des Gough, with whom she still keeps in touch.
"Our house isn't grand, but it is a great and rich tapestry of a story," she says.
"There are also three sisters who lived here through the war years and have been back twice since we bought the house telling stories of how it was to live here then as kids."
Before the Burgesses' move, Des lived here for 58 years. Burgess says Des loves to visit and marvel at the 96 ornate woodcarvings he hand-turned in his workshop, which has since been converted to the Love Parenting Studio. He has a story for everything. He can tell you about the bricks that wind down the path to the studio.
Burgess says that buying Des's place, with its roses, limes and lavender, was a "godsend."
"He raised his own kids and his wife's sister's kids here, and was an avid gardener/preserver/baker too," Burgess says.
Her back garden and shed is where Burgess makes the magic happen, but her humble kitchen is also where she spends time making meals and treats for family and clients.
Visit her home and you might taste some of her baked goods, which she's happy to share and even package up to go with homegrown lavender.
She has put much thought and time into shaping the bottom of her garden into a calm space where parents can "bring their overwhelm and take child-free time to reflect and reset".
"Parents are loving it as a sanctuary of calm to come and land in to collect themselves, organise their thoughts and head back out to what, at the moment in particular, is a big ol' job," Burgess says.
"Parents can walk in, be greeted by me with something to tune into at a sensory level and shake off some of their overwhelm, before I've even poured the chamomile tea."
You'll find her four chooks occasionally roaming the garden too. They also typically give her an egg a day.
"The firepit has been a terrific asset, particularly for sitting one-on-one with dads and working through parenting programs one roasted marshmallow and one parenting conversation at a time," she says.
"The research tells us sensory experiences are the most effective way of calming, and so I invite them to choose a lime or a sprig of lavender on their way in and we take a deep inhalation of its aroma to calm our farm at the outset of each session."
Burgess has incredible pride and passion in her home, and she even commissioned local illustrator Charlotte Mahony to draw her home and her studio.
The garden and studio aren't just for her clients. Sierra has a hammock in the tree at the front of the house as a getaway, and when Burgess isn't working, Adam and Sol use the studio as a great place for board games.
It's not an easy job to combine two businesses under one roof while raising a family, maintaining a productive garden and baking cakes, but Burgess doesn't bat an eyelid.
Her Lambton lifestyle is a home and garden designed to welcome all who enter.
