When Australian textile designer Trish Bygott first rented a bungalow in west Perth 15 years ago, it made a compact living space for her family of three. But everything changed when her partner Nathan Crotty moved in five years later – with two children of his own.
Unable to move somewhere larger, Bygott and Crotty decided to adapt their home to fit their newly enlarged family. With just an artist’s eye, a tonne of resourcefulness and a relaxed landlord, they transformed it into a half-indoor, half-outdoor nirvana.
“When you blend a family, it’s vital that everybody has their own space,” says Bygott. To make extra bedrooms, the couple re-purposed an old school bus from the 1950s, a shed and a 1970s caravan, creating what Bygott calls an “outdoor lounge” in the middle.
“Here in Western Australia we have long summers of eight months, and even our winters are beautiful,” she says. “We work seven days a week, so home is more about retreat than anything.”
While the outdoor areas are filled with greenery and lounging pets, the interiors are a bohemian medley of colourful handmade ornaments and sturdy, classic design. The home emanates an eclectic, laidback vibe – but don’t make the mistake of calling Bygott and her family hippies.
“Our teenagers would absolutely roll their eyes at that,” says Bygott. “We have aspirations, visions and dreams. But every now and again I walk into a home that’s soulless, and devoid of anything that can lift the heart and mind. What the world really needs is spaces to soothe.”
There are quite a few treasured possessions in the L-shaped 1930s house. On the shelves are a sewing machine that Bygott bought when she was 16, an accordion and harmonium belonging to Crotty, who is a musician, and a handwoven teapot and cup and saucer that Bygott has kept from a trip to South Africa when she was 21.
Many of the pieces of furniture and trinkets were picked up at local “roadside throw-outs” – biannual second-hand sales organised by the local council. The large workbench which the family use as a kitchen table was a gift from a friend who moved to Tasmania. As is the case with most of their second-hand items, a pristine finish is not the goal: “We gave it a light sand, then a wax finish,” says Bygott. “We try to keep the rawness and integrity of everything.”
Just a few minutes’ walk away is the couple’s design shop, Madam Bukeshla. There are large cut-out figures in the lounge, created as shop window decorations at Christmas – “three wise beings” carrying baskets of offerings on their heads.
Bygott’s 18-year-old daughter Daisy says she enjoyed growing up in the house, despite the varied temperatures in her semi-outdoor bedroom. “It was always a nice place to come back to after school, with lots of different nooks and crannies. When my stepsisters arrived, that was wonderful – I like being surrounded by people,” she says.
Now the older children have left, Bygott and Crotty have moved back inside, having slept for years in the shed, which they turned into a “beautiful bedroom”, but is now Bygott’s studio. They are still renting from their elderly landlord, who they look after and go halves with on big jobs like digging out the drains. It’s hard to imagine many places in Britain where tenants would be given the leniency to create such an idiosyncratic space, although there are still limits.
“It’s on our wishlist to buy it. There’s a lot we’d do,” says Bygott. “I would knock parts of the house down and add a veranda, or French doors. I’d build a big limestone, two-storey studio shed. Maybe one day we will be in a position to do that. For now, I’m trying to live in the moment as much as possible.”
