Nestled in the picturesque town of Oatlands, Tasmania, Reno Schooler Karen Miles has created something truly special - a beautiful home that seamlessly blends the history of a Georgian worker’s cottage with the elegance of French provincial style. This is the story of how Karen found, fell in love with, and transformed a humble sandstone cottage into her dream retreat, affectionately named ‘Petit Chateau.’

HOW THE FAIRY TALE BEGAN

In mid-January 2020, we didn’t know yet that the world was about to change irrevocably. We were in a bubble of pre-Covid bliss. My husband Stu and I had absconded from family life for a rare few days away together in Tasmania.

“I had fallen in love with Tasmania and kept dragging my family down there to see what I saw – rambling green hills that reminded me of Ireland, food so flavourful that even the kids liked eating their broccoli.

Kind people that took the time to stop for a chat. Historic architecture, Jurassic forests and snow-capped mountains. The weather was mild, winters were spent cosy by a fire, and everything just made so much sense to me.

Possibly my British ancestry relishing in a rural escape from bustling, humid Sydney?”

— Karen Miles, Three Birds Reno School Student

Stu and I were in a rental car driving back to Launceston airport to fly home. We had a few hours ahead of us and as so often happens after some reflective time away from the everyday, our conversation turned to more meaningful issues. We were both heading towards what felt like the ‘halfway’ mark in our lives with 50th birthdays looming on the horizon. We started asking those questions…where were our lives heading? Looking back from ‘the end’, what would we want to have achieved? How would we like to spend our time and most significantly, where? Travel and new experiences were quickly placed at the top of our list. So too was a longing to live more of ‘the good life’ - meaningful moments, feeling present, surrounded by great people and beauty. All the beauty we could find!

Within that plan was my long-held desire to restore an old house with some architectural significance. Halfway through our drive across Tasmania, a plan was hatched. Find an old place in Tassie, so we could spend more time there, and enjoy the process of doing it up!

OPERATION ‘FIND A PLACE IN TASSIE’ BEGINS

Operation ‘Find a place in Tassie’ commenced with gusto. I set up property searches, for the whole of Tasmania, as we loved so much of what the many regions offered. Full confession, I’m what some would call an A-type overachieving Virgo. And proudly so.

The search took over my days and nights. My enthusiasm was high. I looked into church conversions, old wooden cottages, old city apartments, and talked to as many real estate agents and council development officers as would call me back. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, not that I knew exactly what that was, yet. In Virgo desperation late one afternoon, I skipped the real estate websites and typed in some keywords straight into Google. And there she was.

For sale via a private website where owners sell their own homes. A sandstone cottage that needed a lot of love in a town that I had already fallen in love with. Oatlands, Tasmania. I found the property on a Tuesday afternoon and called and spoke with the owner on Wednesday morning. I flew down to Tassie on Friday. It was the 7th of February 2020. Almost four weeks after that road trip conversation with Stu.

I drove into Oatlands, and just off the High Street sat a humble sandstone cottage. The property was decorated with kids’ toys, grandma’s caravan, and a Noah’s Ark of farm animals. The goat was particularly friendly! The owners warmly welcomed me in and showed me around a rabbit warren of extensions that had been added to the original sandstone cottage throughout the years. I felt so unsure. There was a lot of work to do. A lot of things that needed fixing. Like, a lot. And the only obvious heritage element I could see was the exterior stone.

In one of those moments in what I could only describe as sheer lunacy and blind hope, I made an offer on the house, and they accepted. On my drive back to Launceston Airport I flitted erratically between fear and rapture. I’d just bought a very tired, not terribly heritage-looking house… without my husband even seeing it. And, the house was a whole plane ride and country drive away from our Sydney home and life.

In mid-March 2020, just days before we were due to fly to Tassie for the pre-settlement house inspection and to pick up the keys, Tasmania closed its borders to the rest of Australia. It was unheard of. Covid was now a concern in Australia and Tasmania had locked itself off from the rest of the world. Without knowing it at the time, I was shut out from our exciting/terrifying dream project for the next eight months.

THE GRAND DESIGNS TRANSFORMATION

My vision was to create a home that felt beautiful and calm. I wanted to marry the heritage of the property - it was built in the 1830s as a Georgian worker's cottage - with a simple French provincial style.

It took us from November 2020 (when we were allowed back into Tasmania) until September 2023 to finish the restoration of the front original sandstone cottage and knock down the dodgy, illegal, back extension and rebuild a new extension which more than doubled the original footprint. The extension was designed to be sympathetic to the original style of the cottage. All up, there are two bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, laundry and mudroom entrance, plus a large open plan area with two lounge spaces, kitchen and dining flanked by cathedral ceilings with 200-year-old exposed wooden beams.

During the build phase, Grand Designs Transformations filmed the journey which was so fun, and our episode aired in February 2024.

You can watch the full episode on ABC iview. It’s in Series 1, Episode 6.

Why ‘Petit Chateau’?

I decided to create a name for our cottage, and bien sur, it would be French-inspired. As anyone who follows my linen homeware brand, French Consul, knows I have a great passion for all things French and some of the things I love about France can also be found in Tassie. Exceptional food, historic architecture, so much natural beauty…the list is endless. Not to mention it was the French who were among the first Europeans to explore Tasmania (Oh la la! I could have been French!).

The French were the first to give European names to key Tasmanian sites that remain today - D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Bruny Island, Huon River, Marion Bay, Freycinet, Recherche Bay and Cygnet, among others. I figured, with a renovation budget that doesn’t quite stretch to a manoir or chateau in the South of France (yet!!), Tasmania was a beautiful, more local, place for us to start. A move towards our definition of the good life.

And so, I affectionately christened our small sandstone cottage ‘Petit Chateau’ – and it truly has become the little castle of my dreams.

A New Chapter in Tasmania

My husband Stu, youngest daughter Scarlett, 16, Charlie the Toy Cavoodle and I spend a lot of time here for holidays and to catch up with our Tassie friends. My son Harrison, 18, also loves to visit when he has a break from his studies in Victoria.

“I love every minute I spend in Tasmania - it’s such a restful, beautiful break from our everyday life in Sydney. ”

When we're not there, we're helping to pay for the cost of the build by opening the property up to Airbnb guests who get to experience the beauty of a heritage property. I've now created a whole new life for myself in Tassie - I run French-inspired events and workshops at the cottage, and we work with a local wedding coordinator who organises beautiful micro weddings and elopements at the property. We've also listed with a location company to make the cottage available for photo shoots

KAREN’S THREE BIRDS Reno School Experience

I wanted to add more technical knowledge to my skillset and Reno School absolutely delivered. Little things like how much space you need around le toilet! and in your hallway, the pros and cons of different flooring or benchtops. I also really loved the spreadsheet that prompted you to list all the details for every room from window treatments to whether you had cornices or which paint colours went where etc. It was all so helpful.