LOEHILL HOUSE

Binna Burra, NSW

We recently sat down with Harriet Zampa, Byron Bay artist, who paints out of her home ‘The Stable Studio’ nestled amongst the Byron hinterlands. We chat about her project Loehill House, her inspiration and renovation of an old charming cottage. Read the full interview below.

Can you share a little bit about who are and what inspired you to create your dream home?

My name is Harriet Zampa, I live on a 66 acre farm in Binna Burra called Loehill. We bought this property in May of 2020, so just as COVID was starting to kick off and scare the world. We originally had our beautiful house at the front of the property which we fell in love with but didn't quite get the privacy that we wanted, so we've moved it down the back, and we sit in it here today with a beautiful new extension.

Can you tell us about your project Loehill House and your vision?

So myself and my husband had never actually renovated or built before we got this property. The cottage itself we did some fairly small scale stuff before the extension and I think that that was a really important starting point for us. Initially when we renovated the cottage it was supposed to be stand alone, and we intended to do an entire build later on that would be separate. But we fell in love with the cottage and loved all of its charm and I think that led us to deciding that we didn't want to build something brand new stand alone. We instead decided to find a way to pay tribute to the existing cottage and extend it to incorporate the things we needed in our life, being space. So I suppose, yeah, that's what we intended to do with this build was to build something that carried what we loved about the cottage, but didn't try to compete with it.

How was your consultation with Lighting Collective?

I could not recommend more having a consultation with Lighting Collective. Not only was everyone so understanding with my situation - having a toddler stuck to my hips, but going in there not really understanding what we wanted or how to bring our vision to life, it was so important to us that we got guidance from you guys at Lighting Collective. I remember leaving just feeling so well taken care of, going in there feeling like a deer in the headlights and coming out being like, yup - we know exactly what we need now, and everything we picked makes so much sense with the space.

How do you feel the lighting evokes your vision?

The standout feature of all the lighting that we've picked is the natural materials that we’ve used. It really plays into the fact that we’re trying to draw nature inside. We've got 66 acres here, it's a farm, lots of windows, we sort of picked lots of things that pay tribute to the things that are outside whether it be brassy metal colours, or beautiful greens or earthy terracotta.

How did lighting design help enhance your home and overall space?

Because we were extending a fairly modern addition to a fairly old home, it was really important that the lights that we picked connected both of those areas together, and I think from the moment you walk through our front door, which is the old existing cottage, you can see straight down this beautiful long hallway into the new modern renovation.

And the entire way down the hallway, we've scattered beautiful lights and so as you walk through the old and into the new you're guided by these incredible lights. I think that really helps tie both things, very different, very equally unique places together, so no matter where you are I think it feels familiar and that has a lot to do with the lighting.

House: Loehill House
Architectural Designer: Megan King
Builder: Morada Build
Lighting Design: Lighting Collective
Photographer: Nuria Palat
Artwork: Farbe Studio & Hattie Zampa Art