KEY POINTS:
It can be hard running your business from home. Especially when you're eating off the tables and sitting on the chairs that your customers want to buy. This is the problem that antiques dealer Elpie Burt has had to come to terms with since she moved into her
new home.
Burt has been in the antiques business for around 15 years. But late last year, when her store's lease came up, she decided to move and amalgamate her work and her home life in the process.
In a slightly unusual move, Burt, her husband, Peter and their dog, Macca, moved into the back of what would be the new Piper Antiques store in the central city.
"No, I didn't have any concerns about living where I work. It works really well when you have a routine. Although," she admits, laughing about how sometimes she doesn't want to get up early on a Saturday morning to open the store, "occasionally the weekends can be interesting. Generally, though, there's a nice kind of casualness about the place and with the antiques. And people love the novelty of it. They say, 'It's very New York, isn't it?"'
It's hard to tell where Burt's store becomes her living room. Although most items in the space are for sale, Burt says she has to persuade customers not to buy her dining table out from under her.
Your home's pedigree/history?
The building is over 100 years old. We think it was an old ink factory. And it's had a lot of different uses - I remember coming here years ago when Mandy White was using it for her yoga studio.
Biggest drawback?
Missing a beautiful garden where I can potter. However, the bird wallpaper, commissioned especially for us by interior designer Amanda Hookham, and the use of earthy textures throughout the space bring a bit of the outside indoors.
Biggest benefit?
I love working and living in the same environment. It works for me. And I adore being in the city and enjoying everything this area has to offer.
What does everyone comment on when they come into your home?
How well the antiques work in the space. The high stud and light, the airiness, all make for a great showroom.
Favourite place in your home?
Our bedroom. It's small and cosy, like a funny little elevated bunker. It definitely feels like our special place away from the showroom. The windows open out which gives you a sense of freedom.
Piece of furniture with the best tale to tell?
Discovering a wonderful table in England. I bought it based on a gut feeling. I knew it was special even though the seller could not offer me a history on the piece. My hunch was confirmed when, in Magazzino one day, I saw a story about a Notting Hill lawyer and his incredible furniture collection. On his landing he had a very rare drum table designed by Robert Heritage [a much awarded English designer]. And it was my table. I've sold it now - but I'm pleased to say it's gone to a wonderful home. It is moments like that which make this occupation exciting.
Favourite furnishing?
My dining table. It's a beautiful, three plank, Welsh, white ash table with a great patina. I have had many interested parties but it's a piece I like to keep for myself. Although, of course, this is hard to do sometimes when you choose to have your showroom and home joined.
You can't help collecting what?
Antiques of all kinds. It's obvious isn't it? I've always been drawn to old things. But I think maybe most of all I love chairs. Because they all have their own personalities, they remind me of people - they can be quirky, all different shapes and sizes.
Design philosophy?
I love mixing old and new. I enjoy a rustic country look which comes through in many of the antiques I purchase. But I embrace Modernism as well and I love the way modern interiors can mix with antiques. The old smoothes the hard edges of new. When I go away on buying trips, the shipments I bring back will always have a different emphasis - just so there's always an element of surprise.
The fantasy building that you dream of calling home?
I would be torn between something that's falling down or something really modern. A barn would be great because I'm not really into big spaces and in a barn I think you could create a sense of intimacy. You know, it's the barn you see when you're driving in the country, sitting in a paddock with a lovely landscape behind it. There's a feeling of solitude and peace.
Where on the spectrum between utter minimalism and absolute clutter do you sit?
Probably towards the clutter end - but it's organised clutter.
I love objects. I couldn't live in a house with nothing in it.
If your home was a wine what would it be?
A Cabernet Sauvignon because it's quite earthy.
Your interior extravagance?
Flowers. They make things feel alive.
You set the mood by?
Lighting candles. When the kids were little we always sat at the dining table with a candle going - regardless of daylight saving. A sense of ceremony is always special.
Best advice for anyone contemplating buying furniture?
Buy what you like and what you feel passionate about. You are buying something to become part of your life and that is special.
You'll come home from a hard day at work and see it and you'll always feel good about it, because it reflects you.
Your pick for a hot interior decor trend?
Definitely mixing old with new. It adds warmth to those materials common to modern interiors today - concrete and metal. For example a beautiful aged table with a rich and warm patina will humanise a stark modern interior and add an element of individualism. Adding an antique is like buying a piece of art - it will always appreciate in value. Providing you buy well, of course.
How to achieve that trend?
You don't need a lot. If your place is mainly modern, you only need a couple of beautiful, eccentric pieces to add flavour.
Any interior design disasters to confess?
Painting the laundry floor canary yellow. It was ghastly. And we didn't paint over it again for far too long.
If we gave you $1000 to spend on your home?
I'd put it towards a Frank Gehry cardboard Wiggle chair.
Favourite interiors store?
Indice design & 20th Century Design.
For interiors inspiration?
French and Italian magazines. Also travelling - every time I go overseas I come back with a new perspective.
