Supplied by Brooke Styles
Looking at pictures of Brooke Styles’ home, you would be forgiven for thinking that the copper pots, collection of English China and baby blue oven within her dreamy farmhouse kitchen belonged to someone much older than Brooke’s mere 30 years. Yet, Brooke’s appreciation for antiques and eye for traditional decor has gained her more than 262,000 Instagram followers, all eagerly keeping up with her renovation of the 100-year-old Queenslander she shares with her husband, Jake.
“I spent every school holiday with my crafty grandma knitting, attending porcelain doll classes or sitting next to her threading beads while we watched Disney on VCR. It’s the whimsy childhood of being lost in the worlds of Peter Rabbit that grew the roots to my cottage loving lifestyle,” Brooke explains. “She taught me the value of a good Royal Doulton tea set and other trinkets that she brought back from world travels and displayed in cabinets around her home.”
With her love of traditional interiors and cottage style, it only seemed natural that Brooke would be drawn to an older property. For Brooke and Jake, it was the 100-year-old Queenslander’s unique character that convinced them that this home was the one.
“When my husband and I were looking for our first home, we were after a fixer-upper that had what most dads would say, ‘good bones ‘” Brooke explains. “We looked at a few properties before we found our current home but it was her blue stained glass window, panel walls and enough room in the back yard to add a vegetable patch and a plunge pool that really ticked all our boxes. “
Inside Brooke Styles’ kitchen renovation
When Brooke and Jake moved into their home, they made it a priority to remove any potential asbestos from the older building. While this was an important task, it resulted in the couple not having any ceilings for about two years. “We are cat parents so you can imagine the late night roof climbing antics,” Brooke jokes.
During this time, the couple also decided to remove the original kitchen, which happened to be a very run down space with an old rusty oven that didn’t work. “For those two years i cooked on a BBQ Webber for every meal. I even learnt how to bake a cake on it,” Brooke shares. “So it was a huge reward when we began to extend the living and kitchen to build our dream.”
When it came to designing their dream kitchen, Brooke and Jake knew their kitchen would be the heart of the home. “We love to cook three course meals and treat each other with surprising new cooking skills and recipes,” says Brooke. The baby blue Belling Richmond Deluxe Range Cooker was the perfect choice for the couple, who loved the oven so much that they decided to design the rest of the kitchen around it. “We wanted the first thing you see as you come into the space is that beautiful blue oven that matches our blue stain glass windows,” Brooke says.
When designing the kitchen, Brooke was careful to incorporate vintage elements in a way that was still felt practical for a modern lifestyle. For example, the walk-in-pantry was imagined as a sweet alternative to a butler’s pantry.
“I wanted a way to display pickled pantry items and hide anything else beneath the pantry curtain that I swap out and change the material for different seasons and refresh the space,” Brooke explains.
Now, Brooke starts her mornings at her idyllic kitchen window. “I just love looking out over the back yard in the morning when the sunrise is trickling through the macadamia tree and onto my veggie patch.”
With more of their home to renovate, you can follow along on Brooke’s Instagram and TikTok.
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