Home & Gardens Interiors Lifestyle

A Coastal Home Oasis: Bruny Boathouse

In the first issue of ele HOME Magazine we visit the beautiful Bruny Boathouse in Tasmania. Read an extract below and to see the full article and images get your print copy of ele HOME here and digital edition here.

Words: Katie Skinner Images: Lean Timms

Bruny Island, beautiful unadulterated coastline, and a foodie’s paradise. About two hours from Hobart, it’s a hop, skip and a ferry ride away from the mainland, which makes it even more magical.

There is plenty to do, from eating your way around the island (think freshly shucked oysters, artisan cheese, award winning chocolate and single malt whiskey) to taking in the wild beauty of this natural landscape. For Sophie and Nick and their two young sons, William and Archie, this is what they were searching for when they purchased the Bruny Boathouse.

The Dramatic Coastline of Bruny Island


When Sophie first saw the listing for the home online, she instantly saw the potential. The family live near the township of Oatlands in the Southern Midlands of Tasmania but wanted an escape that captured their love of the beach and the outdoors.

The property was only six years old when we purchased it so a very new shack with heavenly bones and a blank canvas to start with. We had been on the hunt for a shack in Tasmania for several years, a place for us to seek some time out from the daily grind of farming life and to have the great fortune of offering our sons the understanding that there is more to life than farming was something we mutually agreed was very important.

We both love the beach and being outdoors, so it was something we desperately craved“. Making this home even more special is Bruny Island is the location where the couple were engaged seven years ago.

Sophie has always had a love of the creative journey. After completing a marketing degree and later a degree in web design, Sophie used her creative instincts to renovate a 180-year-old heritage listed home. It’s here where she found her niche

I lived and breathed the property and project. I trawled social platforms, magazines and drank in interiors and I never really switch off from it. My mother would always say that I had creative bones. I adored music, art and interiors but never knew where I could possibly fit into this from a career perspective.” And it was renovation and design where Sophie found her love.

When talking about her style Sophie says “I’m big on pared back walls and timber floors where I can allow the furniture and warm interior pieces and textiles speak volumes. The art on the walls is my personality in each space. I’m not here for seasonal, I am all about timeless and classic pieces and staying true to my own wants and needs. Keep it personal, only pick things that mean something toyou. And create mood boards.

Sophie admires London-based interior designer Rita Konig for her classic style with a twist and adores anything Sydney based interior designer Tamsin Johnson does.

When Sophie talks about her ideal room it pretty much sums up the experience of the Bruny Boathouse:

Curled up in front of the bifold doors in the living area, no matter the season I always have them opened up. Either rugged up under a woolie blanket or legs out in the sun on the deck. This shack is all about the view and immersing yourself into the Bruny elements.”

But it’s the family’s ideal day on Bruny where you realise the pure joy of this type of getaway, “Agendas or routines are rarely set but I do sneak out with a coffee first thing and watch the sun rise from the deck, followed by brekkie to then spend our days exploring on the beach or walking up old tracks amongst she oaks and discovering little rocky beaches full of old sea glass and urchin shells“.

Bruny Island

We quite often go for an afternoon drive around the island and return home for dinner on the deck, sorting and arranging our treasures in little nooks and windowsills throughout the shack. Eating delicious fresh shucked oysters with a beautiful Tassie rosé after a day on the beach or exploring and stumbling upon another serene corner of Bruny where you feel like you’re the first to discover it”.

Bruny Boathouse is available for short-term rentals via Airbnb.

@brunyboathouse
www.brunyboathouse.com.au

Want more? Click here for the coastal chic interiors of The Manor, Byron Bay.

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