G'day, my name's Leon Deschamps and I'm in
Beachlands in Geraldton.
We're sitting in one of Geraldton's oldest cottages - the Sailor's Rest.
It's a little beach shack type cottage right in the centre of town.
Every time we come to Geraldton, we used to see this house.
So this house is a bit different.
It's not a mansion by any means.
But back in the day it would have been the pride of the street
and we couldn't believe that this place, the place
we'd driven past so many times, was actually up for sale.
So it was myself that came to look at it.
We're going halves with my big brother - my big brother, my wife and myself
that have actually bought the property,
but they bought it without seeing it.
So it was just myself coming down and having a look at it
and falling in love with it.
You can't buy this at IKEA.
It's an exercise in optimism,
but it's going to be something really special.
We're going to bring it back to its former glory.
So the real estate advert for this beautiful
period cottage was described as 'renovate or detonate'.
It's missing floorboards, it's missing walls, it's missing
windows, it's missing ceilings.
It's missing pretty much everything
that makes a house a house, but it's not missing character.
It's really a little bit unique.
You can't buy one of these off the plans.
They're the real pieces of Australian
maritime history, these coastal beach houses.
It was owned by the Phillips family, and the Phillips family were real
Geraldton seafarers.
So it was Merv's parents that actually built it.
Merv was the last bloke to live here and he passed away at 92 years of age in 2016.
Merv was in the Navy, the Australian Navy,
the Royal Australian Navy for the better part of 40, 50 years,
and his big brother was actually a commercial seafarer,
so worked on fishing boats and down at the wharf here.
We don't actually know exactly when it was built,
but it was built around 1905, 1910, so it's over 100 years old
and we're really proud that we were able to actually purchase this property
because if someone else had bought it, it probably would have been bulldozed.
We would have lost a real bit of Geraldton maritime history.
Come on in and we'll show you the rest of the property.
So this is the main living room
and we're basically going to turn this into a big kitchen dining area.
This was probably the worst of the rooms.
If you have a look at the walls they were missing, lots and lots of wall timbers.
So we've had to replace those.
So we've got the old school bathroom at the moment.
It still works but it's rustic to say the least.
We're actually doing a bit of a swap round here,
so the bathroom is going to move across to the other side of the building
and this is just going to be one big open-plan living room.
But this kitchen, if you come on through, is going to be our new bathroom.
So this is going to be the world's biggest bathroom.
It's much bigger than the bathroom we have at home.
My big brother is basically putting in the money for the renovations.
He's putting in 50 grand, which I've seen
some people spend that on a bathroom and we're trying to do a whole house.
So he's putting in the 50 grand for the renovations
and I'm putting in similar in my labour and time.
So that's basically the way that we're going to try and keep this property original.
We really want to do the right thing by this place
and we're happy to take our time to make sure
it's brought back to its original glory.
The place will be ready by Christmas.
Not sure which Christmas,
but a Christmas in the future
this place will definitely be finished.
The ultimate vision for this place is finishing it.
It's a big job, but it's a labour of love.
And my gran used to say it's only work if you're not smiling.
So look the tunes are on and there's beers in the fridge
and I'm really enjoying the process.