Recycled timber Blue Mountains home listed for $1.52m-$1.58m

• Owners: Ali and Andy Myers
• The property: Blue Mountains home with a recycled blackbutt timber facade
• Address: 24 Cleopatra Street, Blackheath, NSW
• Price guide: $1.52 million-$1.58 million
• Agent: Richardson and Wrench Blackheath, Adele Colman 0414 876 211

Ali Myers and her carpenter husband Andy love the home they’ve built from scratch in the quiet, nature-filled Blue Mountains town of Blackheath.

But the three-bedroom house, featuring recycled blackbutt timber from an old railyard, whitewashed Baltic pine walls and soaring ceilings, has unfortunately got to go.

“We don’t like mortgages, so it’s kind of always been the plan to build ourselves out of a mortgage,” says Ali Myers.

It’s their third mortgage-busting project, after previously building a house in Sydney and another in Blackheath.

However, the couple, who have two sons, are not quite free of the bank just yet.

“We just keep going on holidays and spending it, but that’s all good,” laughs Myers. “We have a great life.”

The pair bought the 966-square-metre block in 2015. With the help of their architect friend, Ingrid Donald, they have designed and built a passive home that stays warm even in the chilliest Blue Mountains winters.

In the cooler months, extra insulation in the floors, ceilings and walls – plus large north-facing double-glazed windows, which make the most of the low winter sun – helps keep things toasty.

“We only heat the house using a fire, and we’ve probably got the fire on five months of the year, and that keeps the house warm,” says Myers.

She says they wanted to keep the home “super simple”, without too many rooms, so their family would all be together while doing things like watching television.

Having lived in the finished house since mid-2018, some of their favourite parts include a helix design incorporating the roof collar ties, and the high ceilings that make the place feel much larger than its modest footprint.

The blackbutt timber floors and a large loft are also highlights.

“But really, it’s the [whitewashed] Baltic pine on the walls that we love. We wanted that kind of Scandinavian summer house feel,” says Myers.

Their quest to keep things simple extends to the kitchen, which features a plywood bench edged with blackbutt. Muted tones aim to echo the surrounding bush and create a calm atmosphere.

Then there’s the concealed 5.3-metre-by-2.7-metre workshop, which can be accessed from the carport.

“If you drive down, you don’t even know that there’s a workshop there, because it’s all cladded in the blackbutt,” says Myers.

“There’s no door handle or anything. You just put the key in and open it, and then there’s this big workshop in there, and also another area for storage as well.”

It’s been the perfect spot for her husband to fix mountain bikes for one of their sons, and tinker away, carving spoons.

Blackheath, about a 15-minute drive from Katoomba, is renowned for its country charm, spectacular hiking trails, cute cafes, and retro shopping. But nature is also right on the doorstep.

“The other day, we had 30 bowerbirds in the backyard,” says Myers. “And we’ve got kookaburras that wake us up in the morning in the gum trees in the backyard.”

However, with the house positioned on a no-through section and soundproofing throughout, you’re unlikely to hear much other than birdsong.

From the Myers’ house, it’s about a 10-minute walk to Blackheath’s town centre.

It will also be a very brief walk to their next property, a two-hectare bush block behind their current house, on which they plan to start building soon.

They purchased the block via a mortgagee sale, from an owner who was not there often.

“The universe gave it to us cheaply,” says Myers.

$1,520,000 - $1,580,000

24 Cleopatra Street, Blackheath NSW 2785

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