Some people might baulk at the thought of a three-day Christmas celebration. Not this Brisbane clan, who gather together every year for a mega family event.
It involves the five members who live at Jilaine – Angus Craig and Kirsti Simpson and her three daughters – hosting Kirsti’s three sisters and their families (each with a husband and three children) plus Grandad in the sprawling four-bedroom Spanish Mission-style home, complete with a courtyard perfect for family get-togethers.
The cousins commandeer the swimming pool and almost all their activities are water-based.
The feature flower in the Simpson/Craig household this Christmas is bougainvillea, announced by a wreath at the front door. The house is named Jilaine, derived from the Latin for ‘youthful’. It sums up the family’s attitude to life perfectly.
Kirsti bought the house in 2006 after it had been on the market for some time.
“It wasn’t lived in and felt really mysterious,” she says. “We lived one block down on the same corner and there was something crazy-beautiful about it that was really appealing.”
A half-wreath made from olive-leaf foliage (some painted silver) and bougainvillea gives a festive feel to this magical white space.
Despite the ivy growing up to the roof and in the gutters, they moved into the home and retained as many of its 1930s features as possible.
They continued the creative vibe by allowing Mathilda, 15, Lucia, 13, and Anjelica, eight, the luxury of painting the downstairs walls themselves and assembling creative little collections of objects in some of its corners.
Lucia and Anjelica in their room. Having the beds on the eastern side called for a commercial blockout blind.
Four years ago, the couple called in architects Twohill and James to create a new main bedroom and below that, a shady pavilion next to the pool.
They also added a pool house and a one-room studio to accommodate guests.
In 2013, the family renovated the pool and added the shade structure so they could spend more time here in summer. Four articulated seat backs line the rear. Climbing ivy and star jasmine grow over the pergola.
As it stands now, the main dwelling is on three levels with three bedrooms.
Kirsti is a commercial interior designer and university lecturer and has filled it with her favourite furniture from Space, Dedece and Living Edge, along with an impressive art collection and family pieces.
In 2006, Kirsti and Angus fell in love with the original columns, one of which is framed in the new kitchen’s doorway. The brick-shaped white tiles reference the brick paving outside.
The family were initially attracted to all the arches and columns in their home but have come to love the lifestyle its outdoor spaces afford just as much.
Most of the activity takes place around the pool and the various gardens and rooms that lead off it. The pool was built in the mid-1960s and refurbished in 2014.
Friends gifted the deckchairs, which came from an outdoor cinema. “The numbers are still visible on the sides,” says Kirsti. Terracotta pots look great with the red roof tiles and brick pavers.
In the magnolia garden, the Drunken Parrot Tree attracts birds in flowering season.
“We are woken every morning by a parrot party outside!” says Kirsti.
Kirsti and Angus’s space overlooks the pool; the corner with the steel grille is open to the house.
The pavilion courtyard is level with the kitchen and has an outdoor fireplace that allows it to be used in summer or winter.
“This is one of the most used areas of the house,” says Kirsti.
Daughter Lucia with cat Poppy prepare the hacienda-style outdoor dining space.
Kirsti says the cutlery is a “random collection of silver from antique stores”. Iittala Champagne glasses.
At Christmas, the kids make all sorts of decorations and string them up with special pieces from their mothers’ childhood.
They also write festive messages on the front gate in chalk.
Meanwhile, the adults have a special cocktail – last year it was a floral-infused Ink Dry Gin & Tonic – and Angus cooks an organic turkey according to a family recipe.
Popcorn and sweet treats fill a table in the living room. Bowl and wine bucket, Pottery Barn.
The girls decorate the Magnolia grandiflora tree throughout the year, for all sorts of reasons. This Christmas has a silver and red theme. All the presents are wrapped in an assortment of silver wrap and natural kraft papers, one with foiled-silver spots.
This year the home has been decorated with a floral canopy made from fresh bougainvillea attached to a piece of driftwood with twine and hung from existing hooks in the ceiling.
“We also put up decorations my sisters and I made when we were children,” says Kirsti. “Plus handmade ones the girls create every year. It does get a bit eclectic.”
Angus and Kirsti with (from left) Anjelica, Mathilda and Lucia. ‘Basix’ table runner in Tempest and ‘Floca’ tablecloth in Ayrton, both Hale Mercantile Co.
Pavlova is a Christmas favourite for the family. This one is a shell from Jocelyn’s Provisions, crowned with vanilla cream and raspberries. Behind is pain d’épice, covered in white chocolate like snowflakes.
Everyone loves the feeling of generosity the house conveys.
“It has a community feel; we have gates between the yards in both directions and have made lifelong friends through those connections,” says Kirsti.
“Only one family owned Jilaine before us. They built it, then two more generations lived here. That really appeals to me, especially the idea of us doing the same.”
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