Open-Door Policy

Stylist Lynda Gardener’s barn-style cottage proves good things indeed come in small packages.

- Elizabeth Wilson

Some people have a gift for creating beautiful interiors. They can take a modest space and conjure a gorgeous, emotive, tactile environment filled with make-you-smile touches. Stylist Lynda Gardener is a virtuoso, and her latest home project is a shining example.

Located in the main street of Daylesford, Victoria, on a narrow block measuring 30x7 metres, sits her newly built one-bedroom property. From the outside, it’s a simple structure built in the traditional barn vernacular, with a high-pitched ceiling and split stable doors. Open the doors and you enter a portal into a warm, calm, perfectly curated world filled with plants, curiosities and collections. “I wanted to create a conservatory feel, with greenery, loads of white and exposed beams,” says Linda. “It’s spacious, open and an all-round happy place to be in.”

Lynda is well-known to Melburnians for the Empire Vintage homewares store she operated there for 24 years. She closed the store four years ago and now co-manages Inside Story Studio, an interior decorating business. She’s also a serial renovator and owns five boutique getaways. Most of these homes have been old places that Lynda has bought, revived and decorated in her signature vintage style. The barn is her first new build, which came into being after a spontaneous land purchase.