Fiesta Time

A north-Brisbane family have poured heart and soul into their 1933 Spanish-style home, just made for entertaining.

- Deborah Grant

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. The cousins commandeer the pool and almost all their activities are water-based.

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.” Despite the ivy growing up to the roof and in the gutters, they moved into the home and retained as many of its 193Os 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.

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. 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.

Almost all the entertaining happens around the pool, which was built in the mid-1960s and refurbished in 2014. The pavilion is level with the kitchen and has an outdoor fireplace that allows it to be used in summer or winter.