Liptrap Loft: A not-so-average cabin in regional Victoria

It’s rustic, remote, and was built by one bloke, but Liptrap Loft isn’t your typical cabin in the wilderness. 

With a distinctive triple-peaked roof and Japanese-style external bathhouse, the home was put together over several years, piece by piece, by creator Jim Commadeur, who later became a Melbourne architect. 

Fleur and Mike Leslie bought the property from Commadeur in 2005; they’d planned to buy a standard Melbourne investment flat but when they saw the one-of-a-kind loft on two hectares of lush South Gippsland farmland near Tarwin Lower, they realised they weren’t your typical property investors. 

“We thought we were all knowledgeable about a sensible investment and we pretty much ripped up the spreadsheets and went, ‘Let’s buy this quirky place’,” Fleur says.

Since then the couple have turned their beloved loft, which is just minutes from Walkerville beach and half an hour from Wilsons Promontory National Park, into a rural guest house. Or guest cabin. 

“It’s kind of a hard place to describe. Like, is it a shack, is it a cabin, is it a house?” Fleur says.

Whatever you call it, guests will find most of what they need within one main cabin-like room, comprising open-plan kitchen, living, dining and a king-sized bed. 

Commadeur’s careful handiwork, which Fleur affectionately describes as “pedantic”, incorporates as many repurposed materials as possible. Interior walls are a combination of tin and ply, giving a look that’s a little bit country and a little bit industrial. Metal-framed windows retrieved from a dismantled school are one of Fleur’s favourite features. 

“He made it all from recycled materials, before that was popular,” she says. 

The couple have continued Commadeur’s sustainable focus by incorporating recycled and handmade furnishings.  

Gentle light floods the space thanks to high windows set within the peaks of the roof. The timber framing of the loft has been left exposed, “a really nice feature that’s quite beautiful,” Mike says. 

Outside the main loft are additional rooms, added in discrete pieces.

To accommodate more guests, Fleur and Mike created a second bedroom from an enclosed verandah, and Commadeur’s Japanese-influenced bathhouse is set apart from the loft via a wooden walkway. Inside, a sunken bath is a centrepiece; it started life as a horse trough before being concreted and tiled. 

And for those not comfortable making their way down the walkway when nature calls at night, the couple has added a second toilet just outside the main cabin’s front door. 

For Fleur and Mike, there has been real joy in watching Liptrap Loft resonate with guests. 

They admit the first thing they do when they visit the property is read any notes in the guest book to see which quirky features of the place others have loved the most. 

Sometimes it’s the handmade cabinetry; often, it’s spotting native wildlife – wombats, echidnas, blue tongue lizards and koalas can be seen, while native birds provide endless song. Other guests are thrilled by the solitude, with not a neighbour in sight. 

“It’s just lush green rolling hills,” Mike says. “The thing about Liptrap Loft is that you can’t see another house – you’re really just surrounded by nature. You feel like you’re away from it all, and the place feels like your own.”

So much so that the Loft’s visitor information book suggests to “chill out, kick back and get naked”. 

Whether visitors follow that suggestion remains a mystery, but what’s certain is that investing in Liptrap Loft was the start of the couple’s passion for sharing unusual holiday accommodation. 

They now own seven eclectic rental properties, known collectively as Dufflebird, within two and a half hours of Melbourne. 

The couple have selected each one for its charm and originality, such as a renovated steam train carriage in the Otway Ranges, and a sculptural, artistic coastal space at Bass which, having 270-degree ocean views, has been described as a horizontal lighthouse. 

Fleur and Mike have found that the uniqueness of their properties often attracts people who are a bit left of centre – not your typical guests. And they love it.  

“If you’ve got something wonderful, you want to share it,” Mike says. “And the more we share it, the happier we are.”