Behind the listing: A once 'really dated' and 'gross' 1980s home hits the market

• Owners: Airbnb host and mother Claudia Rojas Prado and Will Brubaker, a pizza chef and artist
• Address: 15-17 Boundary Road, Aireys Inlet, Victoria
• Type of house: Renovated 1980s house and separate self-contained cabin

For Claudia Rojas Prado and Will Brubaker, putting down roots in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it beach town of Aireys Inlet on Victoria’s Surf Coast was somewhat unexpected.

The couple met while living and working in Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, southern Chile, her home country, then backpacked around the world before living near San Francisco, where he grew up.

After visiting family in Sydney in 2014, they moved to Melbourne, renting a “teeny tiny” Victorian terraced house near the city.

“It’s a bit all over the place, isn’t it?” says Rojas Prado of their history.

$2,200,000 - $2,400,000

15-17 Boundary Road, Aireys Inlet VIC 3231

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A year later, pregnant with their first child, and after an enjoyable weekend away, the couple began to browse coastal real estate online, stumbling across a funny little 1980s cabin that had been sitting on the market for some time.

“We went to check it out, and it was just amazing,” Rojas Prado says. “It looked like Yogi Bear’s sauna! Knotty pine everywhere.

“It was really dated – there was gross carpet all the way to the bathtub, all the way to the toilet.

“I think tonnes of people had overlooked it because of the decor, but as soon as we saw it, it just felt right. We could see its potential straight away. Then we saw the house right there.”

“Lured in” by the bargain cabin, the couple hadn’t realised that the house next door – strictly speaking, on a separate title but practically adjoining the property – was also up for sale.

“As it turned out, we couldn’t really have one without the other.”

The couple learned that the owners had built the cabin in the aftermath of the Ash Wednesday bushfires and had lived there until they could rebuild the larger three-bedroom house.

As with many homes in the area, the address had had just one owner since the land was subdivided. Many of the towering ironbarks were still standing, and the surrounding bushland had long since recovered from the 1983 inferno.

“The setting was beautiful and so peaceful,” Rojas Prado says. “Will is the dreamer, and I’m usually the practical one to crush his dreams, but we were together on this one.”

Brubaker says the two titles were listed for more than the couple could afford, but they wrote to the vendors reassuring them that they would take great care of the place and hoped to raise their family there.

“I think the fact that we wanted to build our family here helped convince them that we valued it all more than people who were just looking for a weekend beach house,” he says.

Once the block – on the quieter beach side of town – was theirs, the pair began commuting down the Great Ocean Road to renovate, spending a few nights a week on a mattress on the floor of the lounge room with their newborn daughter, while they ripped up that dreaded carpet and painted the interiors.

“Noisy jobs had to be done between baby naps,” Rojas Prado laughs. “It was pretty crazy.”

Structurally, the house was sound, as was the layout, so a cosmetic lift was all that was needed for the place to begin to feel like home.

“We’re not typically very handy people, so we weren’t looking to do anything serious,” says Rojas Prado. “But it was important for us to make the house feel like ours, to put our own stamp on it.”

The couple upgraded the kitchen, bathroom and laundry and installed new floors, wood heaters and, eventually, solar panels.

It wasn’t until they painted the walls white that they realised just how lovely the high timber ceiling with exposed beams over the main lounge was and how bright it made the space feel.

Now, the house is warm and cosy while still being modern and minimalist in its design. Personal touches are everywhere.

Brubaker’s intricate metal and reclaimed timber mosaic artworks hang throughout the rooms, and his father’s wooden sculptures are also on display.

Black-and-white photographs from their travels are framed on the walls, and quilts on the children’s beds and floor cushions made by Rojas Prado also lend colour and warmth to the simple interior.

“We touched each and every bit of the house to bring it up to date,” she reflects. “Once we had done the house, we moved outside, tackling a new project or two every year.”

Garden beds and a greenhouse were created so the family could grow vegetables, and the old clothesline was removed to make way for the more romantic addition of a fire pit and twinkling fairy lights.

When the main house was completed, the couple turned their attention to the studio cabin, which they spruced up to make accommodation for when their families visited from interstate and overseas.

“Between the house and the cabin, there’s more than enough space to fit lots of family and friends while not feeling too big when you’re home alone,” says Rojas Prado.

“We wanted to have the space for them to stay without having to have a huge house with a bunch of empty guest rooms when they weren’t around.”

Later, they also listed it on Airbnb and were thrilled not only with the income but also by the joyful and unexpected bonus of meeting interesting people from all over the world.

In their time at Aireys, the couple has felt embraced by the local community, which has burgeoned significantly since the start of the pandemic with the rise of Victorian tree changers.

More children are enrolling in the local school, which the family walks to via a path through the nearby reserve.

Watching the sunrise at Urquhart Bluff, Sunnymeade or Sandy Gully beaches, wandering between them during low tide or enjoying a bike ride or hike in Otway National Park will be hard to beat.

As will the excellent local restaurant scene, which belies the town’s sleepy size and includes wood-fired pizza, a French patisserie and a gin bar.

Despite it all, this family has a hankering for adventure.

“The next chapter will be somewhere completely new,” Brubaker says. “We want to travel and discover new places, but we will leave this place full of good memories.”