Growing up on rural properties, Megan and Bailey Argus always knew they wanted to live out of town. They had their eye on an old homestead that they wanted to purchase for the last four years but couldn’t get in contact with the owner. So, when a ‘coming soon’ sign was placed out the front in December 2019, they were very quick to put an offer in. They successfully purchased the 10-acre property in Toolamba although it needed a lot of work as it had been abandoned for the last 17 years.
23-year-olds Megan and Bailey are no strangers to renovating however, as they have just sold a house in Tatura that they spent two years doing up. They did majority of the work themselves whilst both working full time; Megan works in administration and Bailey is a welder. The house, called Devonleigh, was a very successful project for the couple and they had over 200 people walk through the property on their open house days. Their auction was also the first to be held live on Zoom for Kevin Hicks Real Estate, as COVID-19 restrictions meant auctions could not be held in person. They documented the renovation on social media which has now gained over 2,000 followers across Facebook and Instagram.
Their latest project, Roseneath Homestead, they expect will take at least two years as they want to make sure it’s perfect and things could take longer than expected with the heritage listing. The beautiful old house has three bedrooms, one bathroom and three fireplaces inside. Outside there are also two old chimneys, multiple heritage listed sheds and even an old well.
They believe the heritage listed house was built around the 1880s and think that the extension was added in the early 1900s . From the outside there is a clear line where the bricks change and on the inside a door in the hallway clearly marks the original building. Two families lived in the house at the same time roughly in the 1940s.
Roseneath Homestead is where they intend to live indefinitely and have no plans to sell it once it is complete. You can follow their journey by searching Roseneath Homestead on Facebook or Instagram.
