Maggie A–frame

Frankie‘s five years on Magnetic Island started by accident when she spent 12 hours there overnight during Covid. There was the most adorable A-frame for sale, reduced!

 

The next day Frankie left the island and did a five day hike across Hinchinbrook National Park. She couldn’t get the A-frame out of her head and decided to put an offer in as soon as she got some phone reception again, site unseen.

 

It was a long settlement and when she returned three months later she got the keys and took her first steps into the inside of the A-frame having not seen it before she bought it. It was very dark, even in the middle of the day and there was no ceiling in the only bedroom. The back room was a long bathroom which took up the last 3 meters of the building and above the bathroom there was a 3 meter little platform with a fold out ladder.

 

Frankie extended the platform forward another 4m, brought the balustrades forward 4m and rebuilt the ladder so it no longer folded. She painted half of the shiny orange lacquered woodwork white and tried to keep the beams and the main parts wooden. The new platform upstairs now meant the downstairs bedroom had a ceiling!

 

Outside, the deck was extended out further, the wire fencing was replaced with proper wood fencing that was cyclone proof. The shed outside that already housed a bedroom was painted white and fixed up, with an extra deck and more plants, and an outdoor shower. 

 

The whole building was branded Maggie A-frame because there are so many A–frames on the island, Frankie wanted this A–frame to be the most famous! And famous it is – the Aframe has been featured in the Life Unhurried coffee table book, it’s been on multiple podcasts, fashion shoots, and more recently Stay A While magazine. It’s held retreats, birthdays, album launches and a whole lot of amazing memories; both from Frankie, her friends and the 1,200 different Airbnb guests they’ve had there since opening.

 

Unlike Tasmania, where there was a lot of empty properties, Frankie only realised too late that setting up an Airbnb wasn’t conducive to the well-being of the island. So she fenced the property and gifted the back section to three locals to live for free, forever, to offset the fact that when Frankie bought the property, one local had had to leave.