“I had to go and pick up his ashes and they were in a little styrofoam box,’' she explains. “And you just think, ‘if that’s what life ends up like, what do I want to do with my life?’

“After my dad died I took a solo trip to Paris. I was sitting in this beautiful garden and all I could think of was, ‘How do I bring this calm and this beauty, and how it makes me feel, back home with me?’.’’

So, when the Sydneysider visited Tasmania for work a year later, and felt “completely blown away” as she drove into the historic town of Oatlands, she knew she wanted to spend more time there and create her own slice of calm.

“I was like ‘What is this place?,’’ Karen says.

“I felt like I’d just stepped back in time. The massively wide streets, the beautiful old sandstone buildings … I just instantly fell in love. And I didn’t want to leave.’’

It was her first visit to Oatlands, and she couldn’t get the picturesque town – with its collection of more than 150 Georgian sandstone buildings – out of her mind.

So, she convinced her husband, Stu, that they should buy a place in the Southern Midlands town.

“I got the idea for buying a place in Tasmania in January 2020 – just before Covid,’' Karen says.

“I’d been to Tassie a couple of times before, but I drove into Oatlands to see a potential stockist and I was completely blown away by this little town.

“As someone from the mainland, I think Tasmania is really special. It’s so beautiful, the food is so flavourful and delicious, the people are so kind and up for a chat, and the architecture and history just blows my mind.

Add to that the “beautiful coastal trails”, “Jurassic forests”, “snow”, and “beautiful cities” and the many other things that make Tasmania great, and the 50-year-old says it was an easy decision to buy property here.

So, she began scouring the internet for real estate listings.

“I started feverishly looking, and within a couple of weeks I found a place,’’ Karen recalls.

“I found this place on a Tuesday, I flew down and saw it on Thursday, and I bought it on the spot. Stu hadn’t even seen it and I just called him and said, ‘I’ve just bought the house’.’’

It was a dream come true to have found a 200-year old Georgian sandstone cottage in the middle of Oatlands for $285,000 – but then the pandemic hit.

“We couldn’t get back for the pre-settlement viewing,’’ Karen says. “We were locked out of our house and Tasmania for eight months – it was devastating.’’

Finally, in November 2020, border restrictions eased and they jumped on a plane to Tasmania on the second day of flights resuming.

“We were so excited to start [renovating the house],’’ Karen recalls.

They spent about a year renovating the front two rooms of the home while also formulating a plan for the rear of the property.

“We’ve renovated before, just not on a historic house,’’ Karen says. “It was the life experience I wanted. I love the architecture in Tasmania. And the opportunity to be a small part of restoring that was just a dream come true for me.’’

So, when she saw a call-out on Facebook, looking for homeowners to be part of ABC TV series Grand Designs Transformations, she quickly decided to apply. It was a spur of the moment decision.

“I just thought ‘my project is interesting’ and I thought other people would find it interesting too,’’ Karen says.

The next day she received a phone call asking for more information, and within a couple of weeks the couple discovered their Oatlands fixer-upper had been selected for the show.

Their entire renovation, with a $500,000 budget, was documented over the course of a year, as they gave the rundown colonial cottage a radical makeover with a French provincial twist.

The Tassie episode is set to air on ABC TV and iview on Thursday February 8 and Karen is excited to be showcasing her property, which she has called Petit Chateau.

The series not only highlights the trials and tribulations of renovating, but also thrusts Tasmania’s colonial history and beautiful scenery – as well as our talented tradespeople – into the spotlight.

Hobart-based architect Graeme Corney, who specialises in heritage projects, was involved with the project, while Campbell Town heritage builder Peter Evans features heavily on the show as he works meticulously to transform the historic property, and Karen has nothing but praise for Evans and the “amazing” work he does.

Also in the spotlight is local heritage wallpaper specialist Alan Townsend, who helps Karen and Stu transform scraps of old wallpaper they discovered during their renovation. He cleverly screen prints the designs onto linen, which is then used to make soft furnishings for the newly renovated home, in a nod to the previous inhabitants of the property. He also creates some unique wallpaper for the home.

Meanwhile Tasmania’s Bill Higham worked as the property’s landscape designer and Seastone Landscapes created an impressive sandstone wall in the rear garden.

Grand Designs Transformations host Yasmine Ghoniem was clearly impressed by Oatlands and the region’s rich history and architecture. She was also taken with the “heritage gem” and the “slice of history” that Karen and Stu had invested in. But she also had some initial concerns about how well the couple would be able to bring together competing Georgian and French provincial styles.

“I love Karen and Stu’s commitment to reinstating the Georgian heritage to this beautiful rundown cottage,’’ she says on the show.

“But what I’m unsure about is this underlying French theme that Karen so wants to inject. The Georgian period is all about order, it’s about symmetry, its about keeping things simple, but it’s structured. The French Provincial is the total opposite – it’s about being relaxed and casual and unstructured, and a little bit frilly. I am struggling to see how these two aesthetics can seamlessly become one. How will they make sense?’’

She found Oatlands to be “magical”.

“I can see how it has cast a spell on Karen and Stuart,’’ she says. “I mean, how could it not?’’

Author and former magazine editor Karen has appeared on television at various stages of her career, with regular interviews on morning shows. But Grand Designs Transformations was her first foray into the world of reality television, and having a camera follow the couple around for a year was a fun but tiring experience. It was also a new experience for Stu, who works for Google.

While they are still based in Sydney, they have made regular visits to Tasmania since filming wrapped in September.

Karen says they couldn’t be happier with their TV experience, and their completed home, which provides spacious, light-filled spaces with a neutral colour palette to complement the property’s original sandstone.

French furniture, light fittings and homewares are scattered throughout, many of which were picked up during a holiday in France during the renovation process.

“It’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?’' Karen says while showing off her finished home.

“The house has exceeded my expectations. I had the design ideas in my head, but the house is even better than what I imagined it to be. All of those things, like how wide to make the hallway, how high to make the roofline … to actually see them in real life, and looking at the 200-year-old wooden beams, it was a really satisfying process.

“I just love that sense of peace and space and calm.’’

The couple spent six weeks in Tasmania over Christmas, enjoying their new abode.

“For a while it felt like a fake house, a place we were only ever building for a TV show,’’ Karen laughs.

“But spending that amount of time there, the place felt like a real home, a place that we could enjoy. There were no distractions and no cameras.’’

Karen runs a home-based French linen business called French Consul, and Stu can also work remotely, so they hope to spend more time in Tasmania now that their teenagers – who are 15 and 18 – are getting older and need them less.

Karen is also toying with the idea of hiring out her Petit Chateau for weddings and other short stays, as she wants other people to be able to enjoy the experience of staying in such a beautiful heritage house.

With the help of builder Peter Evans they are currently restoring an old barn on the property and Karen says she’ll be sad when the renovation process comes to an end.

“So many things can go wrong when you renovate and build,’’ Karen says.

“And really, everything comes down to your relationship with your builder. But it has actually been a dream. Peter, our builder, has been extraordinary, he’s been a dream to build with and to work with, I’m going to miss him.’’

In fact she’s keen to do it all over again.

“I am busting to do another project,’’ Karen says.

“Maybe I’ll start doing it for other people. I really enjoyed the process and once we finished I thought ‘I want to do that again’.’’

Karen has written a book about the entire renovation experience, titled Petit Chateau, which will be released on her website (frenchconsul.co) on February 5, just prior to the Grand Designs Transformations episode airing.

She says buying a house in Tasmania and bringing together her love of history and all-things French had been inspired by the loss of her dad and her quest for calm.

And she feels it is the perfect place for her and Stu to retreat to.

“We just fell in love with Tasmania,’’ Karen says. “I love the cold, I love the countryside and I love the architecture here and we just wanted to have more of that in our lives.’’

She also feels the project has strengthened her connection with her late father.

“I feel dad woven through this story, through this experience, and I just feel really lucky,’’ Karen says.

“I’m so grateful to be having this opportunity to be in this place and this time where I feel so alive, this really is my happy place.’’

The Oatlands renovation features in Grand Designs Transformations on ABC TV on Thursday, February 8, at 8pm. Previous episodes are available on ABC iview. iview.abc.net.au