No strangers to renovations; Lucy and Jonno documented the entire process on their popular Hunting for George You Tube channel which boasts more than 205k subscribers. Not only did they restore the home, but they also added an extension turning it into a five-bedroom, five-bathroom Beach House.

“We’ve renovated a few houses now, but this was definitely our biggest project, and we had the added complication of having to photograph and film everything as we went,” said Lucy.

The first episode tracks the exterior transformation of the build which, according to Jonno needed to reflect a modern coastal design that complemented the existing home and its environment. They also wanted to future-proof the home to make it more efficient.

“Part of the exterior design requirements from council were to preserve the look of the existing building. The top half of the exterior had somewhat flat panelling, while the lower half had standard weatherboards. So, in order to get a modern look with the softness and charm of the original home we used Hardie^TM Fine Texture Cladding on the upper level and Linea^TM Weatherboards below, both by James Hardie,” said Jonno.

Lucy and Jonno chose Hardie^TM Fine Texture Cladding for the upper level of the Beach House because of its lightweight composition which makes the product incredibly easy to install and maintain.

The bush setting and proximity to the unforgiving elements of the ocean meant that the exterior finishes not only had to look amazing, but they also needed to be fit for purpose, low maintenance and durable.

Jonno explains, “We are in a BAL29 fire rating area, so it was very important to use materials that are resistant to fire and comply with the National Construction Code.”

“The home is also close to the ocean and exposed to a lot of different weather conditions, so the main consideration for us in addition to fire ratings was longevity. Linea^TM Weatherboards by James Hardie are also incredibly easy to use, the fact they come pre-primed and ready to paint was a real time-saver. By using the Hardie^TM exterior cladding products, we got the best of both worlds,” he said.

Lucy’s background in interiors and design meant that the couple had a very clear idea on what they wanted in terms of the design and functionality of the house. They had an architect work on the basic drawings for council approval and added assurance they were adhering to the council’s guidelines. Beyond that, Jonno and Lucy managed the entire build themselves.

Jonno said, “The whole process was fairly straightforward, my brother works in construction management, so he helped me manage timelines as well as working on the tools with Lucy and I”.

According to Jonno, the key to the success of the renovation was to work with their builder on a very detailed and concise scope prior to starting any work.

“Because our builder would only be completing some of the work while we were renovating the rest of the home, we needed to have every detail outlined in our contract. We had a number of exclusions in our scope because we were working on things like internal fit outs and painting ourselves. It’s vital that everyone involved understood their role and how everything was going to work before the project kicked off,” Jonno explained.

However, not everything was smooth sailing. “The biggest challenge was keeping everything on track; getting enough trades on-site and making sure they turned up when they were booked, as well as getting materials delivered as we needed them was made even more difficult given the recent supply chain issues with materials, said Jonno.

The project took 12 months to complete, and the end result is a seamless combination of modern coastal features and original charm.

“We’re incredibly proud of how it all came together. I especially love the integration of the new addition to the existing home. Being able to walk through the house in its entirety and experience all the design elements coming together is very rewarding,” Jonno said.

Jonno’s top tips to ensure your renovation is a success:

• Have a clear vision and plan before you start. Mood board your ideas, bring your selections together and work out your budget, so you can be confident in your decisions.
• If you have the ability to do it yourself, do it! You can save money if you’ve got the time to do certain tasks yourself.
• Time Management is a big one. Create a schedule, share it with all involved and keep it up to date regularly.

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The Goldilocks effect underpins the success of this Ivanhoe East home in that the scale, materiality and design details sit just right on the sloping site and provide just enough for the family of four who own the property.

“It was important the home achieve a fine balance between the very large houses in the area, and the idea of more humble, liveable and engaging spaces,” says Shae Parker McCashen, director of Green Sheep Collective. “This building could not be big for big’s sake. Every space had to work hard within its purpose and within its context.”

Thick, rammed earth walls ground the house and reveal the framework’s numerous lines and plugs. Boasting unique natural beauty and texture, the appearance of the 400mm walls changes as the sun makes its daily pilgrimage from east to west across the sky. As well as its robust nature and ability to create privacy, the rammed earth also warms the house with its significant thermal mass.

Practical and picturesque, the walls create and define the two east-west pavilions, which are connected by a central core and use passive solar design principles to allow all rooms in the house to take advantage of north sun and cross ventilation.

Steel window surrounds intersect the walls to create deep window reveals that form window seats and benches, which cantilever outside the building and frame views towards the city. “Deep window reveals create playful spaces to sit and unwind, to engage with the architecture and its materiality, prepare a meal or sit and enjoy the garden,” Shae adds.

The substantial three-level home is highly responsive to its climate, orientation, slope, view and neighbourhood context. Three bedrooms, a mezzanine play area and shared bathroom are perched on the upper level, while the middle (ground) floor houses the guest bedrooms, study and third bathroom along with the primary living spaces and external deck, leading to a 25m lap pool and considered landscaping. A storage area and laundry join the showroom-style garage and workshop at basement level.

The design utilises every inch of the site, with the building stretching into adjacent spaces to increase energy efficiency and occupant satisfaction. The footings are even used to create hidden rooms for storage beneath the pool.

Timber makes a prominent impression inside, where the material was used to cover the walls, floors and ceilings to subdue the atmosphere and offer a sense of cosiness. “Externally, timber features strongly to humanise the building while contributing to its reduced carbon footprint,” Shae says. “The timber fins on the front facade define the two levels of the building, temper light and heat, and provide privacy while helping to ground the building and separate it from the street.”

The home connects communal and intimate spaces using double- and triple-height voids, split levels, private courtyards and linking bridges. For example, a double height in the kitchen and dining area connects the open mezzanine play area, connecting the zones but ensuring their separation at the same time.

Capturing the northern aspect of the site made it easier to implement natural lighting, heating and cooling. “As this home is located on a steep site, with views to the golf course and city beyond, the aim is to create a grounded sense, but to simultaneously reduce its apparent scale,” Shae says. “It’s designed to be light, open to the garden and give an expansive sense of space, but at the same time convey a number of potentially conflicting ‘moods’ — bold yet nurturing, open yet private, connected yet defined.”

Protective and approachable, Boulevard House is an exemplar of passive solar design that was built to last and destined to satisfy.

Details

HOUSE: Boulevard House
LOCATION: Ivanhoe East, Victoria
INITIAL BUDGET: $1,800,000
FINAL COST: $2,500,000
DATE COMMENCED: May 2014
DATE COMPLETED: October 2019

Project Team

ARCHITECT (Lead): Green Sheep Collective, greensheepcollective.com.au
ARCHITECT (Collaborating): Elyte Focus, elytefocus.com.au
BUILDER: Elyte Focus, elytefocus.com.au

Structural Team

Structural engineer: Z.S. Consulting
Rammed earth contractor: Earth Structures Group

Services

Pool contractor: Aquarius Pools
Electrical: MSE
Air conditioning: Fine Edge Air Conditioning
Hydronic heating: Foster Hydronic
Rainwater tanks: Waterplex
Pool heating: Sunbather

Fixtures & Fittings

Silvertop Ash timber cladding: Radial Timber Sales
Aluminium windows: AWS ThermalHEART
Spotted gum floors: Hurford Hardwood
Tanami Render on 100mm foam: Unitex Render
Pool cover: Sunbather
Timber windows: Elite Windows& Doors
Bluestone cladding: De Fazio
Ceiling fans: Big Ass Haiku

Written by Louise Smithers

Photography by Emma Cross

www.emmacross.com.au

Originally in Grand Designs Australia Magazine Volume 9 Issue 3

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Some adages need revision. “It takes a village” is one, and we suggest that as well as raising a child, a village comes in pretty handy when raising a house from the ground up. Proving that it really does take a village is French Island Barge House.

Built using the owners’ own machinery, and with the help of family, friends, neighbours and one nosy koala who played the role of supervisor/foreman and who was regularly seen on site inspecting the builders’ progress, this home on Victoria’s largest coastal island is off the grid, off the mainland and off the Richter.

Accessible by ferry and located just over 60km south-east of Melbourne, 70 per cent of French Island is reserved as a national park. The remaining 30 per cent is home to approximately 120 residents, two of whom are Deb and Mike Gearon. As the owner/builders of this project, they have designed the house of their dreams.

With six bedrooms, the spotted gum-clad home is set up with a large central lounge/kitchen area and two wings off either side. One wing can be closed off when not in use, and the couple plans to rent it as a guest wing in the future. “When we don’t have family visiting, we plan to rent it as a wedding venue as we are developing other buildings on the farm for this purpose,” says Deb.
The main wing holds the master bedroom with ensuite, office, laundry and great room. Within the great room is the living room, dining area, kitchen and butler’s kitchen. The guest wing is equipped with four bedrooms (two with ensuites) and a communal bathroom. Over in the studio there’s a gym, Mike’s office, a barbecue entertainment area and separate unit with a bedroom, living room and ensuite.

Deb was responsible for the property’s extensive landscape design, where a pizza oven and communal firepit join an ornamental dam, hot tub, infinity-edge pool, man-made mountain stream with waterfalls, greenhouses and additional guest barbecue area. “Due to its natural materials and core landscaping features, the house sits well in the surrounding landscape,” says Deb. “It is luxurious without being ostentatious.”

Inspired by Deb’s native America, the design takes cues from mountain homes in Tahoe as well as the architecture found in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Breckenridge, Colorado. Not impressed with the modern minimalist furniture choices popular in Australia at the moment, Deb imported the majority of the furnishings from the USA and combined them with antiques from her home in London. “We preferred a rustic feel to the place, with large timber beams and huge expanses of glass to take in the views,” she says. Earthy tones and hearty materials such as leather, carved timber and wrought iron play an important role as they reflect the rustic feel of the island and the nautical location.

Oversized oriental rugs break up the larger rooms into cosier, more manageable spaces where granite (sourced locally from Dromana) complements spotted gum beams, copper, and brass ship lights salvaged from the breakers of decommissioned ships. The lights were converted to low-voltage LEDs.

Using catchment water, solar electricity and LPG gas, the island home is completely off the grid. Underfloor hydronic heating ensures the house is always a comfortable temperature, and the granite walls improve the structure’s thermal mass by offsetting the large areas of double-panel glass.

Despite being off the grid, Mike and Deb are on to a good thing with their handmade slice of paradise.

Originally from Grand Designs Australia Volume 8 Issue 1

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After building their dream home in Northcote, Victoria, this family wanted a backyard that matched the modern grandeur of their new abode. The homeowners’ ideal garden was a seamless indoor/outdoor living environment that was spacious and reflected the contemporary lines and modern style of their new home. The homeowners wanted a beautiful and elegant backyard but they didn’t want it to be boring; it had to be a space that had personality and a subtle pizzazz. Landscape designer Nicholas Goff and Apex Landscapes were hired to turn the homeowners’ dream into reality.
“The owners wanted us to design and construct a pool and landscape that tied in with their newly built home,” says Nicholas. “They wanted a kid-friendly space that flowed from the house to create seamless indoor/outdoor entertaining … they wanted it to be unique and have personality.”
A whimsical theme was chosen for the garden as this would allow Nicholas and Apex Landscapes the creative freedom to introduce personality into the garden design, while still maintaining the subtlety and aesthetic flow between inside and out that the homeowners desired. The newly built home has a clean charcoal and white colour palette, which was adopted in the garden, as well as an integration of the home’s concrete and timber construction. Blackbutt decking matched the cedar house cladding while sandblasted bluestone pavers added a concrete-style element to the poolscape. Open steel-designed fencing was chosen for around the pool due to its intense charcoal colouring and artistic aesthetic.
The architecture of the house incorporates lots of straight lines and strong edges, so to counterbalance this, Nicholas integrated soft, curved lines in the design of the garden, including round pavers, round garden beds, and even a few round hedges scattered throughout the backyard. This subtle contrasting provides balance and harmony across the look of the home.
At the heart of the garden is the pool and spa with a wet area for relaxing, shaded by a custom-designed, laser-cut metal pergola. Another unique feature was also to play a big role in the aesthetic and performance of this garden.
A shipping container was positioned at one end of the pool area and the homeowners wanted it to be converted into a sheltered kitchen/bar space, ideal for backyard parties and entertaining.
“Two large openings were cut into the container: one for an automatic tilt-up door and one for a bi-fold window that was connected to the pool area while
still meeting pool-safety regulations. The container’s interior was also fitted
with plywood panels to match with the interior surfacing of the main residence,” says Nicholas.
The plant palette of this garden design was important in creating the subtle “wow” factor the homeowners desired. The main plant species that Nicholas and Apex Landscapes chose for this garden included Ficus hillii, Flash; Betula pendula, White Moss; Acer palmatum, Autumn Blaze; Trachelospermum jasminoides, Chinese Star Jasmine; Ophiopogon japonicas, Nana; Buxus sempervirens ‘Buxus Balls’; Gracillis bamboo; Phormium tenax, Apple Green; Cycas revolute, Cycad; Dichondra Repens, Kidney Weed; Liriope muscari, Giant Liriope; Ophiopogon intermedians, Stripey White; Asparagus Meyerii, Asparagus Fern; and Hebe ‘Emerald Green’. This arrangement of plants played with height, texture and shape, accenting areas of the garden when it was required, providing shade and privacy, and inevitably creating a natural, artistic masterpiece that will grow and evolve as the plants mature.
A clever combination of spacious planning, a minimal colour and surface palette, and an effective use of plant species to add texture and intrigue to the outdoor space have resulted in a backyard that is everything the homeowners wanted. Nicholas and Apex Landscapes have created a modern garden design with elegant lines and indulgent outdoor spaces. Dramatic charcoal steel accents, artistic foliage and the grandeur of the space achieve everything these homeowners wanted.

Written by Karsha Green

Originally from Backyard Volume 15 Issue 3

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