This home is a modern take on an old traditional style Queenslander home. The home was built to replace an existing homestead that was dilapidated and rotting out underneath. The house faces north. The main entertainment area, kitchen and living area is positioned east to maximise prevailing south easterly winds flowing through the house and morning sunshine on the deck, which clients enjoy in winter. The homestead entertainment/pool area is positioned to capture the stunning homestead complex garden views and court yard area. The design of the home lends itself to the surrounding bush and landscape of the property, as every room of the house has immediate access through French doors, to a surrounding veranda.
This home has a very grand appeal when you drive into the property, it is the first thing that catches your eye. There is ample space around this home due to it’s rural nature, including over 1000m2 of turf surrounding the house yard and pool area. Warmth is created around the house by the native hardwood timbers used on the decking and veranda posts, which fully surrounds the home.
The owners have incorporated the following native timbers off their own land into the build. Burdekin Plum timber has been used for custom, external feature hat racks. Mortan Bay Ash timber has been used for internal feature shelving. Blue gum has been used as feature material on the bulk heads. Other features include southern cross windmill rod joiners from an old windmill on the property – we used these to create the front entrance door handles, custom built shoe box handles and hooks for hat racks.
Innovation and design of the home has been carried out to compliment a traditional rural homestead build, where many staff and family are fed and entertained. For this we have included a very large kitchen area, a cold room in place of fridge with access doors to the kitchen. A large office area for business. A media room. A coffee/bar area. 3 bathrooms spread throughout the house, one being an ensuite. Ample storage exists throughout the house. An outdoor shower area alongside the swimming pool. These modern conveniences allow rural clientele to enjoy these activities at home.
The challenges of building a house of this stature during Covid with material and staff shortages was pretty tough, let alone the usual challenges we face building in rural and remote areas. We had to also contend with the wet season rains with flooded creeks, access for trucks and our own 4 wheel drive vehicles unable to reach the property at times. However, the satisfaction of building a home for this rural clientele far outways the challenges we faced, as we know this home will be used and loved, for generations by the same family, with many memories made.
