The deck, which wraps around the backyard's two conifers, is heated with a gas-burning fireplace.
The home was designed in the Streamline Modern tradition, a subset of Art Deco design.
The Poppy Peak Historic District, named for the flowers that grow there, is a haven for design, with neighboring homes designed by the likes of Richard Neutra and James Pulliam.
A reverse floorplan means you enter this home on the top floor.
The corner lot promises double-exposure views.
Floor Plan of Penthouse Cenourão by Orlando Denardi
"It looks like a sculpture,
Eliminating the deck and the small rooms off the terrace created a unified living space that extends between inside and out. For continuity throughout, the flooring is irregular slabs of marble with an antiqued finish. A linear drainage system was installed with the embedded track for the glass doors.
Floor Plan of Olive Street Cabin by MGAO
The house is partially off-grid, with all water collected on site and all sewage treated and disposed of on site.
The family enjoy watching black cockatoos and other wildlife like wallabies, kangaroos and seals from their sofa.
The bathroom is utilitarian with simple white subway tiles and bluestone flooring. The blackout
Laminate joinery in the kitchen was one way Matt was able to save costs. It's a low-spec material but we treated it really carefully to make sure it was all quite refined."
After renting several holiday houses in the area, Matt knew the fireplace was a must in this region. The Stuv 6 freestanding fireplace from Oblica subtly delineates the dining and living areas.
With no TV in the house, the Hay modular sofa facing the view invites quiet contemplation.
“Where we let loose was on the window,” Matt says. “It’s an aluminium window frame, which is bushfire compliant and easy to install, but the way that we detailed it was about hiding the frame so that the eye is drawn into the space.”
Arriving at the cabin is now a joyous ritual. “Every time we push the gates back and see the view it’s this sense of ‘we’ve arrived’,” Matt says.
The cabin's corrugated iron cladding (Colorbond steel in "Windspray") riffs on the quintessential Aussie beach shack's fibre cement sheeting. When not in use, it can be completely closed off with a sliding gate.
The custom kitchen bench and dining table "felt like a splurge
The cabin hovers over the site on stilts, giving it a floating effect.
Floor Plan of St. George Prefab by BrightBuilt Home
Loon Lake Retreat floor plan
In the primary bath, which includes the home’s only indoor shower, Lachapelle used plumbing fixtures and hardware with an oil-rubbed bronze finish that relate to the touches of black in the living space. The wood dowel and leather triangle towel holders are from Schoolhouse.
Modern Windsor chairs by Hay surround an oak extension table by Ethnicraft. “You flip a lever and it gets larger,” Lachapelle says. The original plan called for a center island, but the owners wanted the flexibility of a table they could also use as a prep surface. The oak cabinet behind the sofa is on casters for additional utility. “We can even use it outside,” the husband says.
A floor lamp nearly eight feet tall anchors the seating area in the living area. Ceilings that are 12 feet tall at the highest point help the room feel expansive. “We needed to find a way to define different areas in a relatively tight space,” Lachapelle says. It’s the clients’ first experience with an open floor plan. “We raised our kids in an old Victorian, and the farmhouse we live in now is chopped up into tiny rooms save for the studio we just added,” the husband says.
Interior designer Heidi Lachapelle chose unfussy furnishings with clean lines. “Nothing should feel decorative or unnecessary,” she says. “We looked for things that would age beautifully to speak to the wabi-sabi concept.” The oak daybed is by Bautier, the indoor/outdoor rug is by Dash & Albert, and the trapezoidal cushions on the concrete bench nod to similar ones that the wife saw at Georgia O’Keefe’s home and studio. The Scandinavian-inspired fireplace throws heat from two sides.
Floor Plan of Schicketanz Residence
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