Small houses

The house is partially off-grid, with all water collected on site and all sewage treated and disposed of on site.

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."

“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 hovers over the site on stilts, giving it a floating effect.

A former closet was transformed into a double-height library, complete with a reading nook and a rolling ladder from Spiral Stairs of America. “That’s my favorite part of the house,” says Dan. “When I see Stella reaching for a book, there’s nothing better.”