St Albans
A Forever Home
The family wanted a forever home that had it all – functionality, space and loads of storage with its own signature.
Architect
-O’Neil Architecture
After a two year house hunt and realising building was the answer, Emma and Logan researched wisely and chose Daryl from DJ Hewitt Builders, who also helped choose the best section. The 926sqm site of an old villa in St Albans was perfect.
Now the high pitched roof line and random-width cedar and plaster exterior blends with the street’s historic homes.
“We have two young children so we needed a place to grow with us,” Emma says of the four-bedroom, 296sqm O’Neil Architecture-designed home.
Looking through to the lounge and garden from the front door exudes eternal space. A cavity slider meets at the media room and kitchen/dining corner, sitting flush with the ground-level kwila deck. The kids run from lounge to lawn and play cricket or pick homegrown veges and the open pantry leads out to the herb garden.
“Daryl helped us find cost-effective options where we needed them and had solutions for everything. Tara, his wife, was so helpful as our Interior Consultant, with lots of little pearls of wisdom. I always wanted a blue front door and she suggested changing the aluminium joinery colour to suit, rather than going for our choice for the rest of the house – she was absolutely right.”
For family functionality, a cloak-room resides beside the entrance with an adjacent storage wall. Other space luxuries are a large laundry linen cupboard and under-stair storage. The suntrap alcove with a large inbuilt window seat and library shelving is an inviting and much-admired spot.
“A key reason to build was to have a warm, dry house so we included underfloor and centrally ducted heating.”
The upstairs bedrooms have seperate temperature controls, with sensor lights for the bathroom and stairwell. The master bedroom has an ensuite at the entrance, then a large walk-in rode incorporates a recessed stepladder leading to useful attic storage.
“The people who worked onsite and in DJ Hewitt’s office were outstanding; always really helpful and professional, nothing was ever a problem. The after sale service has been superb, with clear communication every step of the way and they’ve kept following up with everything.”
We are so happy with the result – we will never move from here!”