The most prominent feature material of this dramatic home profiled on Grand Designs Australia (series 5, episode 2) is not the massive glazing or even the imported pink marble. It’s the character-filled feature timber used in the front door, expansive kitchen benches and an entertainment unit.
It’s called Wormy Chestnut, a Victorian hardwood with a very Australian story to tell, from the sinuous trail left by scribbly gum moth larvae as they forage for nutrients under the bark, the peppering of pin holes by ambrosia beetles, and scorching by fire and lashing by rain.
Stuart Sutherland of Timbench.com who made the benchtops says Wormy Chestnut has “the look of recycled timber with reliability of a new product.”
Co-owner-builder, Phillip Knightley, was enthusiastic: “I love the sort of the industrial look of it. I’m not a lover of that old polished sort of antique-y look. I like something that’s you know got a bit of power about it.”