Houzz Tour: A Shed-Style Home Frames Views of the Trentham Plains
This rural home utilises clean lines and sustainable strategies to achieve stunning results
Louise Lakier
13 October 2016
Houzz Australian Contributor: I am a content creator with a background in architecture and construction management, passionate about design, sustainable lifestyles, and storytelling. I am fascinated with how personalities inform the creation of space and make a place feel like 'home'.
Houzz Australian Contributor: I am a content creator with a background in architecture... More
This home located in Trentham, just over an hour’s drive outside of Melbourne, demonstrates innovative sustainable design. Designer Timothy Ellis of Glow Design Group first met clients Kane and Lea Brown in March of 2014 at a Speed Date a Sustainability Expert event in Federation Square, and found they shared a similar vision for beautiful, sustainable living.
Their main goals for the design of the home were to use local materials, orient the home for site views, optimise natural light, use passive heating, and to build a house that blended with the style of building common to the area. The resulting home, completed in 2015, achieved all this and fits in with the rural architecture of the landscape, while presenting its own contemporary slant on a shed design.
Their main goals for the design of the home were to use local materials, orient the home for site views, optimise natural light, use passive heating, and to build a house that blended with the style of building common to the area. The resulting home, completed in 2015, achieved all this and fits in with the rural architecture of the landscape, while presenting its own contemporary slant on a shed design.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Kane and Lea Brown, both marketing professionals, and their two young children
Location: Trentham, Victoria
Size: 253 square metres; 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Ellis worked with builder Rick Egan to create an off-grid house on a vacant lot in Trentham that the couple had acquired, with views of Mount Macedon. Other environmental initiatives used include sourcing local products to eliminate the need for transport during construction, employing local labour, using low-VOC paint, LED lighting, reverse brick veneer and rainwater tanks. It’s also been designed for a cold climate, aiming to insulate the homeowners from the elements while creating comfortable interior temperatures.
The colour palette was inspired by natural finishes and materials – timber and stone on a neutral base – so the textures would not compete. Inspiration came from local sheds in the area that Ellis photographed, along with publications on Australian and American sheds. The durable BlueScope steel exterior cladding adds to this vision. Blackbutt timber, native to the area, meets the requirement for fire-resistance and softens the steel with contrasting texture and warmth.
Who lives here: Kane and Lea Brown, both marketing professionals, and their two young children
Location: Trentham, Victoria
Size: 253 square metres; 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Ellis worked with builder Rick Egan to create an off-grid house on a vacant lot in Trentham that the couple had acquired, with views of Mount Macedon. Other environmental initiatives used include sourcing local products to eliminate the need for transport during construction, employing local labour, using low-VOC paint, LED lighting, reverse brick veneer and rainwater tanks. It’s also been designed for a cold climate, aiming to insulate the homeowners from the elements while creating comfortable interior temperatures.
The colour palette was inspired by natural finishes and materials – timber and stone on a neutral base – so the textures would not compete. Inspiration came from local sheds in the area that Ellis photographed, along with publications on Australian and American sheds. The durable BlueScope steel exterior cladding adds to this vision. Blackbutt timber, native to the area, meets the requirement for fire-resistance and softens the steel with contrasting texture and warmth.
The house features two wings joined by a corridor, which runs adjacent to an expansive wood deck with views out to the landscape.
Entry to the house is from the two-car garage opposite the master bedroom. Adjacent to the garage sits a 60,000-litre capacity steel water storage tank. A small hallway leads past a mudroom and laundry room into the main corridor.
Natural blackbutt lounge chairs: Weylandts
Entry to the house is from the two-car garage opposite the master bedroom. Adjacent to the garage sits a 60,000-litre capacity steel water storage tank. A small hallway leads past a mudroom and laundry room into the main corridor.
Natural blackbutt lounge chairs: Weylandts
The corridor is set up to appreciate the view to rolling fields, and to open up to the deck via a large double-glazed door provided by Binq. The hall has floorboards which are on battens. At the end of the corridor, views are perfectly framed and aligned with living room windows.
As you walk into the living room, high ceilings and expansive views make the room feel bright and open, which is one of Ellis’ favourite design features. He and the clients created a three-dimensional computer model from survey points, and successfully positioned the home to avoid the wind, and to block views of the distant neighbour’s home.
Views to the rolling hills are framed to the millimetre. Captured by careful computer work, and on-site checking prior to the slab pour, the window placement achieves results made for gazing. The upper highlight windows are power operated and externally vented.
Fireplace: Nectre; rug, pillows and throw: Weylandts
Views to the rolling hills are framed to the millimetre. Captured by careful computer work, and on-site checking prior to the slab pour, the window placement achieves results made for gazing. The upper highlight windows are power operated and externally vented.
Fireplace: Nectre; rug, pillows and throw: Weylandts
Recycled timber beams throughout the home were sourced from a local schoolhouse. Blackbutt timber features in the kitchen framing and in many of the finishes. The ceiling here is lower than in other parts of the house, creating a sense of warmth and cosiness. The oven is an Ilve double, an expensive piece but essential to the homeowners.
Ellis suggests going neutral if possible for fixed surfaces, and dressing up with colourful prints and furniture. “It is a lot less expensive than chasing a design novelty that you have to replace when the trend goes away – for example, re-tiling,” he says.
The home has been decorated with simple pieces of furniture that don’t detract from the architecture.
The home has been decorated with simple pieces of furniture that don’t detract from the architecture.
Sliding barn-style doors open from the corridor into the guest rooms. When open, the sliders offer views from the bed to the open plains. The doors are again provided by Binq. The room interiors are furnished with rugs and bedlinen by Weylandts.
The desk in the guest room is a built-in clad in blackbutt veneer to match the overall timber treatment. The lamp, made by Patturn in Geelong, was a gift to the clients and the shade is printed with the house design plans.
In the master bedroom, timber lining boards give the bedhead some charm. The windows are triple glazed and are lined up to represent a sheep run, and frame a 100-year old blackbutt tree.
The biggest surprise from the design was the popularity of the bathroom – it has been a valuable resource for design inspiration on Houzz and has been added to thousands of Ideabooks.
In the bathroom, natural light is provided from a skylight for good lighting for make-up application. The upper mirrors hide additional power points for shavers and hairdryers. Light is also borrowed from the exterior via a stud wall opening aligned with external windows.
In the bathroom, natural light is provided from a skylight for good lighting for make-up application. The upper mirrors hide additional power points for shavers and hairdryers. Light is also borrowed from the exterior via a stud wall opening aligned with external windows.
Tiles: Di Lorenzo and Perini; sinks: Caroma; shower fixtures: Marc Newson x Caroma
The house has achieved many accolades, including awards and commendations from BDAV Best Sustainable Design, the National Building Design Awards, the Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), and the Green Interior Awards-Shortlist.
Ellis says that if he could change anything about the design, he would have added another timber-clad indent on the opposite elevation, “the indent that is clad with timber – I love it,” he says, “and would have loved to do the same on the other side of the building. But then the views from inside to Mount Macedon would have been compromised.”
TELL US
What do you like most about this sustainably designed home? Let us know in the Comments section.
What do you like most about this sustainably designed home? Let us know in the Comments section.
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Incredibly sparse! Interesting minimalist approach to design.
This home is beautiful and serves to illustrate why siting the home is the most important element of a successful project. Taking the time and energy up front to locate the home away from the neighboring windows, sheltered from the winds and honing the views focused on the site's 100 year blackbutt tree, is what in the end creates a custom home. Focusing on how one experiences the home is as important as the aesthetic nature of the home and, is most likely, the primary element that will be most appreciated. Bravo!