After being entrusted to design his first beachside pad in 2015, this would be the second home we designed for Leon, where he and his partner Monique and two beautiful British Bulldog fur babies, Audrey, and Alfie, could escape into the idyllic riverside farm life at North Tumbulgum in the Tweed Valley.

Inspired by the farmhouses of the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago Regions of New Zealand’s South Island which draw on the simple forms of the farm shed and present as objects in the landscape, we took on the challenge of appropriating that aesthetic into a sub-tropical climate.

The couple adopted a cost-effective approach that would prioritise quality of space over quantity and encourage a simple palette of materials. Vaulted ceilings in the living areas create a sense of spatial generosity and strategically frame rural views to the East, while internally the palette remained simple with burnished concrete floors and plasterboard walls creating the backdrop for rich blackbutt highlights.

Location: Tumbulgum, NSW

Completed: 2020

Builder: Custom Coast Homes

Photographer: Ravens At Odds