Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Family Has Room to Spare in New Rural Home
A builder and his wife design a streamlined house for their family that embraces the land and shows careful planning
When Howden Homes builder Shane Howden and his wife, Kristie, designed their dream house in a small town southwest of Melbourne, it wasn’t an arduous task. “We knew exactly what we wanted,” Kristie says. In addition to Shane’s experience as a builder, the couple had just gone through a renovation on their California bungalow in the nearby coastal city of Geelong, all the while gathering ideas for their next home and planning it meticulously. Building from scratch and moving out of town would give them the room they needed to really spread out. “Our biggest challenge was that we wanted our new home to have wow factor, but we didn’t want it to be in any way over-the-top,” Kristie says. Keeping detail to a minimum and streamlining the interior turned out to be the key.
The first purchase the couple made for the build was a set of recycled veranda posts rescued from an old pier in Cairns, in northern Australia. “These were to be our feature posts around the house from front to back,” Kristie says.
“The space is big enough for us to spread out but not so big that it rules our lives,” Kristie says.
Shane designed the house to sit on the land without retaining walls. “We wanted a seamless transition from inside to out,” Kristie says.
In just seven months, the house was finished — quite a feat given that Shane squeezed in the construction between other building jobs.
The grand main entrance and dining area have 16-foot-high plywood ceilings and clerestory windows.
Kristie and Shane chose concrete floors for their hardiness and ease of cleaning. “They turned out to be amazing,” Kristie says. “We wanted the industrial warehouse look to the floors. All the imperfections and cracks just help to give it authenticity and character.”
Tables, chairs, chandelier: Livingetc
The island bench in the galley-style kitchen is 16 feet long. “This was a must because we wanted enough space so that the kids could use the bench while I prepared meals in the kitchen,” Kristie says. They also wanted plenty of large windows to make the most of the hill and valley views.
A glass backsplash in the kitchen highlights the redbrick wall of the children’s playroom across the garden.
The couple used old, recycled red bricks on the exterior to give the home some history and rustic, industrial charm.
An old claw-foot tub sits outside on a deck in the garden between the master retreat and the lounge room. “It has hot running water and a perfect view of the stars on a clear night,” Kristie says.
Check out other ways to take your bathroom outside
Check out other ways to take your bathroom outside
In the main living area, the couple replaced a few of the larger windows on the original plan with strategically placed ribbon windows to allow the view to shine and for better furniture placement. “This meant that we now have 180-degree views of our land from the living space, so I can pretty much see the kids wherever they are,” Kristie says.
Kristie made the artwork herself out of patchwork fabric.
Rug: Livingetc; lounge set, yellow chairs: Jardan
Kristie made the artwork herself out of patchwork fabric.
Rug: Livingetc; lounge set, yellow chairs: Jardan
A photo mural covers one wall of the children’s lounge room. In the picture — taken by Geelong photographer Pam Hutchinson — Thomas, Charlotte and Max are playing at Dog Rocks, a natural rock formation just up the road. The Wall Sticker Company turned the photo into removable fabric wallpaper with an adhesive backing.
“We do not plan on doing this again anytime soon, so we thought ahead to when the children will be older,” Kristie says. “We each have a retreat area, but we also have a large family area in the center of the house.”
Kristie painted the back wall in the TV room in Domino by Dulux and made the sheer curtains herself. The very comfy modular sofa is from Plush. Kristie and the kids made the round wall art from the pages of an old book.
Lamp: Beacon Lighting; cowhide: KYO; orange pouf: Livingetc; faux-fur pillow: Freedom
Kristie painted the back wall in the TV room in Domino by Dulux and made the sheer curtains herself. The very comfy modular sofa is from Plush. Kristie and the kids made the round wall art from the pages of an old book.
Lamp: Beacon Lighting; cowhide: KYO; orange pouf: Livingetc; faux-fur pillow: Freedom
The TV faded into the background when Kristie surrounded it with framed prints — just what she was hoping for. Shane custom made the desk using plywood with a black laminate top.
Chairs: Ikea
Chairs: Ikea
In the hallway family photos from Kristie’s digital scrapbooking hobby have been glued onto plywood. It was a task to mount the pictures evenly — they’re hung with picture hooks but kept in place with Blu-Tack reusable adhesive.
Mick feels just as at home here as the rest of the family.
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Tell us: What do you think of this house?
Browse more homes by style:
Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Eclectic Homes | Modern Homes | Contemporary Homes | Midcentury Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Barn Homes | Townhouses | Apartments | Lofts | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: Shane and Kristie Howden, with kids Thomas (age 11), Charlotte (8) and Max (5) and Mick, their Staffordshire terrier
Location: Batesford, Victoria, Australia
Size: 6,025 square feet (560 square meters); 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
One of the best things about moving to Batesford for the family was having the space for a vegetable patch, fruit trees, a playground and plenty of grassy expanses for the kids.