Nestled within a truly private oasis this two-storey eco home enjoys and interacts with its natural setting beautifully. A gardened boardwalk entry directs you to an oversized, rustic pergola. Made from reclaimed bridge decking and piers , lush flowering vines shade the house in summer, creating a green, cool entry point for the house. A feature earth wall made from soil off the site separates the house from the pergola. Inside, that wall again features within an expanding living space.
Open plan kitchen, dining and kitchen feature sliver ironbark polished timber floors and high raking plywood ceilings. High level clerestory windows help ventilate the space and allow winter sun deep into the house. Expansive corner windows in the lounge area look into a grove of Brushbox trees towering over a glade of ferns. An intimate window seat it’s own green outlook. Repurposed timber doors and windows allow for ample natural light and ventilation throughout the house. Two pairs of large French doors connect the living space with the generously sized eastern deck. Combined with strategically planted trees this covered deck shades the house from the summer sun, and is a great place to soak up the morning winter sun. Reaching out to the tree tops, the deck affords views across the private, forested valley, down to the permanent creek and connects with the abundant birdlife and allows you to occasionally look down on the resident wallabies.
The remainder of the upper floor contains internal stairs to the lower floor, bathroom and generous main bedroom. The bedroom has large robe space and features a large window looking into the tree tops.
Down the beautiful Australian Ash stairs leads to the lower floor containing two bedrooms, generous laundry (with extra toilet), luxurious bathroom, storage and a two-bedroom sized open space that can be used for home office, Pilates/yoga studio, or rumpus room. This space has been designed to be able to be easily divided into two bedrooms. The hallway servicing the lower floor has two feature exposed timber Perspex walls that look into quiet garden spaces. The gabion basket retaining wall provides constant cool air to the lower floor via openable hatches in the Perspex wall.
This house has been designed by Brett Grimley, the owner of Ecolibrium Designs – a nationally awarded sustainable building design studio. The design carefully considers the natural environment that it is built within using passive solar design principles. All walls (including internal walls) are fully insulated as well as the roof and the dividing floor. Natural light and ventilation fill the house with light and fresh air. Raked, plywood ceilings flow up to high level, north-facing windows that allow winter sun penetration and encourage ventilation of hot air during summer. The pergola on the western side of the house provides summer shade, privacy to neighbours and native Fraser Island creepers give a ceiling of pink flowers seasonally and the winter deciduous grape vines on the norther portion allow winter sun penetration onto the cob wall and inside the house. The feature cob wall is made from soil off the property and provides some thermal mass to the upper floor as well as a very earthy feature wall to the pergola and in internal living spaces. Extra deep roof overhangs on the east and west provide excellent shade during summer months.
The property is 5012m² of natural oasis in the middle of the town of Eumundi. A permanent creek runs through native forest at the bottom of the property, giving sanctuary to an abundance of wildlife and a private nature getaway from the riggers of the hectic outside world. Almost 20 fruit trees are established throughout the property. The majority of the property below the house has been well maintained and is largely weed free. Highly effective drainage has been established around the house. Raised, established, organic vegetable garden beds are only a few steps from the kitchen. A concrete slab waits for a new shed and studio space that has been fully designed and documented and has building approval. Established grassy ramps interlink the entire property, meaning maintenance is straightforward.
