At home at the beach and in the city

Ever wished that your beach holiday lasted all year? Here's a house designed for just that.

APG Homes's (Perth Australia) design manager, Chris Riccadonna, explains the thinking behind this stunning new four bedroom family home.

“People are attracted to living in Perth because they know that they can live in a metropolitan area that is still close to the beach. With this home it was all about constructing something in an urban area that was not only family-friendly but had a great ‘beachy' feel as well.”
 
According to Chris, it's a ‘feel' that's only going to become more popular. “I think that's largely because people aren't travelling as much these days. Given the current climate, in general people are opting to stay at home. But that also means we want our surrounds to be more relaxing. Instead of spending money on a resort holiday, we're keen to bring resort style into our homes.

“In line with that, a lot of our homes now have a much greater emphasis on landscaping – putting cabanas and water features in the backyard which really encourages people to stay at home and relax.”

This four bedroom home places the main bedroom downstairs while the children's rooms are all nestled away upstairs around a landing area that doubles as a kids' entertainment space.

 “This house really does have quite a few different areas for a family to use without getting on top of each other,” says Chris.

And when the family do want to spend time together, it's all about open plan living. Towards the back of the house on the ground floor, the kitchen and living areas merge to create a versatile family space which has a light airy feeling thanks to the high ceilings and lots of natural light.

Outside, the beach-look is achieved with the use of James Hardie Linea® Weatherboard.

“We're echoing the look of traditional seaside boatsheds,” says Chris. “But of course you run into problems when you start using timber weatherboards in coastal situations, so Linea was a great option. It's an incredibly durable product and we also like the profile – Linea gives much more depth and has a much stronger shadow line compared to traditional timber boards.” 

And it's also affordable – in keeping with APG Homes's design philosophy of building quality mid-priced family homes.
 
“That's how we got started – we saw a gap in the market that needed to be filled. We noticed that there were a lot of high-end, prestige houses being built and likewise, a lot of low budget construction was occurring, but we could see a need for a middle of the road option. That's what we provide – an affordable, two storey family home.”