The Big Finish
As Mirvac completes our My Ideal House build, we look at its innovative features and fittings.
Striking, eco-conscious and standing tall among its pitch-roofed neighbours, My Ideal House is every inch the innovative home that Australian House & Garden and Mirvac hoped it would be. The newly built home, borne of a design competition, resides at Crest by Mirvac, a master-planned community in Sydney’s Gledswood Hills. At the time of going to print, teams of tradies were on site and finishing off the final tasks – installing lights and power points, fitting appliances, completing the landscaping and turfing the driveway. The home brings to life H&G’s desire to rethink the Australian family home. The design is flexible enough to orient advantageously on any block, and its living spaces cleverly allow for future change. Most exciting of all, this
single dwelling has the potential to change the shape of our suburbs.
In any home build, the materialisation of the kitchen generates great anticipation and excitement. Joiners from Top Knot Carpentry & Joinery have been busy here, excelling at the exacting task of delivering a kitchen that reflects the vision architect Madeleine Blanchfield laid out in her competition-winning design.
“I like the kitchens I design to be almost indistinguishable from their architecture, particularly when they are open-plan,” says Madeleine. “They might be partially concealed in walls or have the same finishes as the bones of the building.”
To achieve this look at My Ideal House, Top Knot Carpentry & Joinery installed Polytec doors with neat V-groove detailing. The cabinetry neatly complements the Gloss wood-lined ceiling and houses sleek S meg appliances that have been integrated into the design. Flanking a state-of-the-art Smeg ‘Linear’ cooktop and underbench oven, the understated bank of cupboards contains an appliance tower with compact speed oven and coffee machine.
“In keeping with the idea of down playing the kitchen in a white-walled space, white appliances are a great option,” says Madeleine. There’s also a dishwasher with a six-star WELS rating tucked into the kitchen island, and a roomy french-door fridge/freezer from Winning Appliances concealed in cabinetry.
One of the final elements to be installed in the kitchen was its Smartstone benches. The Carrara finish has been chosen to top the island and flow down to the floor. While the island is intentionally a focal point of the home, the rear benchtop, in Smartstone’s Absolute Blanc, blends beautifully into the joinery along the allimportant southern wall.
In the bathrooms, tilers have completed a final seal and the fixtures, which are all from Reece, are now in place. Both the main bathroom and ensuite have a Rifco ‘Acqua’ timber-topped vanity, and the main bathroom now has a timeless, solidsurface Kado ‘Lussi’ freestanding bath as its star feature. Plumbers have fitted all the tapware – designs from Reece’s cleanlined ‘Mizu Soothe’ range.
A final visit from Dallimont Electrical has seen Brightgreen LED lights installed throughout, along with feature pendant lights, power points and ceiling fan. This home is so thermally efficient and so
‘I like the use of bricks in the garden. Whether they’re recycled or new, bricks look smart.’ Richard Unsworth
comfortable that the only space featuring mechanical cooling is the multipurpose room at the front of the house. Here, an ‘I Series’ fan by Haiku has been installed. It features sensors that automatically adjust the operating mode whenever the room’s occupancy, temperature or humidity level changes.
Outside, landscapers have now laid the lawn and put in garden plants, which sit against a timber fence painted Taubmans Knight Grey – the same colour used as an accent in the living areas. Designed to border the lawn and provide a perch for people to chat on, a low wall in ‘Bowral Blue’ bricks from Austral Bricks extends the width of the garden’s rear.
“The ‘Bowral Blues’ add a nice bit of definition,” explains landscape designer Richard Unsworth from Garden Life. “I wanted to bring an architectural element to the garden. The wall creates an area where the owners can either sit quietly or socialise with friends and family.”
Behind the brick wall, a row of five mature weeping lilly pillies ( Waterhousea floribunda) helps to block the afternoon’s western sun. A generous 4x11m expanse of buffalo-grass lawn, hedged with another variety of lilly pilly, has been allowed for, which ensures the garden, like the house, is flexible and adaptable.
“This is a seasonal garden, with the trees, lawn, flowers, foliage and herbs all interacting,” says Richard. “I wanted to give the edible elements prominence by positioning them at the front of the house. Clipped Buxus [box] will bring structure to the at-times unruly herbs and vegies.”
On the facade, Innowood cladding has been applied to My Ideal House’s signature windowboxes. Innowood is a highly durable, sustainable-timber composite made predominantly from wood waste. The finishing touch to the facade is now in place, a decorative Innowood grille installed above the front entrance. Cleverly doubling as a privacy screen for the main bathroom, it makes a striking feature against the home’s white facade. The B&D ‘Panelift’ garage door has been colourmatched to the Taubmans Crisp White exterior paint.
Innowood makes an appearance inside, too, wrapping around an inviting window seat in the front, multipurpose room.
With the sales campaign about to begin, My Ideal House will soon be lived in and loved. Mirvac will auction the home on June 30. You can follow the final stages of our build journey online, and don’t miss August H&G, where we’ll reveal our home in all its finished, furnished glory. #
See more at myidealhouse.com.au.