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 Design Brief for Clarynvale

Carolyn and Chris Spratt

516 Agars Lane, Berry 2535

Clarynvale is a 23ha (57 acre) rural property in prime position between the township of Berry and the expanse of Seven Mile Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Located on Agars Lane, a rural road only relatively recently sealed, the property is accessed by a long, generous and tree lined driveway. Situated at the end of this, and beyond a gravel turning circle, the large four-bedroom homestead is an attractive building with substantial presence and a gracious, steep roof line. It is set in a sprawling lawn surrounded by open pasture, with a bird’s eye views to the south of Coolangatta Mountain and to the north west, of Moeyan Hill.

Despite the many attractive features, the clients have identified a number of issues with the house they’d like to address, and along with these changes and upgrades, they’ve chosen to take the opportunity to give the entire house and garden a make-over.

The property’s coastal proximity will inform the new interior scheme. The clients have adult children with partners, they enjoy entertaining, and above all, they love their slice of south coast paradise and have a desire take the homestead to its full potential as a generous, warm and expansive home away from home.

The following documents the entire house in its present state, and concludes with a draft plan for its remodelling..

Your collaboration is warmly invited! 

Site Plan -

The homestead is situated with a dominant westerly aspect. There is no substantial planting beyond the driveway avenue, so the house has no protection from the prevailing weather, nor does it enjoy any substantial screening or privacy from adjoining properties. With good soil and plenty of space, there is huge opportunity to remedy that and to create a beautiful garden setting into which the homestead will find a whole new identity.

Detailing a garden plan, including hard landscaping, is a priority because the potential here to create multiple outdoor ‘rooms’ and entertainment spaces is really exciting. A ‘kitchen garden’ for herbs and vegetables, an orchard for stone fruit, apples, and citrus etc, a fire pit for contained late-night open fires to sit around, quiet day-time corners to read a book, smell the flowers, daydream… all just waiting to be realised in this beautiful homestead setting.

A swimming pool and tennis court are to be considered at a later stage.

Exteriors:

Entry and arrival

Clarynvale sits on an elevated, flat piece of land at the base of Moeyan Hill. A long and straight gravel drive is lined either side by beautiful trees that have been nurtured through the tough years of their infancy during the last drought, and have boomed since the advent of recent La Nina rains. They add grandeur to the arrival at the property, and an appropriate introduction to this fertile and productive south coast cattle farm.

The driveway terminates with a circular drive in need of expansion not only aesthetically, but to cater for larger four wheel drive vehicles driven by the clients and their visitors. In expanding the terminus, the sense of arrival is intensified, it becomes so much more dignified and with clever landscape design and planting, additional parking space can be provided discreetly, so as not to detract from the impact of Clarynvale’s welcome.

The great potential of Clarynvale lies in its generous proportions, its abundance of natural light and its spectacular views in every direction. None of these great attributes are immediately obvious as one approaches the front door! There is a tight row of lollypop trees that line a tiled path to the entry like a row of sentries! They conceal the beauty of the house and stand guard against a promise of welcome! Off with their heads!

Verandas:

Although an attractive feature of the original design of the house, the verandas on the front are inadequate to provide shelter from the sun or indeed, the rain! Given the clients enjoy spending time outside, and given Berry’s temperate climate the narrowness of this aspect of the house makes options limited for placement of comfortable outdoor furniture and therefore, crimps this relaxing spot to spend time outside.

The thought is to remove the existing front veranda and replace it with a wider, more generous one, potentially with heavy timber posts rather than the existing columns, and in place of the existing tiling, a timber deck would provide a much softer and more appealing foundation.

Ideally, and subject to architectural advice, it would be good to extend the verandas at both ends of the house, so that the veranda wraps around the whole house. The reason for this is that again, the clients love being outside and tend to follow the sun and the shade as appropriate, throughout the day, throughout the seasons.

By constructing verandas either end of the house, on the north side the master suite and to the south, the third bedroom and the laundry, the amenity of the house is improved. There is nothing nicer than a veranda access to a bedroom, particularly in a mild climate. Not only would the master suite benefit from this addition, but so too would the proposed study, which would enjoy improved air circulation and view aspect towards to the mountain.

Importantly, the entry point to the laundry and proposed boot room from the direction of the shed would be aesthetically and practically enhanced, as a deep veranda for wet coats and boots, a dog kennel at some point in the future, and general farm ‘stuff’ often not welcomed over the threshold, all will have a sheltered place to be.

The westerly aspect on the back of the house is a major problem as the heat, even in winter, is significant. The idea is to replace the back verandas either side of the planned new living room that will project out from the central section of the house. By substantially deepening those side verandas, we can create a cool spot for an afternoon drink in the shade of the fierce western sun. Adding external rooms is central to the overall intention.

Windows and doors:

All the external doors in the house need to be replaced. They’re either rattly timber french doors that drive the clients mad, or at the back, ghastly standard height white aluminium ones!

The idea is to design and install new black, panelled aluminium or low-profile steel doors and windows consistently throughout, with much improved function and appeal. The new doors at the back could be taller than the standard, taking advantage of the high ceilings, and the doors at the front, or eastern side, could potentially not be doors at all, but rather full height windows that can be opened for air at night.

Currently, the three bedrooms at the eastern side have only the timber french doors which are light-weight and rattle in the wind, but even more annoyingly, have no fly screens. On a hot night, the only available option to let fresh air in, is leave the doors ajar, which not only presents a security risk, it is very possible the occupants could be carried off up the mountain by mosquitoes!

Louvres could also be incorporated in places, for example either side of the front door, for air circulation, light, and connection to the outside.

Retractable fly screens on doors are essential, as are fly-screens on all windows. .

Modifying the windows in the planned new master ensuite to possibly include a door to a patio to the north would be a bonus, although this would require relocating a water tank and hot water service.

A new window at the southern end would be essential for letting light and air into the proposed new third bedroom.

Additionally, in the proposed new study, a large feature window would replace the existing window, to take in the view of the mountain to the south, and a door to the proposed new southern veranda from that room would be ideal.

Interiors:

Although the house currently comprises of four bedrooms, the proposal is to create a new, much bigger study from two of the existing bedrooms. The rationale is that by also deleting the badly positioned media room to make way for a much needed boot room to the west and new bedroom to the east, the house will still have three bedrooms, each in effect, with an ensuite AND the clients will have a dedicated room to watch tv by the fire, do puzzles, read etc, in a cosy space rather than always utilising the large open living area.

The client’s preference is to NOT pull down every wall inside the house! Rather, by making more subtle changes than initially suggested, and looking for ways to cleverly enhance the function of the home, the focus will be on the following: protecting the building from the elements through new and improved landscaping and deepened verandas, modifying and upgrading the kitchen, laundry and bathrooms, and rethinking and enlarging the living spaces. But with the exception of the extension of the living room, the footprint of the internal footprint remains the same.

If Muhammad won’t go to the mountain…. !!!

Above is the front door and entry hall, which opens to the dining area. Replacing the windows and door has already been mentioned, but the intention inside is to enhance the sense of arrival - give much more of a flavour of the characters that live here and the style that they value. Currently, the gyprock blandness of this entry point denies a style objective!

Having entered the house, the images above show the left perspective towards the kitchen and the living room on the right. Given the size of the family, expanding these communal areas is fundamental to improving the general amenity. A much larger living room could be extended out to the west side, the dining room could be relocated to where the living room currently is, and the kitchen extended by bringing the dividing wall further to the centre.

The newly extended living room could be given huge impact with a vaulted ceiling lined with the same v-join paneling proposed for the entry hall dado wall. In the centre of the projecting west wall, a big open fireplace would be the focal point, flanked by massive fixed feature windows with deep gables above and upholstered window seats below.

Think, mountain cabin meets Hamptons coastal! Size, scale, scenery…

Doors opening to the north and south verandas from this new extension would be needed for access and circulation, but the entertainment area would be focussed on the south end, where an outdoor kitchen and bbq area, complete with sink, bench and bar fridge, is proposed. A window from the kitchen opening to and thereby expanding the outdoor kitchen bench would include bi-fold windows potentially, that could fold right back.

This undercover deck will be large and generous, with a full length step down to the lawn on the western side that turns to the southern side and then to the front of the house, joining the front veranda.

The southern side of the house can be boggy in the wet and given the laundry is a frequent entry point when coming in from the shed or farm, a deep and covered back porch is a no brainer.

Big house - little kitchen? Never a happy match. The idea is to run the kitchen along a newly extended back wall, with a 3.5 meter island bench between the back wall and new western window. A wine fridge is proposed for the southern side that will project back into the boot room side, but otherwise, the storage is in both sides of the island bench, (leaving space for only two bar stools and the northern end), in the pantry on the south end of the kitchen wall, and in the above bench cupboard space either side of the cook top. The fridge is on the northern end of the kitchen wall.

Behind this newly extended kitchen wall, the linen cupboard will be correspondingly extended.

Above is the media room earmarked for deletion! This room in its current form is prone to multiple interruptions, given it is a thoroughfare to a bathroom, laundry, and back door - hardly conducive to watching tv or even relaxing! By creating a boot room access between laundry and kitchen on the western front, the assumption is that adequate space will remain to create a new bedroom so that the two existing bedrooms pictured below can be joined to form a much nicer study in which to watch tv, etc.

This bedroom will require a new window on the eastern side, looking towards the front of the property, perpendicular to the feature window and door of the study. The northern wall of the room will be against the kitchen, the southern against the ensuite and laundry. It will have an additional light source by way of high louvres along the western wall that will open on to the boot room, but too high to see through. The louvres will have the added benefit of cross ventilation.

A sliding barn door will be a feature of the new study, with a gas fireplace centred on the eastern wall, once the two rooms are made into one. The television will be mounted opposite the fireplace, so that it is not seen from the hallway to be dominating! A bench will run the length of the southern wall of the new study, providing a well lit work space looking out to the mountain. If possible, a door opening to a newly extended veranda would enhance this room even further. The room will have a clubby feel, book and art lined, with comfortable, relaxed furniture and furnishings.

All the bathrooms in the house need an upgrade, but the major modification will be to the one pictured below and to the master ensuite.

The largest of the bathrooms is the family bathroom above. Arguably, it’s too big! The proposal is to divide it to create a powder room accessible from the hall, and a smaller ensuite for the second bedroom.

The proposed boot room will extend between the laundry and kitchen. It will have a tall cupboard at the laundry end, and a corresponding indent at the kitchen end to provide a recess for the wine fridge. WIth v-join paneling and bench seating with under bench storage bins on the eastern side and bi-fold windows on the western side, it will be an ideal place to sit and take off muddy boots and hang wet coats. Ideally it would have a door at the northern end to shut it off from the kitchen on a cold draughty night.

The master bedroom is large, yet its ensuite and walk-in robe are small. The idea here is join the two to make one long bathroom with views out to the north, and by deleting the existing bathroom door, a wardrobe could be constructed the length of that wall, stopping at the new bathroom door (existing robe door).

Further exploration as to the feasibility of gaining access to the proposed veranda extension and northern patio is needed to ascertain whether we can therefore remove the western doors and replace with windows for increased privacy. If this is possible, the room could be reconfigured to have the bathroom immediately to the left as you enter the room, allowing for the view to the north to be seen from the bedroom, not exclusively from the bathroom. This would also require relocating the wardrobe to the right hand side of the room, along the eastern wall.

Extending the dado paneling down both hallways to the north and south and bringing it into this master bedroom would also add texture to this large, lovely room.

The New Clarynvale…

The time has arrived to breathe new life and style into this spacious, gracious home. The intention is to fill it with texture and warmth befitting the generous and relaxed people who live here. The interior schemes will reflect its proximity to the coast, to the mountain and to the swathes of green pasture that surround it. Maximising every angle, every nook and every view corridor, the home will be transformed, fit to face a new era alongside Coolangatta Mountain.

Above is the new plan and below it the old, for ease of reference. As is clear, apart from the living room extension, there is minor building modification, but all windows and doors need architectural attention to determine the best outcomes for function and aesthetics. The extended living room allows for an expanded communal space, and the new study addresses the clients desire for a cosy room for them to work and relax. New bathrooms, a larger kitchen and expanded, deep verandas are all transformational and the interior scheme will unite the entire house in a contemporary, casual and comfortable style.

Clarenvale awaits!