After living in a wonderful weatherboard home for over 20 years my highest priority was to build a low maintenance home. Every decision, whether it was external cladding - colourbond, painting the render - limewash, choosing the taps - no extra bits to clean, was made with ongoing maintenance in mind, it was very liberating!
We thought about embodied energy - so we retained the existing house made of homemade cement block and added on. The parapet walls of rammed earth - a mix of recycled brick and crushed limestone and plantation pine timber frame. All new windows are anodised aluminium, which do have very high environmental costs however they require no maintenance and last longer than any other frame. The north facing deck is made of remilled jarrah; the pegola is covered with deciduous vines. I believe that most homes have no accommodation flexibility; we have a small self contained tudio which provides either a place for visitors, teenagers or paying guests. In the future, with the addition of one door and a kitchen the main house can be lived in as 2 seperate homes.
My two favourite things are the polished concert floor, which stabilises the temperature of the house both summer and winter and looks great even when there is dog hair on it! The grey water system has been fabulous with the small lawn, fruit trees and front garden remaining green while we retain a very low water bill.
(August 2011) (
