Next Level

Every room of this slick, contemporary home on Sydney’s northern beaches has a beach or garden view, framed by palm trees and masses of lush, subtropical plants.

- Deborah Grant

Late 2016 saw the realisation of a dream for a Sydney family, who finally moved into the northern beaches home they’d been planning for years. Handing them the key was Michael Kilkeary from Cadence & Co, who’d helmed the design team, in conjunction with landscape designers Julia Levitt and Fiona Ericsson from Sticks & Stones Landscape Design. Between them, they’d spent more than 18 months working on the four-level, six-bedroom home that fitted perfectly into the front-line beach location.

Though exciting for all involved, the project wasn’t without its hitches. “The previous owner, a developer, cleared the site and built a concrete bunker as the base, but objections from neighbours to the DA’s five levels had made it unviable,” says Michael. The present owners, who have a number of children, were happy to reduce the footprint to better fit the site.

Cadence & Co has worked on a number of the owners’ houses and Michael, the firm’s architectural designer partner and lead interior designer on this home, was able to take them from the design stage through to construction and project management while ensuring a superior level of finish, inside and out. “The external finishes – painted render, vertical zinc panelling and stone rockface cladding – provide a low-maintenance structure that can withstand harsh beachfront forces,” says Michael.