Bold and beautiful

Colourful artwork and rugs bring a bright contrast to the concrete floors, grey brickwork and black panelled ceilings of Emma and Simon O’Meara’s new-build coastal home

- KAREN WILSON

Emma O’Meara, an interior styling assistant, lives here with her husband Simon, a plumber, and their two children Leni and Ginger.

THE PROPERTY

A three-bed detached modernist new build in Barwon Heads, near Melbourne, Australia.

THE VALUE

The land and build cost Aus$780,000 (£427,850). It’s now worth around Aus$1.9m (£1.04m).

Deciding to build a home and raise a family in the buzzy Australian coastal town of Barwon Heads paid off for Emma and Simon O’Meara. Having spent 15 years as locals, they found a plot of land in 2011 and six months later were the proud owners of a strikingly modernist home.