Open Living

THIS SEASIDE FAMILY HOME IN A NORTHERN SUBURB OF PERTH IS A CELEBRATION OF SPACE, SUNLIGHT AND FAMILY

- Anna Flanders

SUNLIT SANCTUARY Homeowners Sue and Simon had family in mind when they built their expansive home by the beach in Perth, Western Australia. A granny flat, complete with kitchen and ensuite, sits within the home so the couple’s three children and their families can come and go. In the living room (above) the seaside outlook pulls focus, while decoration remains low-maintenance with a palette of white and off-white grounded by a textural vintage Beni Ourain rug from Temple Fine Rugs. Sophistication comes care of a Gallotti And Radice coffee table and a floor lamp from Ultimo Interiors, while artworks by Penny Coss inject colour. “We just wanted it to be somewhere people would be comfortable,” says Sue.

When Sue and Simon spotted an old dark-brick home sitting on a huge block by the beach not too far north of Perth’s CBD, back in 1990, the couple was sold. But it took them a few decades to create the home that would work as much for the now, as it would for the future. “We wanted to come home from the beach with our black Labrador Bear covered in sand, walk through the house and not worry about it,” says Sue of the sophisticated ‘beach shack’ concept she wanted. “And it needed to be a place where our children – Lewis, Sophie and Jackson – and grandchildren could come and stay, and our mothers could also come and stay.”

After delivering their brief to the WA-based Bacic Group in 2014 – “We gave them the brief, then left to live in Darwin for two years and said ‘go for it!’” Sue recalls – the designers got to work on creating a sunlit space that celebrates the home’s vicinity to the beach, its 800sqm block and a desire to create spaces for both a burgeoning family, whose members come and go, and to entertain extended family and friends, who are spread as far as South Australia and New Zealand.