“One of our friends has described it as looking like a 1950s Scout den from the street. I guess it does.”
It’s a sign of a great home when, instead of going away for a holiday, you choose to have a “stay-cation” in your own house because it’s just as idyllic as anything you could find overseas.
That’s what Tony and Deborah Wilson once did. Usually frequent travellers, they hired a cook and a housekeeper for a week and chilled out in their resort-style waterfront home in Albany.
“This is the ideal place to do that,” says Tony, sitting on his deck in the autumn sunshine and looking out over his lush garden to the calm waters of Lucas Creek. “I highly recommend it.”
Their house was inspired by Balinese style, so it’s no surprise that it feels like a luxury hotel in an exotic location. The Wilsons, who are regular visitors to the island, were there on holiday eight years ago when they looked around at the decor and had a brainwave: Why not use Bali style as the inspiration for the house they were about to build? Their architect, Simon Stephenson, was in the middle of designing a Scandinavian-style home for them so they phoned and told him to hold fire.
Plans for lots of blond wood and a low-pitched roof were ditched, and instead ideas for a house with black cedar weatherboards surrounded by tropical vegetation began to take shape.
Tony and Deborah then went shopping. That trip, and several subsequent visits to Bali, saw them filling three shipping containers with products including andesite tiles, bluestone parquet flooring, crystal quartz, enormous urns and sandstone water features. The result? A home that is a joy to come home to after a busy day in the hairdressing salon they own. The couple, who have a passion for architecture and design, have built or renovated about half a dozen homes and when they found the water’s edge section in a cul-de-sac in Albany’s Schnapper Rock eight years ago, they knew it would be perfect for their next project.
They wanted a house that did justice to the location, but were keen for it to appear unpretentious from the road. “One of our friends has described it as looking like a 1950s Scout den from the street, and I guess it does,” chuckles Tony.
But as soon as you walk past the double garage and down an impressive set of sandstone steps towards the house it becomes clear that this is a special home. A boardwalk leads past striking landscaping and a sitting area with unusual freestanding water features to the front door.
Walls of glass frame the outlook out across the garden and heated swimming pool to the water and fill the home with light. “The house was very much designed with the view in mind, and bringing the outside in,” says Tony.
The house comprises three pavilions, one of which contains the bedrooms, while the other two are devoted to living. The lounge in the central pavilion has sliding doors out to the front and back gardens, and features a wall of quartz crystal. A cleverly concealed cavity slider ensures the room can be shut off if needed.
The main living area has a soaring ceiling and a unique black textured stone fireplace with an andesite hearth. The kitchen includes a granite benchtop, plentiful storage and a walk-in pantry. Behind the kitchen is a cloakroom and a laundry that leads out to an edible garden and utility area.
Gallery
Resort-style waterfront home in Albany
At the other end of the house, the bedroom wing has three large bedrooms with doors out to a deck, an office and a family bathroom. But it is the master bedroom that is the piece de resistance. With its integrated en suite – complete with a terrazzo egg bath – and expanse of glass maximising the outlook, it could have come straight out of a guide to the world’s most exclusive boutique hotels.
Deborah loves this room, but Tony’s favourite part of the house is the large, partially covered rear deck. “It’s another room really, and we spend a lot of time here.”
After seven years, the Wilsons are now moving on to their next project, and Tony is keen to replicate the covered deck. “Wherever we live, we will definitely have one of these,” he says.
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