When Josh Crosbie and wife Anna initially saw their 1960s beach house on the Great Ocean Rd, it was love at first sight.
“It’s was a beautiful house in original condition with a big slate fireplace and really nice views over the water. It was the first and only house we looked at after we decided to move here,” Mr Crosbie said.
The couple had previously been living in Mr Crosbie’s home town of Geelong, from which the architect and commercial project manager was commuting to Melbourne for work.
“I was burning the candle at both ends and working on projects with budgets of up to half a billion dollars. It was a frenetic, fast lifestyle with an added three hours of commuting every day,” he said.
“I was only seeing my children at weekends and I came to the realisation that I didn’t spend eight years studying (architecture and construction management) at uni to basically have no life at all.”
So, the couple, along with their sons, Levi, now 10, and Jude, now 9, decided on a sea-change. Initially, they moved to the hamlet of Kennett River, but after 18 months, decided to relocate to a larger town for easier access to schools and other amenities.
The made-over home has retained its original charm.
It slots into its bushy environment with ease.
And it has enviable views to the water.
Character driven
Although the beach house was in original condition and needed some work, Mr Crosbie, who heads up Josh Crosbie Architects from offices in Lorne and Geelong, could tell it had good bones.
“The design and layout were beautiful, with an open-plan kitchen in the centre of the home and a sun-drenched sitting room that overlooked the sloping backyard behind us,” he said.
The couple decided on a sympathetic and sustainable renovation that would enhance rather than dramatically change what was already there.
“If a house is gorgeous to begin with, I’m all about preserving the original character and integrity of the home and working with that to show it off,” Mr Crosbie explained.
The sitting room reflects the home’s retro appeal.
One of the first tasks was to replace a “peculiar little deck” at the front of the property with a larger 6m-deep deck with Turkish travertine tiles on the floor.
“It becomes our outdoor living area in the summer and it’s also a good spot to look for whales when they are making their annual migration,” Mr Crosbie said.
Other projects included insulating and re-cladding the house in bushfire-standard native hardwood, replacing windows and doors, re-plastering and painting internal walls and renovating the bathroom and laundry.
The elevated deck is a good whale-watching spot.
It stretches off the open-plan living and dining space.
It has great views and is bathed in sunshine.
And it adds to the home’s indoor/outdoor feel.
Surprise package
The kitchen was overhauled as a surprise for Ms Crosbie while she was on a yoga trip to Bali.
“Literally, within an hour of her leaving for the airport, I had 10 guys in here demolishing the kitchen in a Backyard Blitz-style project,” Mr Crosbie said with a laugh.
He decided to replicate the kitchen’s original layout, even down to the width of the benches, and used handmade Moroccan tiles on the splashback for “a bit of creativity and colour”.
“My friend Adam, who’s an incredible tiler, and I were still tiling that splashback at 3am the night before she returned, and were literally finishing it off as she arrived. But she loved it,” he said.
The kitchen was renovated as a surprise for Ms Crosbie.
Play time
The couple overhauled their sloping backyard by creating two terraces featuring large granite boulders, recycled jarrah sleepers and native plants.
Recycled jarrah sleepers have been used to great effect.
But the most spectacular outdoor improvement is the three interlinked platforms, or tree houses, which were built around eucalypt trees on the property and are used as scenic spots for yoga, sundowners and even sleepovers.
“I’m really proud to say that those tree houses were 100 per cent made with only salvaged second-hand materials and there’s not a single nail or screw that has gone into the trees,” Mr Crosbie said.
High and mighty: the tree houses were built around eucalypt trees.
A tree-house platform gives a bird’s-eye view of the garden.
Mr Crosbie’s thesis was about architecture built within trees and the theme has not only permeated his home, but influenced his architectural practice.
“It’s our No.1 objective to produce design solutions that seamlessly and respectfully assimilate into their environment and produce a beautiful inside/outside connection,” he said.
In a fun touch, the property also has a multi-coloured climbing wall that was built as much for the couple as it was for their sons. (Mr Crosbie’s older son, Kayleb, 20, is also a frequent visitor.)
“I always need to have a little project to work on at home,” Mr Crosbie said. “Seven years after falling in love with this beautiful beach house, we’re still like a pair of pigs in mud, really. We couldn’t be happier.”
The climbing wall is a fun touch.