When Bob and Liz first bought the block in 2016 they borrowed
some scaffolding from the neighbour to get an idea of how high they
needed to be to attain the right vantage from which to see the river.
Just two metres they worked out. The wraparound decking and floor
to ceiling windows in the main living area give them a great vista from
every corner.
Bob and Liz hired building designer, Scott Cooper to draw up the
plans. They wrote a brief and knew that they liked the look and
thermal properties of rammed earth and polished concrete and, of
course, the views. Liz also had a collection of reference images which
they bundled up for him to use as inspiration.
When it came time to find a builder they looked at a few options. ‘We
talked to Scott about a few builders but we had seen what Don Bailey
had built in the Beyond Development at Hayborough,’ says Liz. ‘And
we knew he was quite a fastidious sort of person so we chose him
and we were pretty impressed by his attention to detail.’Indeed, the home recently won the Country Builder of the Year Award
at the 2018 HIA building awards.Don Bailey was enthusiastic about the process of working on the
project. ‘From a client perspective they were lovely people to work
with and appreciated the fact that we were available to meet on site
whenever required to check in on the progress – we had a lovely >Page left: The living room looks out to the river and the historic Chart Room where captains of paddle-steamers and riverboats stored their maps and charts from days gone
by. Top left: The open plan kitchen and living area. Top right: The master bedroom. Bottom left: An old printing stamp tray displays a collection of shells and rocks.
Bottom right: The backsplash in the walk-in pantry has a hand-painted map of the lower Murray and lakes.