Brighton Knockdown Rebuild: A Bayside Family Home Built Around Light

This young family loved Brighton: the bay, the beach, the community, and the lifestyle that comes with living bayside. What they didn't love was the house they were living in.

Rather than leave the area, they had a vision to knock down the old house and build the family home they'd always pictured, in the suburb they wanted to stay in. Their brief centred on three things: light, space, and the way a young family really lives.

A home that makes people stop

From the street, the home makes an immediate impression. Bagged brickwork pairs with James Hardie Axon cladding for a façade that's distinctive and built to handle everything the coastal weather throws at it. Up top, a balcony looks out over the front of the property.

Floor-to-ceiling windows wrap most of the ground floor, and the lines of the roof flow seamlessly across the whole design. It's the kind of home that makes people walking past stop and say "wow."

Engineering the wow factor

That clean, effortless look took some serious engineering to achieve.

Steel portal frames run from the ground floor through to the first floor, carrying the loads that make the open spaces and expansive glazing possible. The roof was built with cantilevered, hand-pitched rafters and beams. There were no off-the-shelf trusses here, and every rafter was worked out and cut on site.

Getting that roofline to flow seamlessly took careful planning and precise detailing at every step. It's the part of the build most people never see, and it's the reason the finished home looks the way it does.

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Light from every angle

Inside, the ceilings rise to four metres, and five skylights pull natural light deep into the main living areas. The floor-to-ceiling glazing opens the kitchen, dining and living spaces straight onto the courtyard and pool, so inside and outside become one space. It's perfect for summer afternoons and kids running between the two.

Herringbone timber floors and premium joinery run throughout, giving the open-plan layout a warmth that works just as well on a quiet Tuesday night as it does with a full house on the weekend.

Space for a growing family

The home was designed to grow with the family:

• Four bedrooms

• Two separate living areas, so there's room to spread out

• A spacious walk-in pantry behind the kitchen

• A generous, well-designed laundry

• A balcony overlooking the front of the property

The main suite sits in its own wing, away from the other bedrooms. Parents get a retreat of their own, and the kids get their space. Every bathroom is finished with custom vanities and considered tilework.

The result

The family got the home they pictured, in the bayside suburb they love, with the light, space and street presence they asked for. It was finished at handover to the same standard it was designed on paper.