Quality Hotel Apollo InternationalMother s Day Champagne Brunch in

Babbingtons Restaurant Sunday 10th May 2009, 10.30am 1.30pm

Treat your Mum to our Delightful Brunch in Babbingtons Restaurant with our SuperbContinental Buffet Breakfast together with your choice of Main Meal and Dessert.

Places are limited so Call us Now to Book your Table.$38.00 per Adult or $25.00 per Child.

Quality Hotel Apollo International 290 Pacific Hwy Charlestown 2290 Ph: 4943 6733 Fax: 4942 1149 Email: desk@apollointernational.com.au Web: www.apollointernational.com.au

A85

0416

3-2M

ay

This Hawks Nestholiday home is

everything itsopen-mindedowners could

have hoped for.

NARROWESCAPE

HOMESALLYCROXTON

A159-square-metre block – easily thesmallest in Hawks Nest – has beenused to accommodate a sizeable

house with beachy good looks.The secret is in an innovative design drawn

up after pre-construction negotiationsbetween the Maroubra-based owners andtheir architect, their neighbours and GreatLakes Council which nutted out the issues andmanaged to keep everyone happy.

For under $400,000 including land, smartnew child-friendly furniture and upmarketfinishes including gleaming mocha floor tiles,CaesarStone benches and Blackbutt timberstairs and decking, Sonya and Steve Jacksonhave built a striking architect-designedholiday house.

Named Idlewatch, the residence packs in somuch living space over three levels itcomfortably takes two families which is usefulfor holiday letting as well as the monthly visitsfrom the owners, their two young children,aged four and 18 months, and their friends.

When in 2006 Sonya and Steve first cameacross the 5.6-metre-wide, 30-metre-deep sitenext to a grassy laneway in Pelican Avenue, ithad languished unsold on the market foryears due to its unusually small size. The boomHawks Nest property market had slowed, buteven so the land came with a price tag of$150,000. They made an offer and bought itfor well under $100,000.

The street, one back from the riverfront, wassubdivided in the 1950s when Hawks Nest wasaccessible only by vehicular ferry and PelicanAvenue was intended to be the picturesquetown’s main street.

‘‘This and the two houses next to us weresupposed to be a row of seven shops,’’ Stevesays.

When the main street plan was abandoned,six of the land blocks were amalgamated andsold off for two houses, leaving undevelopedtheir sliver of land and the adjacent unmadelaneway. It was a risky buy. Others had lookedat the land and considered it too small for ahouse. They had tried to acquire the lanewayto add to it but the council refused to sell.

Steve, an engineer who first discovered theunspoiled charms of Hawks Nest on a fondlyremembered childhood holiday and wanted

LAKE MACQUARIE CITY ART GALLERY

1 – 17 Maypublic forum &

opening celebration Sat 2 May 2pm

SUMMER DESIGN STUDIO A travelling permanent pavilion for the city of Lake Macquarie

A showcase of selected projects from fourth and final year students from University of NSWFaculty of the Built Environment

Pavilion by Kirk Macdonnell

Gallery open Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm. Admission is free. First Street Booragul NSW T: 02 4965 8260 www.lakemac.com.au

The exterior good looks of the house, which was a fi nalist in the 2009 HIA Housing Awards, have literally stopped traffi c and won over thelocals who were originally sceptical. It is fi nished in James HardieTextureline fi brous cement and Colorbond Custom Orb cladding both in muted blue/green colours. Builder Jason Smith was able toerect the large 3 metre by 1.2 metre Textureline sheets much morequickly than brick and the slimness of the cladding, half the width of brick, provided valuable extra internal space.

FAVOURITE FEATURE

ACCORDING TO PLAN: Great LakesCouncil’s regulations drove the designincluding the placement of living areaswhich had to be elevated out of theflood-prone zone.

the same experiences for his children, couldsee the land’s potential. He believed he couldget an attractive house on the site by buildingwithin a whisker of the side boundaries andtaking advantage of the green northernoutlook to the laneway which runs along oneside and the back of the block. Stevecontacted a number of leading Sydneyarchitects (some thought he was crazy!)before appointing Rod Seymour and StephenCoon of Seymour Lawler Architects,Charlestown, to the project after seeing theirwork in Hawks Nest.

The architects employed several design tricksto deliver on Steve’s brief for an attractivehome with a relaxed, seaside feel whichneeded to include a living, dining and kitchenarea, three large bedrooms (one a five-bedbunk room), two bathrooms, a laundry,parking and outdoor living space.

Among the tricks used to maximise spaceand minimise impact on the neighbours andthe streetscape, the three levels present to thestreet as two with the top-floor masterbedroom, ensuite and walk-in robeincorporated as a loft in the roof facing therear towards the river views.

The combined kitchen, living and diningarea with large northern windows andopening to decks at either end (with nogarden, the decks comply with councilsminimum outdoor living area requirements) ison the middle floor capturing water views.

Despite the narrow block width, the livingarea still feels spacious, open and inviting, amood enhanced by the choice of a uniformcolour scheme in a crisp Dulux White on White.

And by keeping the house to a single level atthe back where the neighbouring double-storey house gives way to garden, it preservesthe neighbours’ views and privacy.

James Hardie Textureline sheet cladding andColorbond Custom Orb wall cladding androofing material were chosen for the outside.They not only helped to give the house itsbeachy feel but also allowed the builder,Jason Smith of Lemon Tree Passage buildingcompany Smith Bros Building, to complete thenow 18-month-old house in the surprisinglyshort time of 14 weeks and within the$250,000 construction budget.