How to Design a Family Home with Seamless Outdoor Connections (House Tour)
A home enjoying garden views through full-height windows, Littlewood embraces a connection to the Melbourne landscape and natural light. Crafted by InForm in collaboration with architect Pleysier Perkins and interior design firm Golden, the home reflects a strong preference for solid natural materials.
Located just 20 minutes south of Melbourne, Littlewood is a bespoke home accommodating Jon McKimm, director at InForm, and Alicia McKimm, director at Golden. “The original brief was for a fairly typical four-bedroom family home,” says Stewart Youngblutt, design director at Pleysier Perkins. Between the three companies, the key features of the project are agreed: the house champions long-lasting, solid natural materials, maximises incoming light and celebrates outdoor living areas.
A side door “creates a more interesting journey to the centre of the house than a typical front door and hallway,” says Youngblutt. Upon entering the home, residents immediately see a timber-clad open area, to the right of which sits a kitchen-living-dining space linking to the garden. On the other side of the core volume is a private lounge. “To maximise the natural light on the ground floor, we've got floor-to-ceiling windows at the whole back facade of the home,” says Jon. “Upstairs, we've included full-height windows throughout, which makes upstairs not feel inferior to the ground floor by letting a lot of natural light in.” In addition, a large skylight is positioned over a central staircase separating the main bedroom and children’s spaces on the top level.
In terms of outlooks, every room of the home contains open sightlines to the landscape or garden. Downstairs, the floor space around the main living area is enriched by views to both the front and rear of the home. A full-height sliding door in the study allows effortless access to the lush back garden, in which an outdoor sofa offers an ideal place to relax. “We incorporated nature into the design by keeping the established white cedar tree in the rear,” says Jon. “This tree protects us from the sun in the summer months and, as a deciduous tree, it drops its leaves and allows the northern light to come right into the back walls of the kitchen in winter.”
“At Golden, one of our key considerations when selecting materials and finishes for a project is that they are highly functional,” says Alicia. “It's really important that we use natural materials through the project, finishes that are raw and honest and patina over time or have this nice worn-in effect.” In lieu of powder-coated materials, the design of the home includes raw galvanised steel, stainless steel, anodised aluminium and natural metal finishes in every fixture, fitting and piece of hardware.
Though Littlewood uses solid materials, it is filled with a sense of lightness and softness. The design experience testifies to the joint efforts of InForm, Pleysier Perkins and Golden, which, committed to a single vision, achieve a bright and airy family home.