Perched above Lake Hume, designed for a young family and built to last a lifetime.
The Lake House sits above the tranquil waters of Lake Hume in North-East Victoria, built for a young family who wanted a home that could grow with them — robust enough for daily life, refined enough to feel considered for decades to come. The brief was clear: timeless over trending, earthy over stark, and materials that would deepen rather than date.
The project began outside. The clients chose Italian-made Austral Bricks 'San Selmo Reclaimed' early in the process — a soft, warm brick with the kind of tonal variation that only comes from a material made to weather and evolve. That decision set the colour direction for everything that followed: the palette for the entire home flows directly from those bricks, moving from warm neutrals and muted whites through to the soft blush tones found in the interior selections. It's the kind of foundation a design instinctively builds around.
Working from client-provided plans, my role was to design the joinery, curate all material selections, and style the home for photography. Every decision was made in service of the same idea — that a beautiful home is one where the choices feel inevitable, not decorative.
PROJECT DETAILS
LOCATION
Bethanga, North-East Victoria
SCOPE
Joinery design, material selections & styling
BUILD TYPE
Custom new build
PHOTOGRAPHY
VIDEOGRAPHY
Kim Blanza
The façade pairs the San Selmo Reclaimed bricks with Colorbond 'standing seam' cladding, installed by hand by the client — a talented roof plumber whose own craftsmanship is embedded in the home's skin. The result is a considered exterior that feels grounded in its landscape: architectural in its lines, warm in its texture, and entirely at home above the lake.
At the heart of the home is a kitchen designed around an island bench spanning over three metres — generous enough to anchor the living spaces and functional enough for the rhythms of family life. The benchtop and splashback are in Caesarstone 'Marbannova', a stone-look surface with the depth and movement of natural marble, chosen for its beauty and its practicality. The cabinetry is custom 2-pac in a shaker profile — a quietly classic choice that avoids the risk of feeling of-its-moment.
The island presented a design challenge: at that length, visible joins in the stone were unavoidable without careful planning. The solution was a considered overhang paired with a detailed leg design that provides structural support while reading as a deliberate design feature rather than a fix. The joinery was executed with precision by Murray River Cabinets. Beyond the island, the kitchen joinery extends throughout the home — custom shoe storage and hanging in the master walk-in robe, integrated drying cupboards and pull-out laundry baskets, and a study fitted with built-in filing and concealed storage. The plaster range-hood adds an architectural moment above the cooktop — a handcrafted finish that softens the kitchen and ties it to the tactile language of the rest of the home.
"Brooke made it so much easier and took the stress out of the selection process. Giving us a few options in the colours we were going with and helping make choices was so helpful."
— Sarah, homeowner
Both wet areas are finished in Italian porcelain limestone-look tiles — understated underfoot, with the kind of quiet elegance that recedes into the background and lets the space breathe. In the ensuite, hand-crafted clay zellige tiles cover the vanity feature wall, introducing warmth, texture, and a surface that shifts with the light throughout the day. No two zellige tiles are identical; the variation is the point. Brushed nickel tapware runs throughout both spaces — a finish cool enough to complement the limestone tones, warm enough to feel considered rather than clinical. The ensuite also features a walk-through shower and a skylight above, drawing soft natural light deep into the room.
