House in Narrawallee by Architect George

Architect George eschewed the “demolition route” for this holiday escape on the New South Wales South Coast, instead opting to overhaul the home with considered interventions and bold colour.

When it came to updating a beachcomber-style retreat in the coastal hamlet of Narrawallee, both the clients and architect had preservation in mind. Rather than demolish for the sake of demolishing, they agreed that the rejuvenation would, instead, work within the parameters of the existing structure, with minor modifications to make the home more suitable for a growing family.

The rejuvenation would, instead, work within the parameters of the existing structure, with minor modifications to make the home more suitable for a growing family.

“From a sustainability perspective, we were conscious that the home was big enough to contain the amount of rooms/space the client was after,” says Architect George’s director, Dean Williams. “It was just poorly planned and of a low-quality specification. From a budget perspective, we knew that any new building envelope would come at a cost and was unnecessary. This meant the client could spend their budget on high-quality fixtures and fittings, custom furniture and natural materials.”

The Sydney-based studio began by widening the lower-ground floor to incorporate a bedroom and ensuite. On this floor, the original floor plan had sacrificed a living room for a dining room and had an unnecessarily large bedroom; Architect George removed two walls to create an open-plan kitchen, living and dining space, a smaller bedroom and bathroom. The mezzanine was very open to the lower level, making it acoustically compromised. By building an internal partition and a denser balustrade, the acoustic issues were solved and a bedroom and intimate reading room were created. “We also made new openings to give every room access to ventilation and connection to the outdoors, which they previously didn’t all have,” says Williams.

“Their openness to something playful and the home’s beachside context allowed the project to explore colour and materiality differently from the way you might approach a house in a more urban context.”

Architect George was a major winner in the Dulux 2024 Colour Awards for its vibrant House in Surry Hills: here, again, the firm embraces colour, with encouragement from the clients, who wanted their holiday escape to reflect the relaxed vibe of its coastal locale and to embrace a sense of fun. “Their openness to something playful and the home’s beachside context allowed the project to explore colour and materiality differently from the way you might approach a house in a more urban context.”

Williams also says Kassia St Clair’s book, The Secret Lives of Colour, was an important reference when the firm embarked on the project, which involved visiting Narrawallee several times to explore both site and landscape. “The book was a starting point for our investigation into a playful yet contextual use of colour. On site, with paint swatches in hand, we gathered fallen branches and leaves in unexpected and various hues, which formed the inspiration for a series of rooms soaked in colour.”

The colours work beautifully with the light that now pours in through new apertures, the curated material palette and the elevated collection of furniture.

A pale yellow leaf informed the golden-hued kitchen, where Dulux’s Butterblond reflects the warmth of both the existing timber floors and new kitchen cabinetry. Plants including swamp banksia and Gymea lilies translated into the deep reds of the ground-floor bedroom and the subtle pinks of the tiles and travertine floor in the adjacent bathroom. On the lower-ground floor, Dulux’s Black Water and Blue Rhapsody “represent the contrast between the faded greens and yellows of tall grass and the rich and pungent green of a freshly mown yard. The lower, darker space is a cool retreat from the heat, and the deep greens give the interior a landscape quality.”

The colours work beautifully with the light that now pours in through new apertures, the curated material palette and the elevated collection of furniture, which includes a custom-designed sofa made by Institch, Coco Flip’s Sequence round coffee table and Hay’s Weekday table and Palissade outdoor furniture. As considered as House in Narrawallee is, above all else, it is an object lesson in eco-focused reuse. “The project articulates how little demolition or structural intervention needs to be done to our housing stock in order to create contemporary homes that are embedded in a sustainable approach,” says Williams.

Architecture and interior design by Architect George. Build by Envisage Construction & Design. Landscape design by TARN. Appliances by Fisher & Paykel.