A Playful, Functional Family Home in Tasmania - Sandy Bay Residence by Flack Studio

Flack Studio’s Sandy Bay Residence in Hobart reinstills a sense of the period in which the 1970s merchant home was built, while also bringing it into the present to create a playful and functional family home.

“Our initial brief for Sandy Bay was to create a family home that would transcend all those special moments in life,” says interior designer David Flack. “Our client came to us and said that she’d love her two boys to get married on the deck one day, which is a really beautiful thing to work with because you’re creating a home that needs to transcend all different eras.” This insight became core to Flack Studio’s approach to the project, David explains. While he recognised the bones of the existing home had a strong sense of the 1970s, the interior had been altered such that it no longer reflected this 1970s identity.

“To the root of all our projects, I’m always looking at the existing architecture and my gut instinct for this place was wow, this is an incredible 70s merchant home that seemed to have been robbed of all it’s 70-isms, let’s get this back to being 70s.” At the same time, David expresses that this was not simply about replicating the style of the era, but rather drawing on it to create a sense of personality while designing a home appropriate for contemporary family life. “Ultimately, I want it to be fresh and contemporary – something new that has evolved,” he says.

“Our initial brief for Sandy Bay was to create a family home that would transcend all those special moments in life.”

“What we wanted for the home was a lifetime of memories and for the boys to grow up and feel comfortable,” says client Emma Petterwood. “All the things that we chose to put in here were timeless, they weren’t precious finishes, all the furniture, all the fixtures, felt really easy to live with.” David Flack explains that all the finishes selected for the project were prevalent in the 1970s. “The terrazzo was quite big in the 70s, the stone walling, the use of brick detailing, copper, brass [all have] that more handmade feel.”

The home is set on an elevated site blessed with beautiful views and “tucked away in the woods.” Emphasising the experience of being enveloped in nature became integral to the design of Sandy Bay. Flack Studio added a charred timber entry ‘portal’ and a large, over-scaled pivot door. “There’s a lovely sense of arrival, when you walk in the door there’s this beautiful corridor that is a lower ceiling, then it pushes you out into an expansive living room and you really feel the nature all around you, then you get that beautiful bay view from that living room,” David says.

“What we wanted for the home was a lifetime of memories and for the boys to grow up and feel comfortable.”

The kitchen also represented an opportunity to emphasise the view, with Fisher & Paykel all-black ovens reflecting this view back into the space. “Fisher & Paykel in this kitchen seem like a natural fit. What I love about their product is how minimal and recessive they become in the kitchen, acting like a little canvas in themselves reflecting the view behind,” David explains. As an all-black product, “it just takes that little bit of stainless steel out that didn’t really exist in the material palette,” explains Fisher & Paykel Design Development Manager Dan Varcoe. Two ovens enable the family to entertain effortlessly and are accompanied by a 90cm induction cooktop and integrated French door refrigerator. Combining the clients’ love of entertaining with their enjoyment of the views, an outdoor kitchen was added to the deck. This outdoor kitchen is designed as a “big black monolithic structure with one of our DCS grills,” says Dan .

Ultimately, David reflects that “Design is paramount to our clients’ lives, it changes their lifestyle, the way they live, the way their boys grow up – all the family moments that would happen here, so it’s been a wonderful process designing Sandy Bay with our clients Em and Josh, I hope that one day we’ll be here for the wedding on the deck.”

Emphasising the experience of being enveloped in nature became integral to the design of Sandy Bay.