Lake Haven

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HOME SALLY CROXTON

LAKE HAVEN A family’s dream for a waterfront paradise comes to fruition with remarkable results.

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his brilliant white house appears to float in its dazzling waterfront setting. The illusion is created by the design and height of the elongated residence, one metre above natural ground level, so the main openplan living area gives the impression of merging into the shimmering waters of Lake Macquarie at the rear and flowing into the 24-metre heated lap pool running alongside the two-storey structure. Huge grey porcelain tiles are used in the room with the same outside in non-slip form, adding to the inside/outside connectivity.

A house to drool over, it is sleek and modern and comes with a host of high-tech functions and recreation options to pamper, entertain and relax its five-member family and their guests. As well as the light-flooded main living space, there is an intimate media room with leather recliners and thick purple velvet curtains, a well-equipped gym, a C-bus system which remote-controls functions from operating blinds to winching the water toys (a jet-ski and tinnie) from the bay into the double-length boat shed, a study with enough

workstations for all five members of the family, a big rumpus plus a four-car garage accessed from two streets. Completed in March, the residence built by Bruce Keevers sits on an absolute waterfront block in the heart of Valentine, in a corner position which affords almost every room north-east or north-west water views. Owner Maxine Poole says she and her husband were living in Eleebana when they bought the 60-metre long, 15-metre wide block about three years ago. The land had a 1950s cottage on it which was owned by

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retired David Jones regional manager Frank Baxter and his wife Joyce and before that by actor Pat McDonald (who played Dorrie Evans in the television series Number 96). But like many older homes, the house failed to take full advantage of the views, a feature the current owners were determined to maximise in any design. Maxine says: ‘‘We knew what we wanted, but we didn’t know where to start. We wanted to make the house flow on to the water.’’ They approached a couple of architects but soon decided on Mark Lawler of Mark Lawler Architects, told him the accommodation they were after and then left the design and finishes to him and his team. ‘‘Everything you see around you is pretty much his from the door handles on,’’ Maxine says, although she takes credit for the choice of modern furnishings. They complement Lawler’s design, which has been nominated for a Landcom 2009 Lower Hunter Urban Design Award. As well as the sleek elegance of the rendered brick and Colorbond house with its outside steel structure supporting aluminium screens and panels and the home’s neutral palette of whites and taupes through to charcoal greys, there are a host of practical features that Maxine loves. These include the automated vacuum system, especially the dust outlet in the kitchen with its CaesarStone benchtops and glass splashbacks, and underfloor heating to the tiled living room, which, coupled with insulated double layer glass and a design that floods the room with winter sun, has made their other heating options redundant. She also finds handy the laundry chute which speeds the linen down from the bedroom floor to the laundry, the extent of storage space and the choice of five bathrooms/ showers, one outside to sluice off salt water before entering the main house. Because the views are superb from both levels, for practicality main living areas are arranged on the ground floor. A huge rumpus and the five bedrooms, two with their own

FAVOURITE FEATURE

Forget the 1970s padded vinyl drinks bars. Here the curved wet bar overlooking the pool is sleek and integrated into the main living area.

LAPPING IT UP: The pool along the side of the house adds to the floating feeling. The northwest outlook provides plenty of light and warmth. PICTURES: RYAN OSLAND

waterside decks, are on the top level up the open-tread blackbutt timber stairs, which are a feature of the entry. The main living area opening to rear and side decks is large but not so cavernous as to lose the homey feel, important for the family with three children aged from 15 to 21. Maxine says the wall to the side street and the home’s angled louvred screens serve to give the family privacy and are angled to cut summer glare. ‘‘You can still see the lake but no one can see in,’’ she says.

Lawler says the house is large so his design aimed to break up the form so it looks more than just one giant lump. To this end the entry is obvious from the street and the house and garaging are in separate but connected buildings with roofs sloped in different directions. Now they have settled in Maxine says she is reluctant to leave to go on holiday: all she wants is at home. ‘‘We just wanted to have a family house,’’ she says.

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