Sally Smith and Stuart Fahey moved from the town to the seashore after the start of their first little one, and by no means seemed again.

‘All through our 20s, we’d at all times spend weekends at Flinders and Rye, sharing stunning meals with family and friends on sun-kissed decks, leaping off piers, exploring the seashores and strolling the tracks,’ remembers Sally.

‘We each knew we wished to boost our youngsters near the ocean, and provides them the chance to discover and study extra in regards to the coastal atmosphere of their yard.’

The couple rented for a number of years as their household grew, earlier than buying their present dwelling in Rye, and embarking on a significant renovation.

Sally and Stuart didn’t wish to broaden the present dwelling, however the ground plan wanted transforming to higher swimsuit their rising household. ‘We didn’t desire a huge home, and our out of doors areas are simply as necessary as our indoor, so we determined to take up the verandah house and rework the rooms inside,’ says Sally.

The couple labored with Georgina Jeffries to attain this imaginative and prescient.

Whereas easy in idea, as a result of sloping web site, the renovation required demolishing and rebuilding virtually half the house to attain the specified ceiling top within the entrance rooms. ‘Whereas drastic on the time, I’m so glad we did it and naturally it was a no brainer that we’d reconstruct the unique ceiling function,’ says Sally.

Initially a circa Nineteen Seventies home, the interiors had already been considerably up to date earlier than Sally and Stuart purchased the place. With a quick to create a extra light-filled and impartial aesthetic, Georgina Jeffries specificed Dulux Pure White partitions, new timber flooring, glazed ceramic kitchen tiles, loopy paving on entry that blurs indoors and out, and lightweight inexperienced joinery all through.

Consideration to element has been utilized even in essentially the most sensible areas, together with the mud room on entry. ‘We shifted the door and designed the window to make sure the backyard grew to become a part of the mud room,’ says Sally. ‘I often sit on the bench seat studying books with the children or speaking about their day whereas taking their sneakers off.’

The earlier proprietor of the property was a landscaper, who had already accomplished vital works to excavate and replace the entrance backyard, together with the set up of enormous concrete floating steps that permit loads of moments of pause.

Stuart used his plant information as a horticulturalist to improve these out of doors areas, selecting plans acceptable to the Mornington Peninsula local weather.

‘We wished a backyard that would thrive with out irrigation. Plant alternatives have been principally native, with the introduction of some hardy exotics that may stand up to sandy soil and our dry summers,’ says Sally.

‘We transfer round our out of doors areas all through the seasons, which we love. From January by to Easter, our out of doors deck and desk grow to be our foremost eating space. In autumn, we discover ourselves by the out of doors hearth for afternoon drinks; and in winter, heat out of doors showers after browsing and soccer grow to be a weekly prevalence.’

Sally cherished the method of renovating their dwelling alongside their design and building crew, together with Rawlinson. ‘All our trades had been a pleasure to work with, and we got here to overlook talking with them each day after we moved in!’ Sally says.

This group of persons are a part of the Peninsula group and atmosphere that the household have embraced, inspiring Sally’s new undertaking, Ocean Thinkers — a group initiative devoted to fostering ocean conservation consciousness amongst youth.

‘We’re extraordinarily fortunate to have unbelievable seashores and nature reserves at our doorstep,’ Sally says. ‘Our love for the realm has solely grown extra.’