Home to Robert Gray, the managing director of Graya (who lives in the house with this wife Meghan), Arcos Villa is located just a few minutes from Brisbane’s CBD in the suburb of Paddington. Arcos translates to ‘arches’ in Spanish and it’s a design motif that features throughout the home and also gives it the strong Mediterranean feel that the couple were looking for.
A Queenslander with a difference!
“We wanted a home that felt like we were in an international hotel, a home away from home. We wanted to achieve a Spanish villa feel with an Aussie twist,” says Robert, who bought the home’s 800 square metre block with the aim of turning its existing Queenslander into a Mediterranean inspired luxury abode.
Open plan kitchen and dining
The palatial home runs over three levels and includes five bedrooms, six bathrooms, three living rooms, a swimming pool and space for eight cars. The stylish renovation was a collaboration between Joe Adsett Architects and Graya Construction.
The living area flows to the outdoors
Visitors enter the home through a dramatic and softly-lit arched tunnel, which leads to a series of open-plan interior and exterior spaces that are bathed in natural light. The living space features an elevated and sunken living room either side of the kitchen. These rooms are adjacent to a large open-plan courtyard.
“We wanted a space where we could easily entertain and a space that was connected to both the living area and outdoor entertaining area, yet comfortable for day-to-day use,” says Robert.
A focal point of the home, the large kitchen features a gorgeous island bench with subtle ribbed detailing and light oak cabinetry. The rounded edges of the kitchen island echo the statement curved staircase that connects two floors of the residence. The kitchen features the Gaggenau 200 series ovens that sit flush to the surface for a subtle finish.
Kitchen – Gaggenau appliances feature
“Seeing the whole house come together has been unlike any other home. As this is our forever home, we spent a lot of time initially planning the design so it’s great to see it all come together.”
Ten years ago, the former Wallabies rugby captain Stephen Moore bought a block of land, on a sought-after street, in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington. The real estate was left vacant for a decade, before Stephen and his family decided to put permanent roots down and build an architecturally designed family home on it recently.
Courtney and Stephen Moore with their three children
“I’ve lived in 12 different houses in the past decade. Now, with a family including three kids, this was the first opportunity I’ve had to design and build a house, with everything my wife and I wanted,” says Stephen of the home that was designed by the architect Tim Stewart and built by the construction company Graya.
Only 15 minutes from Brisbane’s CBD, the new home boasts views of the city skyline, a three-storey staircase and unique brick arches constructed from PGH Bricks. The interior of the home has a clean, calm feel, courtesy of a medley of finishes – timber, stone and polished concrete – that reflect the family’s love of modern, yet warm, spaces.
Kitchen
“Personally, I’m a big fan of a natural look and feel, so on the inside of our home, we used polished concrete. We complemented it with timber, a light-neutral brick and spotted gum that gave us that earthy edge we were looking for,” says Stephen who selected Australian-made timber furniture to complement the interiors – much of which is yet to arrive. “We’re still waiting on some key pieces for our house. In hindsight, that’s something we should have ordered a little sooner!” says Stephen.
Lounge room
Used extensively throughout the home, another of its more notable construction materials is brick. Robust and low maintenance, it’s a great choice for a young family of five. “We don’t have to worry about dirty hand marks on the walls when the kids run up the stairs,” says Stephen’s wife Courtney Moore.
Dining room and staircase
As for his thoughts on the designing and building experience, Stephen is resoundingly positive. “There’s something to be said about designing a home with, and for, the people you love most. After all this time, we’ve got a place we can call home – and that’s a really good feeling.”
The home’s unique brick arches are a talking point
After a decade of building homes for other people, Andrew Gray of Graya Construction built his own forever home high on a hill in the inner Brisbane suburb of Paddington recently and it’s a beauty. While resale was considered, the tri-level home is anything but ordinary with neutral feature brick, timber, concrete and natural stone combining for a relaxed, urban vacation vibe.
The home features a three-story chimney. Photo: Cathy Shusler
“We wanted our home to feel like a haven. We went with a light colour palette, something that was neutral and more coastal, so we could get a holiday feel. The light tones of the brick and how we’ve used it throughout the house has brought that sense of lightness, airiness and relaxation,” says Andrew.
Kitchen and living. Photo: Cathy Shusler
Originally a run-down Queenslander, the front of the home was restored as part of the renovation process and the new extension at the back seamlessly blends the old with the new. Interestingly, exposed brick plays an important part in the renovation and it was a choice driven by the Queensland climate more than aesthetics.
The restored Queenslander from the front. Photo: Mindi Cooke
The home boasts Brisbane city views. Photo: Cathy Shusler
“We decided to use brick pretty early on in the piece as a core part of our home’s design because of the climate in Queensland. What we didn’t realise is that it also opens up opportunities design-wise, because there are so many varieties of brick that you can use in different ways. I think when a lot of people think about brick, they imagine the traditional red, old style, but with so many design options available now for brick we really felt that if we could use it in the right way, it could be completely timeless,” says Andrew.
A wine rack makes a statement in the living room. Photo: Cathy Shusler
The master bathroom features emerald green marble. Photo: Mindi Cooke
Sourced from PGH Bricks, the same style of brick is used throughout the home including the inside walls and floors – an emerging design trend. The technique helps to create the illusion of endless space where the boundaries between the indoors and outdoors are blurred.
Larissa Gray in the master bedroom. Photo: Mindi Cooke
Master bathroom. Photo: Cathy Shusler
Brick also stars in one of the home’s most notable features – a three-storey, minimalist brick chimney that stretches from the bottom to the top of one side of the house. “One of my favourite features in our home is our three-storey brick chimney. Combining the intrinsically traditional nature of brick with such a cool modern feature meant that we could create a really unique and trendy feature for our home that will never aesthetically date. I believe that’s what made brick the perfect material for our forever home,” says Andrew.
Pool and alfresco fireplace. Photo: Mindi Cooke
Bricks were used in a relatively unusual, bespoke way too after Andrew gave them to his tiler to cut up and turn into tiles for the entry pathway and walkway. “We carried these same bricks into our feature walls to create cohesion, which turned out great. If you think outside the box, there’s some really cool design elements that you can create with such a simple and reliable material. It’s the best of both worlds for us,” says Andrew.
Larissa and Andrew Gray at the entry to their home. Note the unusual brick work on the ground. Photo: Mindi Cooke
And while the home is fairly neutral, there are some statement areas of colour including the master ensuite with is emerald green marble and the powder room and its red marble. “It’s in the smaller rooms where those elements have a bigger impact, and it means the whole house isn’t screaming at us. Our design choices were guided by the fact that we’re looking at being here for at least ten years, so we restricted ourselves from anything too bold structurally, keeping it more neutral, and instead got creative with the more decorative elements.”
A heritage listed, dilapidated hoarder’s home set on an incredibly steep block. It’s enough to frighten the most experienced renovator but in just eight months, two courageous brothers have transformed the junk-filled squalor into a multi-million dollar property.
“It was our second hoarder house so I was a little more confident this time. Doing a major renovation, you just ignore it and look at elevation, the view and try to get a feel for the finished product,” said owner of Graya Construction Rob Gray.
BEFORE exterior
AFTER exterior
The finished product is a contemporary four-bedroom family home, with three bathrooms, two living areas and a pool, split over three levels. “It’s very steep and the most tricky part of the build was having to slide the two-story original house. We had to slide it down the hill and just getting the machines up and down and material in and out was a bit of a nightmare. Being on a steep block can easily add 20% to the cost of the build,” said Rob.
BEFORE backyard
AFTER backyard
To meet heritage guidelines, the weathered front façade has been restored and the original framework remodelled to form a spacious master bedroom on the top level, with sweeping views of the neighbourhood.
“With the heritage listing there are two options: you can essentially keep the character throughout the whole house, or you can modern it up which is what we chose to do,” Rob said. “I think the master bedroom is easily the best part of the house, the whole level is just yours. It’s huge. It’s a 3.4-metre ceiling and every person that’s seen the house is just blown away by it.”
BEFORE master bedroom
AFTER master bedroom ensuite
But it’s the rear extension, with its expansive timber lined roof and walls, that makes your jaw drop. “I love using natural timber both inside and out. It softens it up and adds texture. White gyprock can be very boring,” Rob said.
BEFORE exterior
AFTER exterior
The second level of the home features the guest bedroom, main living area and an open-plan kitchen with “super-white” marble bench-tops that Rob says “catch the light and sharpen up the island to give it an element of architecture.”
AFTER kitchen
AFTER living and dining
A large void and staircase lead down to the ground level, where you’ll find two more bedrooms and the rumpus, which opens out to the pool.
AFTER staircase and rumpus
AFTER ground level
Purchased in late 2015 for $750,000, it took Rob and the team just eight months to complete the renovation. “I started designing the plan when it was under contract so when it settled, I was busy on another job for four weeks then I jumped straight onto it. It was a 30-day settlement and I used that in planning and that’s a big one for anyone that’s looking to do something to on-sell is really use that time to your advantage.”
He adds: “If you are designing it for your family or designing it to sell, it’s two different processes. If you’re designing it to on-sell you have to get in the mind of your buyer. But if you’re designing it for yourself the first step is to decide how many different bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas you want then I would start looking at sizes. Compare houses on the market to what you want to build. Then work out roughly how many square metres you need to get the house that you desire before you start drawing, which people always forget to do. It is really important to talk to some builders and get some estimates on square metres. People really miss that step and it always comes back to bite them.”
Rob also suggests would-be renovators tread carefully with trends to ensure a renovation stays timeless. “There is nothing worse than a modern house where people use the latest fads and then two years down the track it just doesn’t look good and devalues the house. Try to avoid glosses. Use matt two-pack in the kitchen, matt coating on the timber floors and tiles. I did go black tapware in this house but it’s an easy cosmetic update.”
AFTER main bathroom
The hoarder house, in the sought-after Queensland suburb of Paddington, is now known as the water tower home and sold prior to auction to a couple with a young family.
Rob and Andrew Gray
You can find out more about Rob and the team at Graya Construction here. Photos courtesy of Scott Burrows Photography.
