Hey, everyone. It is a beautiful sunny afternoon here in Melbourne. I am standing in a very quiet residential street, in front of a very unassuming home, but out the back is nothing but normal. I want to take you through. Let’s go take a look at the Harry House!
First off, this house is cool. It reminds me of my childhood tree house. It’s just filled with nature, there are elements of excitement and surprise everywhere you turn. But at the same time, it’s incredibly humble and modest and just real. I don’t even know how that’s possible, but it’s just got this really beautiful warm feeling toward it as soon as you walk through the doors.
It is very much embracing the environment around it, and actually, when the owners built this place, it used to just have two of these fig trees outside and they were surrounded by concrete. It was just a concrete jungle, and they wanted to salvage those trees, made sure they were very careful to protect them, and then they’ve grown around it, and then built the house around these fig trees. And I really love that. It’s not just a tear down job, they really wanted to keep those trees intact and they’ve built around it, and you can tell. You feel like you’re in a tree house.
What I love is the element of surprise. I love that sunken level of the kitchen. It’s really smart, it’s really clever. It means that kids can sit up to the bench and be at the same height as the adults. It’s just an easy and fun way I think to interact a little bit more. And again, it’s surprise and it’s delight. There’s a lot of that throughout this house.
The net, I mean, they’re incredible. They’re so much fun, and what’s really kind of cool about it is they create these spaces where I guess you can kind of hide away, but you’re also not hidden away. So it’s still connects you to the space. You can sort of see up to the net right there, or you can still talk amongst people, but it connects you as a family. So you can have a little bit of downtime, but you’re still connected, and I really, really like that. I think that’s really, really clever. To be honest, I just don’t think I’d ever leave.
The rounded timber detailing panels to that beautiful polished kitchen bench top, to those gorgeous tiles in the bathrooms. Both bathrooms have both two different tiles. Those beautiful, heritage Japanese pieces have also been blended with incredible modern finishes as well. You literally want to touch everything in this home because there’s an incredible attention to detail, and even to these beautiful ceramic pieces. Everything feels like it has a story and it hasn’t just been bought without thinking. Everything feels like it has a home and a story and a place. And I think that’s what gives it its heart and its soul.
So this home is a classic weatherboard home, which is anything but ordinary. It’s a modern day tree house for both adults and kids.
Hey, everyone. Thank you for watching. I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of the Harry House as much as I have enjoyed showing you through. If you liked it, please give us a thumbs up or comment below. Let us know what you think. And if you haven’t liked us already and subscribed to our channel, please make it official and subscribe. There’s plenty more where that came from. If you have a house that you want us to come visit let’s us know and we’ll see you soon.
Check out our previous Let Us In Episode 04 where we take a tour of the A House for Charlie by Tom Robertson Architects.
