It was Elsie, the goldendoodle, who started it. “We were living in a tiny house in the center of Byron Bay with two little children and Else in the middle of the wet season,” says Cheryl Kitchener. “We kept coming to the dog beach and driving past this house until, one day, we decided to take a look.”

Cheryl, who works in tech, is perched on a banquette built cleverly into the narrow deck that skirts the home’s new north-facing wing, wide open to the winter sun. Her husband, James, sporting sunglasses, is making coffee. She watches their daughters, Indiana, seven, and Zalia, five, brave a dip in the pool while baby Ember sleeps. “We fell pregnant during the build, so there was definitely some urgency to the move,” says James with a laugh.

The house, unimpressive from the street, was a 1980s brick-and-tile built by the original owner and seller one block back from Tallow Beach—a stretch of white sand to the south of boho mecca Byron Bay, Australia, where surfers share the long break with dolphins and migrating humpbacks.

“It’s got a richer material palette than other buildings in Byron Bay—but it’s not for everyone. It’s not so ‘safe.’”
—Micka Etheridge, designer

“It was just something different,” says James, a stay-at-home dad. Built around a central courtyard, the house was all about connection to the garden. “The old man who owned it had his chair set up in the living room and his goldfish pond out in the courtyard,” says Cheryl. “You could feel how he wanted all of the rooms opening up to green space.”

“And it felt private,” says James, “which is something we loved.”

Shop the Look

Developing this sense of privacy and indoor/outdoor connection was key to the renovation by designer and builder Micka Etheridge of SPACEbuilt. He kept the structure’s original U-shaped floor plan, as well as its “classic early ’80s lines,” and added the long wing that houses the kitchen and a sunken lounge, with an emphasis on volume and light.

Today, the 2,422-square-foot house resembles a lowercase “h,” with one side stretching back nearly to the end of the property. Between the parallel wings in front, now holding four bedrooms, a central living space is all sliding glass doors on two sides, enabling Cheryl and James to keep eyes on the kids, wherever they are.

The material palette, both inside and out, is warm and inviting, with spotted gum walls and floors, custom cedar rib–clad joinery, and rough-cut stone in spades, all sourced through a local supplier. “Buildings have got to look great, but they’ve also got to perform well and feel good to live in,” says Etheridge. “We achieved that through natural light and a nice flow of movement through the spaces.”

“Watching the sunrise and moonrise from the living room is gobsmacking.”
—James Kitchener, resident

Hidden from the street by a fence that runs the width of the property, the home evokes the feeling of a family compound. Established palms dapple shade over a series of outdoor “rooms” designed for different times of the day or year, including whimsical play areas, a bathing grotto with a pink terrazzo tub and an outdoor shower, and a poolside firepit.

“Creating distinct spaces was the aim of the build,” says James, who’s no stranger to inventive home setups: He recalls living with Cheryl in the back of their car in a caravan park on Tallow Beach when they arrived in Byron Bay a decade ago. “When we’re entertaining, the kids will play out front, and we’ll set up rugs on the grass where it’s sheltered from the wind.”

The late summer wet season no longer spells cabin fever. “I think some of my favorite times in the house are when the storms come through,” says James. “Being able to sit in the lounge with the fireplace on and watch the rain coming down all around you: It’s magic.”

For her part, Cheryl appreciates how the interior’s warm materials pair with the house’s sense of openness. “Having grown up in Canada, I love dark timber and paneling and timber beams,” she says. “But I love how Australia brings the outdoors in. We really wanted to combine those two influences to make it feel cozy and warm but also airy and bright.”

It was a challenge that Etheridge was more than up for. “In Byron, there’s a lot of rolling the turd in tinsel,” he says. “I like building for legacy. The reason this house looks so good is that it makes use of beautiful materials that have been beautifully finished. It’s like a doctor’s or judge’s house of a bygone era—quality is oozing out of every corner of the place.”

Etheridge is just one of dozens of local creatives whose work is celebrated in this unique family home.

“A lot of what you see in this house is handmade,” says Cheryl. “From the doors down to the brass handles. Even our beds and our tables are made by locals, and most of the furnishings are by Byron Bay designers—the couches, the lighting, the art.”

“It’s a pretty quintessential Byron home,” says Etheridge. “It’s got its own heartbeat—bold, progressive, and full of design. I think it sings true.”

Project Credits:
Architecture: SPACEbuilt / @spacebuilt_
Engineering: Phillip Wallace Engineering (+02.6685.7228)