Entering the main living space, one’s eye is immediately drawn to an impressive double-sided fireplace with sandstone ballast walls and slab hearth.
Adjacent is the expansive Shaker-style kitchen with glass-fronted cabinets and Calcutta marble benchtops. Nearby, a butler’s pantry with black-and-white chequered tiles contrasts with French oak flooring in the living areas.
These oak floors are also a feature of the upstairs bedrooms, while the bathrooms have Herringbone vitrified tiles, with Calcutta marble vanity tops. All throughout the house louvre windows ease the flow of cooling breezes.
MCD Construction specialises in residential projects that require a high standard of workmanship and attention to detail, factors which played a part in the Wilston property winning the 2017 HIA–CSR Brisbane Region Custom Built Home (over $2 million) award. Sustainable design principles and eco-friendliness are also important parts of the business’ ethos, as is working with HIA GreenSmart Builders and Professionals to improve energy efficiency.
‘This means using natural elements wherever possible,’ Cameron says. ‘Cross-flow ventilation rather than extensive airconditioning, overhanging eaves, protecting internal walls from sunlight, proper insulation and the use of light-based colours. We try to let a house breathe.’
This home then naturally includes a number of these fundamentals as well as a 22,000-litre underground water storage unit, a 13kW solar panel system on the roof and an automated C-Bus system that controls the home’s energy consumption. Additional features include a cellar, with air purification and temperature and humidity control in a rustic environment of recycled timber beams and travertine floors.
‘Our preference is always to salvage as much as can be recycled,’ Cameron says. ‘That includes reusing rock and soil within the immediate location rather than transporting it across town and creating more pollution.’