Budget Breakdown: Near Melbourne, Former Bandmates Make a Modest House Sing for $290K

Melbourne designer David Noordhoff had already established a rhythm with clients James and Zara McGuffie long before he designed their home. Noordhoff and James had been the drummer and guitarist in a successful indie rock band, Kilns, before Noordhoff went off to architecture school.

So, when the couple purchased a small piece of land in Chewton, Australia, a town of 1,300 about 90 minutes outside Melbourne, they knew they wanted Noordhoff—despite being early in his career—to design a house that fit their lifestyle. "We just had a connection," recalls James, who first met Noordhoff over 12 years ago.

Zara and James had been living in Melbourne for over a decade, and they were looking to move outside the city when they discovered the parcel in the former mining town. Its location along the Pyrenees Highway seemed like a sign, because Zara had years earlier made a pilgrimage to walk Spain’s Camino de Santiago, through the Pyrenees mountain range. 

The site borders national park land, and it had recently been rezoned, so it was essentially a fresh slate. Zara and James initially considered hiring a homebuilding company, like others in the area, given the relatively remote location. "A lot of people told us we should do that because it was our first home; it’s easy and they make decisions for you," Zara says. "We kind of just kind of stuck to our guns."

James reached out to his former bandmate-turned designer with a simple drawing of an L-shaped house, which sparked a long series of conversations about what the house could be. 

"I was spending so much time on Pinterest and Instagram...taking screenshots of a Victorian-style house, and then an eco home built out of shipping containers," Zara recalls with a laugh. But with a limited budget, the couple ultimately needed something simple. 

"We were dealing with a really beautiful site that had a really strong potential for connection to nature," says Noordhoff, who also teaches sustainable design at Swinburne University of Technology. "Ultimately, the design concept became about framing the views and capturing the warm winter sun to the north."

The designer and clients eventually circled back to the L-shaped plan they first discussed. Its layout would minimize sound from the nearby highway by placing a buffering hallway between the bedrooms and the wall closest to the road, and its siting would maximize open space in back, looking toward the park.

"That was part of the strategy, to make it feel like the national park was their backyard," Noordhoff says. "And effectively it is." This being Australia, kangaroos are continually hopping by.

To stay within their budget of $450,000 Australian dollars (about $290,000 USD), the couple opted to build a smaller home—three bedrooms instead of four—rather than compromise on the quality of its thermal envelope. This approach helps mitigate highway noise and manage thermal comfort without high heating and cooling bills, given Chewton’s hot summers and cold winters.

"People say, ‘Why not build a fourth bedroom?’ And we’re like, ‘Well, for the same money, how about we have massive double-glazed windows?’" James explains. "That’s just a choice that was more important to us."

The team also stayed within budget by minimizing the use of floor-to-ceiling glass, which also helps reduce heat gain in the summer. The home’s windows make the most of the changing light throughout the day, and large overhangs block the summer sun but welcome passive-solar heating in the winter.

"When you have a view like that, there is the temptation to just have floor-to-ceiling glass everywhere. There is great glass technology out there, but it’s also frightfully expensive," Noordhoff explains. "Picking a moment and celebrating it is more cost effective."

That’s why the living room features a large corner of glass above a window seat. "When we looked at the site, I felt that view in particular, through that corner, out toward the north was beautiful" the designer says. "Having that seat in the window celebrates that idea. It sort of became the spot. When friends come over, there’s a kind of gravitational pull to that spot in the house."

Another small window across the living room not only balances the light, but gives James and Zara an unexpected experience. "We get double sunrises and double sunsets in the house," James says, "because the light goes through the small one, hits the big inside window, and bounces back.

The home is partially clad with spotted gum (common to Australia), which is resistant to fire (a requirement in this region) and gives the exterior a natural warmth that ties in to the picturesque surroundings. To save money, though, most of the walls are clad with more affordable corrugated metal siding.

Inside, Zara and James saved money by skipping the custom built-in shelving they’d wanted, and buying used furnishings online. In the end, Zara found a vintage shelving unit to go beside the living room fireplace that’s arguably prettier than what they’d originally planned.

With a vintage 1970s piano James got free from the school he was working at (amidst the school’s transition to keyboards), this has become the most popular place in the house. James has posted several videos to social media of himself and other musicians playing there together.

The couple opted for a simple yet functional, open kitchen, using Ikea products to save money and eschewing custom millwork.

The project’s completion was postponed by a full year because of the pandemic, and due to delayed material shipments and shortages in local labor it took two years to complete—twice as long as expected. These challenges made friendship and trust all the more important—and Zara and James chose to stay positive.

"We knew that even though all of these delays were happening, our builder was fantastic—they were doing everything that they possibly could, and they were inundated," Zara recalls.

"This is one of the biggest things we’ll ever get a chance to do, and it’s such an investment of all your resources," James adds. "So we always kept reminding ourselves: ‘We are so grateful for the opportunity.’"

By the time the home was completed, Zara and James spent only one week there before a planned three-month European work trip. But that created a unique opportunity. Noordhoff and his partner, Deb, had just sold their home and, yet to find a new place, wound up living at the Pyrenees residence for three months.

"Like a lot of people in Melbourne, we had romanticized about what would it be moved to the country one day," Noordhoff says. "Professionally, I was a little bit nervous because in the back of my mind, I was sort of thinking, ‘God, what if I don't like it?’ Am I going to be standing there every day thinking, ‘What if I had done this different?’ But it was actually great to road test it and think about all those little moves we made along the way and see how they actually work."

The robust windows and insulation were especially good choices. "We were there through the middle of winter and it was minus-three degrees [Celsius]. We had a young daughter who needed to stay warm," Noordhoff says. "But inside we were cozy."

Moving nearly two hours away from Melbourne has even surprised James and Zara, by paradoxically making them feel closer to their friends than when they shared the same metropolis. With its large, covered outdoor deck and picturesque park-side views, friends don’t want to leave—and its in-house recording studio is a place for James and Noordhoff to make music together again.

"In the past, back in the city, you’d hang out for a couple hours, but they’d obviously go back to their place, and you had to factor in traffic," James says. "But when people come and stay here, they’re in a completely different mindset. You go for a walk out the back and you have a proper catch up, and then you’re hanging out all night. They stay the night and then you get up and have brekky together. It’s more of a quality hang."

More Budget Breakdown stories:

It Took $8,400 and Four Hours to Build This Tiny Cabin in the Australian Bush

An Indiana Couple Hand-Build the Farmhouse of Their Dreams for $166K

A Weekend DIY Turns a Neglected Garage Into a Backyard Hangout for $13K

Project Credits:

Designer: David Noordhoff, Freeman Group Architects

Builder: VR Builders

Structural Engineer: MDG Designs