Walkthrough a modern farmhouse

Surrounded by the rolling hills, Eve and James Coates’ modern farmhouse is a custom-built Hamlan home for a couple who love the outdoors.

FOR Eve and James, a move to the country was their dream, Eve has always owned horses and James wanted the room to move on a country property.

So when a property in the Barrabool Hills came on the market in 2015 they took the opportunity.

Only minutes from Highton, where they previously had built their first home with Hamlan, their new property in Barrabool came with an “old farm shack” and plenty of space for their horses, pets and a big shed.

“The original house was situated by the road, so people could watch me cooking dinner,” Eve said.

“After four years, it came time for us to build a new house, and we wanted to build it down the back of the property for privacy.”

Eve said they spent those years in the “shack” planning where they wanted to place their new home on the property and planning other infrastructure aspects such as power, water tanks and the driveway.

She placed the original home on Gumtree and to her surprise sold it to a woman in Melbourne who transported it off their property for a renovation. With the old home out of the way, their new home started to take shape.

“We knew we wanted to build a single-storey home, as we thought a two-storey home would be too invasive for the landscape and we wanted the home to run along the treeline,” Eve said.

Eve and James met with Hamlan and knew straight away they had found a builder that truly understood what they were looking for.

Their acreage home features four bedrooms and two bathrooms home, plus two living spaces, including an open plan kitchen and living, and a rumpus room that leads to three bedrooms towards one end of the home.

The master bedroom with walk-in robe and ensuite is situated on the other end of the home.

“The design was just beautiful and long, there were lots of windows, lots of light to maximise the outlook,” she said.

“High ceilings were a definite for us, we also wanted to bring our own oven, which is a new induction cast iron oven, a hero piece in the kitchen.

“We’ve also used a lot of skylights, as the house isn’t facing north directly, I also love white, but then in contrast to the black fireplace, it creates a focal point.”

The home also features a mudroom, to keep the dirty boots from trudging through the rest of the house and a massive butler’s pantry that keeps all the appliances (including fridge and freezer) out of sight.

And like all areas of this home, they have windows to capture the country landscape.

Eve said their second experience building a home with Hamlan was just as amazing as the first.

“You can stare at plan for hours, but you won’t get anywhere until someone with a sharp eye and attention to detail comes in, and gives you their professional opinion,” she said.