Sustainable dream home shows Surf Coast’s best

One of Torquay’s most renowned builders has opened its newest creation to the public, with a bespoke, eco-friendly holiday home adding to Torquay’s tourism accommodation offering.

Steve and Lyndsey Dunstan of SK Dunstan Builders have created a purpose-built cabin named Ella’s Rest that blends seamlessly with its natural sounds.

The couple partnered with Anglesea-based designer Emma Mitchell (EMArchitects) for the build and holiday accommodation manager Felicity O’Brien (Airready) following completion to deliver the five-star holiday home.

The villa is privately located on a seven-acre property at the edge of Torquay with views across an on-site dam, with an array of warm timber tones repeated throughout that creates a serene sense of being part of the surrounding environment.

The result is a beautifully designed short-stay site that owes its pristine product to meticulous planning – right down to its name.

“We had a dog that was named Ella and she passed away only 12 months ago,” Mr Dunstan said

“Prior to finishing the cabin and she used to have the run of the place around here.

“She used to get in amongst all the around the dam and chase the water rats around or whatever she was trying to chase – but I’m not sure she ever caught anything.

 

“I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to name a cabin before… we fumbled around, reading hundreds of names before all of a sudden; let’s call it Ella’s Rest.”

The property is entirely off-grid and powered by a solar system and connected to tank water to create a eco-friendly residence, while recycled materials are also used frequently throughout.

While the off-grid decision came partly out of necessity, Mr Dunstan said the green focus had resonated with the property’s first guests.

“A lot of the materials are recycled. Some of them have come off our job sites which haven’t been used.

“We to keep in mind that we didn’t have enough power on site without putting a new transformer in, so we went down the path of off grid.

“So it’s all run by a battery system, which is performing very well.”

Mr Dunstan said the sleek, compact new inclusions are a far cry from his first forays into renewable energy systems about a decade ago.

“It was fairly old technology back then, the whole garage was full of big battery packs.”

The green nature of the property also stemmed from Ms Mitchell’s expertise in creating natural spaces, which naturally flowed to the shared vision for the design.

 

“It’s the site itself that’s so beautiful,” she said.

“The cabin has a beautiful aspect onto the dam.

“It evolved to ‘walking through a wall’ – the way you can walk through that into the interior space and that connection to outside.

“Steve from day one had the sense of the building cantilevering out to the waterway, and I really like the way that turned out.”

The one-of-a-kind property needs one-of-a-kind features and the construction team delivered; all the way from custom-made clay light fittings to purpose-built timber furniture throughout.

“There’s a lot of inbuilt furniture like in the wardrobe – it was all designed by Emma and built on-site by ourselves,” Mr Dunstan said.

“There’s a lot of emphasis on that sort of look.

“It is a pretty unique sort of style of building – and don’t worry, we’ve built it all.

“There’s a lot of modern style homes these days which are pretty bare and there’s not much soul to them. But we feel like that’s got a bit of soul, a bit of character.”

Overhangs on the roof are positioned to shield rooms from the sun as its high in the sky during summer, but welcome in the sunlight when it is lower during winter.

“It does work for itself,” Mr Dunstan said.

“I don’t know that [guests] have turned the air conditioner on yet this year, because it acts like a big breezeway.”

Early reviews from guests have been overwhelmingly positive and supported the project’s ambitious vision.

One identified shortfall related to the rural location – a previously dodgy internet connection – was quickly rectified.

 

“Since that review we put Elon Musk’s Starlink on the roof here, so there’s never been a problem again,” Mr Dunstan said.

“And that’s really the only negative comment we’ve had out of30 reviews, so that still remains at five stars.”

Ella’s Rest is open for bookings, and be found on Airbnb, Airready and tourism sites such as Visit Victoria and Torquay Life.