Driftwood Home

The home is organised over two levels, prioritising first-floor living to capture panoramic water views from nearly every space. A lift provides convenient access between levels, ensuring the home is comfortable and functional for long-term family living. The layout balances open, social areas with private retreats, creating a versatile and connected home.

Expansive glazing and carefully positioned openings maximise natural light and frame coastal vistas. Indoor and outdoor living are seamlessly connected, allowing residents to engage with the beach environment while maintaining comfort and privacy.

Dark and light cedar, paired with metal cladding, references the natural driftwood inspiration and provides durability in the coastal environment. Thoughtful detailing and a restrained material palette create a home that is both contemporary and timeless.

Driftwood Home is a considered coastal residence that balances sculptural form with functional family living. Its design celebrates the surrounding landscape, capturing the essence of Sumner’s beachside character while offering a beautiful, enduring home.

We bought a large section on the Sumner waterfront with a view to subdividing and building a home to retire to. Craig’s firm was recommended to us by our interior designer and we approached them to participate in a “design competition” with 2 other architects.

From the start we were impressed by Craig’s responsiveness and enthusiasm to participate, his ability to read and interpret the brief, to clearly outline the design process, and his proactive project management. Craig and his team put a lot of thought and time into location study, views and sun and looked at the best outcome for the whole site. He was able to empathize and connect with us as people, not just as clients.

During the developed design process Craig came up with creative solutions to deal with issues and, in many cases, where there was an issue there was an even better outcome. He worked hard to meet our functional needs but stood firmly on the side of good design. Craig’s digital design software was extremely useful and saved cost; It meshed well with the software used by engineer, and the interior and kitchen designer. His software package gave us a “walk through” 3D design used by us and the builder.

During the construction observation period, Craig was always on hand to assist with interpretation and detail solutions, and he developed a sound and mutually respectful relationship with our builder and his team.

We now have an award winning home that’s a work of art, that we’re very proud of and love living in. Craig’s design has maximised views and sun, and the house is warm with an impressive level of energy sustainability.

Without hesitation we employed Craig to design the home for our subdivision, and would not hesitate to work with him again; nor would we hesitate to recommend his services.