This weeks home tour is a stunning transitional Hamptons - a style that mixes traditional Hampton style with contemporary. Built to exact standards this home is a true masterpiece with strong attention to detail. It also features beautiful lighting from the couples own lighting company Montauk lighting Co
Who lives here
Gino Premici and Marie Botsis-Premici
Gino is the General Manager at Australia's largest building and renovating centre - Home Base in Subiaco.
Marie is an experienced commercial lawyer, having advised major property developers on commercial and residential property developments. She now works on the couple's business, recently launched, The Montauk Lighting Co., full time.
Style of home and location
The home was styled off the traditional Hamptons homes in Long Island, New York. Internally, we took plenty of cues from these same homes and the beautifully layered, transitional interiors of so many of them - where contemporary and classic collide to create a warm, homely feel.
The home is located in Wembley, a leafy, established suburb located between Perth’s City and the crystal blue beaches of WA's coastline - just under 10 minutes by car either way.
Timeline of build
We began the owner builder process in November 2013 and the build took just over two years to complete, moving in around February 2016. It was a huge undertaking but very much a rewarding one.
Tell us a little about your build journey
For us, it was all about location. We were living near Fremantle and wanted to make our way back to inner city Perth. It took us just over a year to find a house to demolish with no redeeming features and when we found the house, it took us just over a year to get the plans in place and secure planning approval. The build itself took about 18 months and here we are, almost five years later, living in our home.
In terms of the style of home, we tried to be as sympathetic as possible to the ‘Californian bungalow’ style of the area. We didn’t have the heart to build a modern looking home among all of the beautiful character homes on our street.
What do you love about the style of your home and where did you find your inspiration for your beautiful home?
The amount of natural light we get in our home is breathtaking at times. That was one of our non-negotiables when it came to the design of the home - we wanted plenty of windows for both natural light and ventilation.
Another thing we love is the sense of space - high ceilings were a must. Most of the ceilings in the home are around 3 metres high, including a large double-height void in the living room that is around 6 metres high.
While the house is large from a square meterage perspective, we love the fact that we don't have rooms for the sake of having rooms. No superfluous spaces - just big, workable and functional rooms that are comfortable to move in, relax in, sleep in and entertain in.
Did you enjoy the process of building and designing your home? Any hiccups along the way or things you would do differently?
We absolutely loved the process from beginning to end. Working with our designer, Jo Germano from Germano Designs in Perth WA, was a great experience. Seeing the vision for our home emerge as we reviewed the plans and chatted about spaces and details, was a lot of fun.
Undertaking the build itself as owner-builders was certainly a daunting experience. Thankfully, Gino's dad has been in the building trade for almost 50 years, so we had some pretty amazing experience and advice to call on throughout the journey.
Other than long days juggling work and the build, and some serious hard physical labor, there weren't really many hiccups at all. We were really fortunate actually. A few small things popped up along the way but nothing that stopped us in our tracks - all very manageable. We really believe the key to the success of the build came down to the quality of our trades.
We absolutely love our home and wouldn't change a thing.
Favourite room in your home?
This is a difficult one – love our open-plan kitchen, dining and living space for its functionality, light and outlook over the pool.
If we have to choose however, we really do love the sitting room upstairs just at the top of the staircase - it's a beautiful, sun-filled room in the afternoon – it’s been perfectly finished off with a couple of ‘Madeline’ occasional chairs from Arthur G featuring the stunning Diane Bergeron fabric, Great Jones in Sea Glass.
In the same position but downstairs is our front porch. We have possibly spent too many evenings there having a drink and watching the sunset and enjoying the friendly neighbourhood banter.
Is this your forever home or do you have plans for the future?
Hard question. We certainly built the house firmly planning for it to be our forever home, but you never do know. Working in the industry ourselves, we’re constantly inspired by design and we may just have one more build or renovation in us!
Building Designer: Joe Germano from Germano Designs
Kitchen, Scullery, Laundry and Bathrooms: Town & County Designs
Built-in cabinetry, wardobes and alfresco: The Kitchen Studio IQ
Bathrooms, laundry and alfresco tops: Caesarstone
Kitchen, ensuite and powder room tops: Bianco Carrara Marble by Bravvo Stone
Lighting: The Montauk Lighting Co.
Dining Table: Orno Interiors
Furniture: Arthur G
Tapware: Perrin & Roweand Phoenix Tapware
Plumbing, sinks and tapware: Parkwood Plumbing
Bricks and rooftiles: Midland Brick (a Boral Company)
Windows: Avanti Glass
Cladding: James Hardie
Fireplace, door handles, timber lining: Subiaco Restoration
Outdoor furniture: Alboo
Landscaping: Country Earth
Pavers: Gaudi-inspired concrete pavers from Roget James
Paint: Exterior - Dulux Flooded Gum and Lexicon Half. Interior - Dulux Lexicon Half
