I coulda’ been a contender! My golf game has crashed from reasonable to just plain turn-your-head-away sad. Age screws some of us really badly. If not – I would HAVE THIS GORGEOUS HOME.
So really the pics tell the tale – as smooth as warm caramel on a spoon, this house is scrumptious.
The name gives it away, Arnold Palmer Drive, this mansion faces onto the 15th fairway of the, you guessed it, Arnold Palmer designed golf course in Queensland’s uber swish Sanctuary Cove. A mere pitching wedge from the pool’s edge to the fairway rough.
However, HOWEVER it’s not all about golf, it’s about a single level home, (more than 90 squares) with stupendous interior design, and more than a bucket of balls of ingenuity and good taste.
Four beds, four baths, and a pool … and a dining /living area with floor to ceiling glass – oh, be still my beating heart – looking onto the lush green landscape of the golf course.
Whoever did the lighting design is a genius, plain and simple – well, pretty much everyone involved in this one is a genius.
Go through the listing and just drool.
Divine. Love it. It’s just come on for the first time with Ray White’s Matt Gates … lucky bugger.
Video is here, listing is here and above. My hopes and dreams can be found hanging in a the closet out the back.
Do they have an octogenarians’ tournament?
Maybe its not too late.
Yes Prue, it IS. Sigh.
********
Prue Miller is a freelance journalist with a distinct penchant for architecture and real estate.
Okay so lockdown has led me down some very shady aisles at Bunnings – then some late night, tequila driven escapades on eBay all in the hope of upgrading my humble wardrobe. Somehow I ended up with a new broom, two new lip glosses and travel alerts on every website known to aviation.
Yep, lockdown is a sad place.
Plus my wardrobe is still pathetic. Not helped AT ALL by this outrageously divine property in Queensland. We’ll get to the other bits and bobs later, because I want to show you these two crazy wardrobes. Clothes throne rooms is more like it, but hell, let’s ogle the obvious.
This is just for the Her of the house … even a coffered ceiling – hooley dooley
So this is just for madame … I just LOVE those islands full of drawers. Probably a drawer for silk scarves, a drawer gloves, a drawer for perfumes that start with C. I mean, I dunno how you fill these things because I do not have the weighty problem of too much stuff.
Plus, you get here by walking down a sexy curved stairway from the ensuite.
The stairway is just off to the right beside la tub.
On a different level, on so many ways, is then His throne room.
Oh my ….
C’mon – this is gorgeous, is it not?
The rest of the property is drop dead too – though I for one, am not a fan of grand pianos. Something cold about those suckers.
Check out the living areas and okay, last OMG for this listing, the sunken lounge at the waters edge is just beyond.
You may crave a country kitchen, with dented wood and a soothing Aga.
You may enjoy a kitchen where all the accoutrement are hidden, just as a magician makes their assistant disappear.
You may fear lemon juice for fear of staining your carefully crafted concrete island .
But your kitchen, is your home.
Here is an example of breathtaking design, beautiful and overtly open, filled with ocean breezes and sunlight. Sigh. At the time of writing it is on the books of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty in Double Bay (now there’s a mouthful for a story about kitchens). It’s in Sydney’s coastal Bronte, and you can read all the nuts and bolts on the listing, and let me assure you, they are GORGEOUS nuts and bolts.
But this is an homage to the wonders of kitchens.
Here are the things I love about kitchens, and I have been lucky enough to inspect some of the most amazing kitchens in Australia, and lingered in more than a few of my family’s.
A kitchen is where somehow or other, you can turn love into a quiche, or a roast or a souffle.
In a kitchen a broken heart can be stuck back together – at least for a while.
In a kitchen a furry friend with a wet nose lingers with hope in his eyes, and a slowly wagging tail.
In a kitchen you can talk about difficult things without having to make eye contact, while plaiting pastry over a pie shell.
In a kitchen you can gather more than ingredients, you can bring together the people you love, and bask in the joy of sharing love, food, wine and time, while a plate of goodies is devoured, refilled, and devoured once again.
In a kitchen a stolen kiss tastes even more delicious.
In a kitchen, for some reason, it is easier to laugh about disaster – whether it be wimpy red wine jus, or a lost job.
And finally, kids in the kitchen. I don’t care about mess, I never really have, and there is no greater mess than a kitchen full of kids; your kids, the next door neighbours’ kids, kids from school mooching about for a piece of cake, kids with breathless news and whispered secrets. It happened in my kitchen. The heart of my home.
Prue Miller is a property journalist with a mad dog, and a pretty good kitchen.
Okay so maybe lockdown lunacy is getting to me but homes with space, room, fresh air, nature well, they are really appealing right now.
And this one, this fab home near Newcastle in NSW has managed to deliver up the ideal mix of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, with the out being just GORGEOUS.
Sure decks and patios and terraces are nothing new – but so often those outside spaces have ceilings that are appallingly low – they make you feel like a cheese and ham croissant squashed into a sandwich toaster.
However the very clever folks at Anthrocite Architects in NSW have created the most spacious, open outside zone, that there is an almost cathedral-esque feel, worshipping the two and a half acres of grassy, sunny, leafy land upon which is resides.
That sentence ran on a bit – but I’m all gushy about this place; from the perfect brick choice, to the heated floors, the exciting shapes and levels. It’s a great property from every perceivable angle.
Near the coast, not far from Newcastle city and a couple of hours to Sydneyh, it is a great spot to enjoy life. At the time of writing the property if for sale through Walkom Real Estate with a guide price on it of between $AUD 3.9-$4.2m
There is no nice way of saying this without coming off as a complete snob, BUT nothing makes the old ticker skip a beat as much as a luxury, acreage property.
I guess I can be a little flexible on what constitutes luxury – it is as I see it though the lens of a woman in need of comfort and beauty, with the odd bell and whistle on the side.
This week two Australian beauties caught my beady eye – one has sold this weekend, one is still in the offing. If I could just scrounge around the sofa cushions and find a lazy five or ten million I’d be in the running. Though the first one, in Yass, was FAR less than that.
I can almost see Audrey Hepburn walk up the front door …
First 16 Walgrove Road, Yass – not all that far from the country’s capital, but far enough away from anywhere to be considered urban. And dare I say it? Covid war appropriate.
Twenty three acres (I hate hectare conversios …sorry), a 1905 residence draped in elegance and white trim, with five bedrooms and loft.
Have a look at it – that lounge room shot? I felt my shoulders drop at least 2 inches as the anxiety of Sydney life took a temporary back seat.
It sold this weekend for $1.8m through Ray White, with the underbidder trying their hardest via phone from Tokyo.
So chilled …. and charming.On the river no less….
On a different plane entirely is this all whipped cream and caviar; 652 London Road, Chandler in Queensland.
A tad Georgian, and very grand. Seven beds, six baths it is called Motifex Mansion and sits up on a mowable one hectare or so … mowable because an awful lot of the grounds is actually water or topiary. Control freaks would just adore this place…
Go into the listing/s and note the wallpaper. Please. You won’t regret it.
I have no idea how long or how often it’s been on the market – or which agent has what agreement and with whom – I really don’t care and it has a complicated history.
Confused much? It’s never been this cra cra in the real estate world, and I’ve been playing in the field for more years than I care to mention (okay, a decade or two … I don’t even want to add it all up because I haven’t had a botox top-up since Covid hit and I look my age).
There is still strong vendor discounting to be found (i.e. Unsure sellers and taking lower than advertised offers seriously) in the mid market, while the pointy end of the game is actually looking very healthy indeed. Luxury developer Crown Group is reported to have sold a staggering $63 million worth of top drawer properties between Feb and March.
I thought perhaps I might do some digging in the rich garden of the weekly listings to see what would interest me, or horrify me if I were in the market.
With any luck, although you will come out just as confused as when you started, you may have discovered some interesting bits and pieces.
Let’s start with a little gentrified luxury in the form of shady verandas and a gate house (!) at Kin Kin, Queensland. For those without an encyclopaedic knowledge of regional Queensland, let’s just say Noosa adjacent.
Eight bedrooms, lots of bathrooms, tastefully renovated plus a self contained, ever so pretty, studio.
They’re looking for $2.3million – through Ray White
I have long dreamt of having a place in Leura, the prettiest village in the Blue Mountains. It’s always worth a look there as the prices have this huge arc, yet you get the same picturesque village atmosphere no mater where you plonk your bags.
The lovely property in designer grey (I’m am becoming very sick of grey let me tell you) is a beauty which is looking for more than $1.28m. In a semi-main street at 170 Megalong it has four bedrooms and rather unusually for the area three bathrooms – but why you ask? Because there is studio/loft space above the back garden garage. The listing is with Belle Property.
Literally just up the road five minutes and there is this diamond in the rough for over $595-$650k. Whaaaat? Four beds three baths and and some pretty ordinary decor, complimented by dated layout BUT all that can be fixed. The block is huge – and there’s even a (sort of) undercover swimming pool. Wentworth Falls has some fabulous properties, and some not so fabulous properties with great potential. This is one of those. Have a squizz at 11 Page Avenue, it’s listed with Purcell.
You can’t make up a view like this – beautiful.Yes, there is work to be done …..
In Melbourne and I just stopped dead in my tracks when I came across this over the top number, at 6 Boston Road. Lordy. When enough just isn’t enough – and why stop there? Architect designed – and with very cool Jack Merlot designed gardens, this 2005 built property is the current Wow! factor in a suburb that frequently has hot properties. William Chen at Marshall White has the listing.
There are still too many faux chateaus for my liking around Melbourne, but at the same time, so much really great eye candy as well. Kay & Burton have this one – very sleek. Found at 11 Reid Street, it’s all about the space … and the calm. Understated. Too chilled for me – but I am becoming more eclectic in my doteage.
And a little Hollywood one caught my attention – because I have been there! Well, loitered on the lawn actually during my time as an LA resident a few years back.
Treat yourself and watch this episode – it’s simply wonderful nostalgia
This was the original Ozzie & Harriet house from the 50s TV show (what they would have thought of as a reality show, but was of course scripted’ish) – and since then (though it is reported to be haunted by Ozzie who died in the house) it has had several high profile owners, including the current vendor Chris Meloni of LAW & ORDER (though I loved him in VEEP too) fame.
It’s looking for $USD6.5m, and sadly is not being rushed with offers. It IS a little pedestrian but, BUT it is Hollywood history, with a nice lawn.
One more before I go – I delved into my file (yes, I actually do have a file) of alarming real estate shots – it’s just my opinion, so don’t sue me. Some people may find this bathroom wonderful. I dare you to find them.
My Blog 