Want to build a sustainable forever home? Frances Cosway of White Pebble Interiors tells us about her family home.
The White Pebble Home is a stunning example of a family home that is designed to be sustainable, flexible and adaptable. And it has a natural pool to die for!
Frances is an Interior Designer, published author and speaker with a passion for creating beautiful homes people love to live in. With over 15 years’ experience in renovating and building, her true passion lies with helping clients design and build their ‘Forever Homes’.
Frances Cosway of White Pebbles Interiors
Having lived in Europe for 12 years, she draws on her own unique influences whilst seamlessly incorporating the individual styles of her clients when developing projects. Her philosophy on design is that your home is a story of you; how you live, your lifestyle and your life journey. She’s committed to ensuring every home she works on is a true reflection of its owners, based on these principles.
Image Source | Frances’ own forever home with natural pool
Frances established White Pebble Interiors in 2010, after leaving the corporate world. White Pebble Interiors is an interior design studio that specialises in creating bespoke Forever Homes.
With a strong emphasis on sustainability, they pride themselves on recommending sustainable principles and using sustainable materials wherever they can. They are open and honest and break with convention to ensure designs are not just ‘good enough’ but reflect what their clients really want them to be, based on how they live their life.
Frances wrote the book ‘Your Forever Home’ in 2017 as a practical guide for people about to embark on building or renovating.
She has completed many of her own new build and subdivision projects including the build of her family’s own ‘Forever Home’ in 2014. The house has featured in several publications including House & Garden and The Herald Sun and has been profiled internationally on Houzz. It won Winner of Bayside’s Best Ecological & Sustainable Build Award in 2015. And in this episode, we’ll be talking about this very home.
In this episode, I ask Frances …
- Tell us a bit about who is in your family and who the home is built for?
- And the home’s size and location?
- When you guys decided to build a new home, how did that make you feel as an Interior Designer?
- Did you have specific goals around designing and building sustainably?
- Did you feel you were going to have to budget extra for a sustainable home? Or make any compromises?
- How did you go about designing for sustainability?
- What specific sustainability measures did you incorporate?
- The pool … tell us all about the pool … your own billabong!
- Is there anything you’d do differently, or wish you had included?
I’m really excited to share this home, and Frances, with you. I think you’re going to really enjoy hearing their journey to a sustainable home, and take away some great ideas and tips for your own project.
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
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RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:
Frances, White Pebble Interiors, and Frances’ book “Your Forever Home” can be found here >>> https://www.whitepebbleinteriors.com.au/
Information on Sustainable House Day and the White Pebble Home >>> https://www.whitepebbleinteriors.com.au/sustainable-house-day-giving-back/
Houzz’s feature on the White Pebble Home >>> https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/houzz-tour-modernism-meets-ultra-sustainability-in-melbourne-stsetivw-vs~74839335
With over 30 years industry experience, Amelia Lee founded Undercover Architect in 2014 as an award-winning online resource to help and teach you how to get it right when designing, building or renovating your home. You are the key to unlocking what’s possible for your home. Undercover Architect is your secret ally
Seriously 5 bedroom house sustainable? Imagine the energy
it’s going to use, also a forever home us FOREVER, you can’t have a forever home for 10 years. I turned off this because it’s a joke.
Thanks for your comment Sustainablekev. Perhaps if you’d listened the whole way through, you’d have gained some alternative insights. Whilst building smaller can be a great way to achieve sustainability, size alone is not the determinant of a sustainable house. I’ve seen 3 bedroom homes that guzzle far more energy than their 5 bedroom, well-designed and sustainable counterparts. There are 3 and 4 bedroom homes out there with 3 and 4 living spaces as well. Learning more about this home can highlight what’s possible for radically lowering energy use and environmental impact in a well-designed family home.
– Amelia, UA
Hahaha! Just finished listening to this (WHOLE) episode, when I saw this comment. Talk about missing the mark ‘sustainableKev’! Really enjoyed the insights into the types of choices for consideration when creating a sustainable home – no matter the size. 🙂
Hey Nic,
Thanks for the kind feedback – so glad you enjoyed the whole episode 😉
– Amelia, UA
Hi Amelia! Loving all of the podcasts, especially this one about a sustainable forever home. Just wondering if you know what ‘timber tiles’ Frances refers to? We are looking for something with the same thermal and durability qualities as what she describes. Thank you, Kate
Hi Kate
Thanks for the feedback – so glad you’re enjoying the podcast. Frances is talking about timber-look tiles … the floor tiles that have a digital print on them to look like a timber floorboard. That’s what she installed in her own home,
– Amelia, UA