Cabin retreat: Merricks Guest House

Truth be told, Studio Esteta’s clients fell madly in love with their guesthouse post-renovation, and decided against renting it out as short-term accommodation. Instead, they now use the two-bedroom “cabin,” which sits behind the main dwelling at the rear of their four-hectare property, as a holiday retreat for family and friends. Like so many homes on the Mornington Peninsula, its refurbishment was informed by the region’s verdant surrounds. “We wanted to celebrate the site’s natural environment rather than implement a design that’s trend-driven,” says director Sarah Cosentino, who, together with co-director Felicity Slattery, established Melbourne-based Studio Esteta in 2015. “The muted, neutral tones of the cascading hills, which the property overlooks to the west, served as inspiration for the palette, as did the existing structure’s rustic cladding.”

Sarah and Felicity’s goal was to create visual continuity between the interior, the aged timber shell and the lush surrounding greenery, and they succeeded in doing so. Their considered approach to materiality and a minimalist aesthetic is what distinguishes this project, as does their clever reconciliation of a spatially compact interior. By introducing a smoked oak-clad pod that houses the new bathroom, they have provided an anchor for the living areas, which were previously in an unstructured, open-plan arrangement.

View gallery

Merricks Guest House by Studio Esteta.

Image: Tom Blachford

Inside the pod, the bathroom occupies an elegantly pared back, narrow space, judiciously embellished with a mottled-grey stone vanity and bathtub splashback. A full-height, fluted-glass window faces south, bringing the outside in and naturally ventilating the space. The slate-coloured tile floor subtly contrasts with the smoked oak flooring used throughout the rest of the interior. This is clean, simple design at its very best, providing a quiet sanctuary. As an architectural insertion, the bathroom pod is hard-working, offering functionality and a sense of cohesion to the surrounding living and kitchen areas. On its outer edges it integrates a pantry, major appliance compartments, a coat cupboard, display shelves and plenty of storage room. From the kitchen, the pod simply appears to be an extension of the area’s joinery, thus enabling the small space to be free of clutter.

By concentrating storage space within the pod’s walls, Studio Esteta was able to design the living and kitchen areas with flexibility in mind – the dining and lounge don’t feature any additional built-in joinery, for example, and the kitchen’s island bench is freestanding. Positioning the sink and stovetop on the perimeter further futureproofs the kitchen. Should the clients ever wish to reconfigure the living areas or rent out the house, they could easily do so, but for now things are idyllic just as they are.