Inside The Block host Shelley Craft's tranquil Byron 'sanctuary'
In a whisper-quiet enclave, under a canopy of towering palm trees, the reborn home of The Block host Shelley Craft opens its doors to cast a tranquil spell on all who enter. And on Craft herself, too, it seems, time and again.
“When you walk inside, it feels like you’re getting a great big hug,” she says with a smile. “The home feels so warm, and is absolutely my sanctuary.”
Just a short drive from the heart of one of Australia’s most iconic coastal towns, Byron Bay, it’s here that ardent renovator Craft and her cameraman-turned-real-estate-agent husband Christian Sergiacomi have created their family’s latest “forever home for now”.
It’s a home where the ever-busy TV personality and host of The Aging Project podcast is truly at peace.
“I’m the consummate Gemini – happy to be on show, but once I’m inside my door, I really relax,” Craft says.
Parents to daughters Milla, 14, and Eadie, 12, Craft and Sergiacomi bought the property of about 0.4 hectares – then home to a nondescript single-level 1980s brick-and-tile house – four years ago with the intention of one day developing the site.
But the thrill of transforming an ageing and somewhat lacklustre house into a dream home proved impossible to resist.
“We could have bulldozed the existing house and built something new, but I love a challenge, of course,” Craft says, smiling.
“A renovation gives you a whole lot of new things to think about, and can also happen a lot quicker than a build from scratch.
“Putting on my own Block hat here – to see what we could make out of this home to turn it into something really special for our family – is where the challenge lay.”
Over a year, with Belcon Constructions Byron Bay at the helm, the couple’s vision was brought to beguiling life. For what makes the home all the more special is the fact that it tells a story as nuanced as it is beautiful.
“I take inspiration from different things,” Craft says. “This house is a bit of a cross between a Canadian wilderness lodge and a Tuscan villa – with an Aussie beach house thrown into the mix.
“We moved in at the end of May, just about the time that we were wrapping this year’s series of The Block – so I was moving house, finishing The Block and wrapping a term of school all at the same time,” she says.
“I can tell you that the weekends have since become extraordinarily dull – and wonderful!” Craft adds with a laugh.
Certainly, there is a palpable sense that the home embraces its verdant setting, as well as the resplendent and tactile finishes within.
Each space in the home has had a texture and tone makeover, with the outdoor domains redesigned and replenished by Landart.
“We didn’t go out or up – I love the ease of single-level living – but every wall came out and we raised the ceiling and roof height in the main living area,” Craft says.
“Every room now opens out to the front or back patio areas, so we have lush garden surrounding the entire house.”
Free-flowing in layout and relatively pared-back in decor, the home casts the spotlight on a harmonious assemblage of raw materials in soft, buttery hues – creamy limestone, quartz and travertine – and presents as warm, serene and “from the earth”.
In the sunshine-lit living domain, a stacked natural stone feature wall soars to the raised five-metre-high ceiling.
“This home feels a lot lighter, brighter, and perhaps even calmer, than the last house we did,” Craft says. “It’s the simplicity that gives it the sophistication.
“I try to use natural fibres and materials wherever I can for the furnishings – lots of woven rugs, linens and leathers. And wherever I can use Australian, I do.”
Perhaps most enticingly, there is no feeling of preciousness or off-limit spaces.
On this mild, cloudless Byron day, it becomes apparent this is a relaxed resort-style house – complete with wellness hub, media room, and surfboard and electric bike sheds – to be enjoyed by all.
This includes the family’s beloved Rhodesian ridgebacks Rocco and Rip, who look to be in their element as they pad from room to room and across the grassy terrain outside.
“I call this a ‘slow home’,” Craft says. “There’s not a lot of technology and there are no bells and whistles.
“You have to open your own cupboards, switch on your own lights, and nothing talks back to you. And that’s how I like it.”
She says she “collects memories, not stuff” so she doesn’t tend to have many trinkets or personal items.
“I’m absolutely not a hoarder, which is lucky considering we’ve moved so many times in the last 15 years,” Craft adds.
Indeed, for Craft and her family, there will always be – there simply has to be – a forever home for now.
“I feel we’re just custodians of any home we live in,” she says, “But we’ve already created so many memories here, beginning in the renovation process.”
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