'It’s big and beautiful': The perfect sea and tree change awaits in Lilli Pilli

Now and then, but particularly in winter, we tend to dream of warmer days, sun-kissed skin and long walks on the beach with the sun setting in the far distance. Actually, I dream of this most days.

So, when 38 Denise Drive, Lilli Pilli came on the market, with Circuit Beach only a few minutes walk away, it felt like the answer to my prayers. A place where every day would feel like a holiday.

From the front of the house, the home looks small against the lush backdrop of natural bushland. But the unassuming facade couldn’t be further from what lay beyond the timber doors.

“You would not have guessed how enormous the home is from the front,” says selling agent Pat Jameson of Blackshaw Coastal.

“It’s big and beautiful. It has the wow factor.”

The home is simple in design yet stunning in its presentation, with an open-plan kitchen and dining area that’s bathed in natural light and a corner daybed with views of the spectacular surroundings.

“My wife spends a lot of time there, especially in the mornings,” seller Tobias Buchanan says.

“That corner of the house captures the sun, so I’d usually find her there first thing in the morning with her coffee looking out to the trees.”

The living area spills seamlessly to the al fresco area, which the main bedroom also has access to via large bifold doors.

“I spend a lot of time in the [upper floor] living room with my wife and two young daughters, and in the summer, we’d open up the bifold doors, and the deck became one with the inside,” Buchanan says.

But that isn’t his favourite feature of the home. It’s the outdoor shower on the lower floor. Albeit a simple addition, the outdoor shower is the first hint that “life is good” at this address.

“It’s a very coastal thing to like, but as a native Batemans Bay kid, there’s nothing like going to the beach and just rinsing off afterwards and having that in my own backyard was pretty cool,” Buchanan says.

The home wasn’t always as luxe as it is today. Buchanan and his wife spent much of the past three years renovating, taking inspiration from various architecture projects.

Australian elements such as concrete and timber are juxtaposed with modern luxuries, including matt black finishes, underfloor heating and ducted reverse cycle heating-cooling for year-round comfort.

The couple also extended the home with an additional floor that comprises two rooms and another living room, befitting the post-COVID preference for more rooms to escape, relax or perhaps work from home.

So, if coastal living in a tranquil rainforest-like setting is what you seek, this home offers the absolute best of both.

Lilli Pilli

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Private sale: $1.9 million

Private sale

Agent: Blackshaw Coastal, Pat Jameson 0405 442 905