04/06/2026
Downsizing is not always about living smaller.
Sometimes it is about designing more carefully. For Katherine and David, leaving their Devonport villa led to a new beachside home that needed to work for two people most of the time - and many more at any given moment.
The brief was practical and deeply personal: a four-bedroom home that would not feel oversized day to day, with a ground-floor bedroom for visiting elderly parents, enough flexibility for adult children to return, and open-plan living that connected easily to the pool and deck. As Katherine says, “We wanted something with a beachy, natural feel.
”The best proof of flexibility? Two sons have already moved back in! The house has adapted, with humour intact - even if the pantry now contains umpteen bottles of Jif and six bottles of fish sauce. Good design does not try to freeze family life in place. It gives it room to unfold.
Let’s talk.
