Inside a modern barn house in Sydney’s Avalon Beach

Architect Daniel Raymond of RAMA Architects designed this modern farmhouse home in the north Sydney suburb of Avalon Beach, reviving a prefab fibro shack as a cathedral-like home for fashion designer and P.E. Nation founder Claire Tregoning.

Tregoning House started life as a fibro beach hut – an Aussie architecture classic made from lightweight fibro cement boards during the 1950s and 60s – that Raymond expanded with the addition of an enormous A-frame barn along its front. The timber-clad Avalon structure is designed for entertaining and blends rustic and industrial finishes, with loft-like interiors that favour exposed brickwork and concrete finishes and towering eight-metre-high ceilings.

‘The barn – it’s big and beautiful and yet it feels really homely, Tregoning told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘We entertain here a lot. It’s chaotic but fun.’

Among these elements is a giant 4-metre-long concrete ‘slab’ bench, which anchors the kitchen and is a natural gathering point for guests to congregate around. Tiled floors and black steel frames on the window and staircase add to the vibe across the double-height space.

Bedrooms and bathrooms have been secreted in the old shack. The separate guesthouse-cum-studio hones a more intimate and cosy vibe through its joisted, white-washed walls and ceilings.

William Manning of Highland Double Bay is marketing the five bedroom Sydney property, with the price on application.

Its staggered Mediterranean-style gardens also house a ‘naked’ swimming pool, bar and wood-fired pizza oven and a large shaded terrace runs along the back of the home.