The home that started it all
The first home Refined Group designed and built: a spec home that captured our concept of modern Australian living, earned an HIA Awards nomination, and won its new owners over so completely they engaged us again to build their swimming pool.
HIA Awards finalist 2018 · NSW Region: Project Home
Our concept of modern Australian living
This Denham Court home, in the Willowdale estate, was the first house Refined Group designed and built, and it set the standard for everything we have done since. Built as a spec home, entirely to our own design and at our own risk, it was our statement of what modern Australian living should look like: a contemporary coastal style with horizontal grey cladding over crisp white render, a light Colorbond roof, a white balustraded balcony, and a timber boardwalk entry rising through the front garden.
The landscaping was designed as part of the home, not an afterthought: beautiful native gardens of grasses and groundcovers set into chunky sandstone retaining walls, with bluestone steppers and timber decking tying the whole frontage together. Inside, a two-tone designer kitchen with brass pendant lighting, stone benchtops, mosaic-tiled bathrooms and light-filled open-plan living carried the same considered style through every room.
The owners liked it so much, they asked us back
When the home sold, the story didn’t end there. The new owners loved the house. When they decided to add a swimming pool, they came straight back to the team who built it. Refined Group returned to design and build their pool, completing the backyard we had always imagined for the home.
For a builder, there is no better endorsement than a client who buys one of your homes, lives in it, and then chooses you again. This project was recognised as a finalist in the 2018 HIA NSW Region Awards (Project Home), but the owners coming back is the award we’re proudest of.
What makes this build stand out
Modern Australian design
Contemporary coastal styling: horizontal grey cladding over crisp white render, a light Colorbond roof and a white balustraded balcony.
Designed & built in-house
Our first complete home: designed, documented and built entirely by Refined Group, as a statement of what we stand for.
Native gardens
Layered native grasses and groundcovers designed with the home, not after it. Low-maintenance, water-wise and beautiful year round.
Sandstone retaining walls
Chunky sandstone block retaining walls terrace the frontage and anchor the gardens with natural texture.
Timber boardwalk entry
A timber boardwalk rises through the front garden to the entry, a signature detail we have carried into projects since.
Two-tone designer kitchen
Dark timber-grain cabinetry against white stone, brass cone pendants and a full window splashback.
Mosaic-tiled bathrooms
Finger-mosaic feature walls, vessel basins, wall-mounted tapware and freestanding baths. Spec home finishes that feel custom.
The owners came back
The buyers later engaged Refined Group to design and build their swimming pool. The strongest endorsement a builder can receive.
Inside the Willowdale build
Want a home designed and built by one team?
From our first home in Denham Court to award-nominated builds across Sydney, Refined Group designs and builds homes, pools and gardens as one. Talk to us about yours.
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