Minimum of fuss

With a minimum of fuss and the maximum of style, this elegant modern home owes much of its clean, calm good looks to the choice of PGH Bricks’ Black and Tan bricks on the exterior.

Owners Dal and Min designed their ‘forever home’, themselves, saying that the Black and Tan bricks were part of their plans for the home right from the start – almost the first element of the home they decided upon. Situated on the outskirts of Brisbane in an elevated position with views to the Gold Coast, the block of land was owned by the couple for five years before they commenced building. They lived nearby for about 10 years, waiting for the right opportunity, design and builder to come along.

“It was the only block of land left around because everything goes so fast here,” explains Dal. “It was probably six years ago when we bought the land and then we took about three years finessing what we wanted.”

Dal and Min have an adult son who lives with them and have designed their new home to cater for multi-generational living, creating a separate self-contained part of the house to accommodate him.

“We always knew what we were wanting to achieve,” says Dal. “Finding a builder took a little bit longer because we got caught right up in the middle of the whole COVID time.”

The final building was a custom design by a project home builder.

Why Black and Tan

Min, a civil engineer, says that he has always loved the look and feel of bricks and felt that they were vital to achieve the look the couple wanted. The Black and Tan bricks were specifically chosen to complement the skillion roof of the building, and to provide insulation against the Queensland heat.

“We wanted a façade that had bricks as its main feature,” he says. “I’m a big brick fan and it was about having a bit of density in the walls and adding thermal insulation.”

“The bricks needed to be of good quality with sharp edges and with a smooth finish to suit the skillion roof. We were looking for bricks that would be timeless, have a sense of earthy tones and feel grounded sitting high up on a hill.”

“We also wanted them to have variations of colour in them to handle the vast areas of solid brick walls. Black and Tan bricks were the only bricks that delivered on our brief.”

The bricks were laid with an off-white mortar to allow the brick pattern to stand out, complemented with areas of off-white render.

Working with PGH

Dal says she wants to give credit to the PGH Bricks team, who helped to make the decision process much easier, especially when it came down to the final colour exterior palette they chose.

“They were really good to deal with in that respect,” she says.

“We had a sit-down session, and they talked us through the colours that would work really well,” adds Min. “We had two options: we could go for a light palette, which was the roof in Surf Mist and just a little bit of Monument here and there, or we could go with a dark roof and Monument, and we ended up going with a light palette.”

The result

Both Dal and Min say that the bricks are their favourite part of the home’s design, and they couldn’t be happier with the choice of Black and Tan.

“Min had decided from the outset that Black and Tan would be the best choice, but still we went to every brick supplier to look at every other brick just in case,” says Dal. “We ended up back there, because everything else just didn't really do it.

“I think for us it was the earthy look and feel. We wanted the bricks to stand the test of time because you see some facades that look quite dated quickly.”

Dal and Min are originally from England and feel their background also pushed them towards the choice of brick for the home. “We’re used to that sturdy, grounded look of a building,” explains Dal. “So I think that's influenced us as well.”

For their part, Dal and Min love much about their new house, but perhaps the favourite spot is the large windows in the living area, which open out to the alfresco area that connects their son’s space with the main house.

And the best bit? Those windows also showcase the rear exterior wall, allowing them to enjoy the Black and Tan bricks each and every day.

About Black and Tan Bricks

With beautiful clean lines, smooth-face textures and a palette selection of inspirational Australian natural colours, Black and Tan bricks are part of the  PGH Smooth range, which creates a strong, clean aesthetic for residential and commercial building projects.