When Eric Burton decided to downsize he took it to the extreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He bought the smallest house in Woodend \u2013 a single-room cabin measuring 23sqm on a substantial 1175sqm block in Forest Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bonus of the cabin, however, was that it came with a building permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So instead of tearing it down and building again, Eric is ‘extending’ the cabin, thereby avoiding a lengthy planning permit process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Initially I was going to get the caravan and live in that until I worked something out, but then I saw the Beachcomber in a magazine and I thought, that’s it!” he said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Beachcomber is a retro house designed in the 1960s. The name ‘Beachcomber’ was a reference to the raised beach houses that populated the coastline around Malibu in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eric realised he could build around and above the original cabin on his property to recreate the design in a modest but much more comfortably sized home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today, everybody’s building these mansions, five bedrooms and everything, and you often find they’re just an old couple but they wanted their dream home,” he said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Now with interest rates going up, it’s very hard to sell them, because they’re so expensive to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Whereas this is a simple construction, and will give me all the room I need.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ‘extention’ also means Eric can paint it in any colours he wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I can paint it the way I want so it will have blue and there’ll probably be some yellow underneath the rafters under the skillion,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Because this is an ‘extension’ of a 2011 home, back then these colours were allowable, but now they’re not, if you build new you have to paint in muted colours.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unusual build in Woodend is certainly piquing the interest of locals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Eric Burton decided to downsize he took it to the extreme. He bought the smallest house in Woodend \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6001,6000,6002,134],"ppma_author":[5226],"class_list":["post-20484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-beachcomber","tag-eric-burton","tag-gray-construction","tag-woodend"],"yoast_head":"\n
“Everyone now sees it because everybody drives up here and it really stands out,” Eric told the Express<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If I build something, it’s got to look right to fit the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If I build a low house, like the neighbour, it’s just going to be like everyone else’s and it just won’t pop.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Woodend Beachcomber is being built by Gray Construction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"