Ocean Grove: Renovation & Permaculture
House Size: 180m²
Garage Size: 15m² (garden shed)
Land Size: 580m²
Builder: Will Aitken (owner-builder)
Designer: Will Aitken & Kylie Shacklock
Highlights: Permaculture garden. Co-living design. Small footprint living. Passive solar design. 20kW solar. 10kW battery. Repurposed timber. Fully insulated. Chickens. Double glazed windows.
Experts on Site
Will Aitken
Owner Builder
Intuitive Garden Design
Permaculture, FoodScapes & Rain Harvesting
About the house
We purchased the property in 2017 – a tired, run-down fibro beach shack, desperately in need of some TLC. The house was full of mould, the gutters full of mud, and the garden overgrown with huge, senescing trees (pittosporum, bottlebrush, willow myrtle and banksia). The property also had a MASSIVE shed that was formerly used as a mechanic’s workshop.
We specifically chose the property because a) it was all we could afford, and b) its east-west orientation, northerly sloping aspect, south-west quadrant house location and beautiful sandy-loam soil screamed passive solar and permaculture potential. Oh, and it’s only a 12-minute walk from the beach!!
Will renovated and extended the house over three years as an owner-builder (thanks YouTube!), with the intention of dividing the house into two self-contained, two-bedroom, one-bathroom units - the idea being that we would live in the back unit and rent out the front as retirement income. We also converted the front sun-room into a rentable counselling/office space with its own entrance and bathroom.
All the old trees were removed and cut up by Will, with the big stuff going over the back fence for use by our neighbours as firewood, and the rest retained on the property as mulch and garden borders. Some secateur blisters there let me tell you.
The shed has been reduced in size by two thirds and is now used as a garden shed and workshop.
The house and garden are now maturing into a thriving permaculture system, supporting solar harvesting & storage, heat-pump hot water, 12000L drip-watering system, 60 fruit and nut trees providing year-round produce (including avocados, walnuts, almonds, 24 different apples & pears, figs, stone fruit & citrus), chickens, raised veggie beds and, last but by no means least, Henry the feisty chihuahua.
We now enjoy full solar access through winter, protection from the sun via ornamental grapevines and western wall almond trees in summer, with fresh, organic food and the amazing beach lifestyle of Ocean Grove to enjoy all year round. We love our little house and hope you do too!
House specification
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