Think bigger and go regional to achieve acreage living bliss

While many were cooped up in their city pads during lockdowns, the longing for a tree change became prevalent. People craved an abundance of fresh air and ample space to breathe. And as soon as they had the opportunity, loads of Australians turned their vision into reality.

There’s never been a more exciting time to join them in what we call the acreage living dream.

What is acreage living?

Creek to Coast presenter Liz Cantor recently hosted Metricon’s home-building experts and some brilliant guests to deliver a webinar all about the acreage dream. But what, exactly, does that mean?

“In general, we’re talking about living on a larger piece of land bigger than your average suburban block,” Cantor says. “A lovely country property, think clean air, quiet, more space and a sense of tranquillity that comes with living a more regional lifestyle.”

Acreage homes are much more likely to have expansive floor plans with large windows to match, arranged around lush green views, making them airy, spacious and bright. They’re also situated on much bigger blocks.

Metricon’s Senior Interior Designer Tracey Noonan says the Highlander is the perfect example of acreage living. “We’ve designed the Highlander interior so that it’s aspirational. People want to come home and feel like it’s their sanctuary. We’ve created a cosy feeling in this opulent home by using warm colours throughout and with beautiful marble finishes in the kitchen, which we’ve repeated through the powder rooms and ensuite. You’ve got this beautiful big home with high vaulted ceilings with beautiful light fittings. The airiness is just gorgeous.”

The biggest block

Two-time The Block contestants Josh and Jenna Densten relocated to country northeast Victoria to make room for their growing family. “We felt like our time in Melbourne was great, but our life had changed with our two little girls, so we really wanted to be close to the family and also try to give them some more space on some acreage,” Josh says.

Everything about the move appealed to Jenna. “We love the idea of growing our own veggies and having fruit trees and giving them a closer upbringing to what we had as kids.” Josh needed a little more convincing. “But I knew that once the seed was planted, and once we started to really look at the pros and the cons, he would agree. We wanted to give the kids time outside, to have acreage where they could play and run and that, for us, far outweighed what we had in the city.”

Josh loves the lifestyle now. “It’s been such a great move out to acreage for us. We’ve been out of the city for nearly two years, and it still feels like a holiday. It’s a fresh start and it’s really let us focus on what’s important, which is our family.”

The pace of life is much sweeter, too, Jenna says. “You’re not having to plan for traffic and peak hour to cross the city to visit your friends. We wake up now in the morning and we send our girls outside to collect the eggs for breakfast and they pick herbs to put in them. We get bread that our friends have made. We make everything from the garden, and the girls just do this naturally.”

James Bone, Metricon’s Senior New Home Advisor, says the affordability and flexibility of larger blocks outside our cities make it a no-brainer. “Metricon has done a lot of customer surveys and the main reason that’s come out has been around space, affordability and about joining in with regional communities. If you’ve got from 900 square metres up to 10 acres, you’ve got all the lifestyle options in the world that you don’t have in the suburbs, like a motocross track in your backyard, horses or a veggie patch.”

Designing the acreage dream

Adrian Popple, Design Director at Metricon, says his team considers the much wider façade of acreage homes when creating dream homes for tree change customers or expanding rural families. “The streetscape becomes really important, so getting the proportions and symmetry of the façade right is something we really focus on. The internal layout is another key area we spend a lot of time on, making sure the home opens up to the land and that bedrooms and living areas have great access to the outdoors.”

Getting the internal layout flowing is vital. “When you’ve got so much space to play with, it can be challenging, so it’s really important that we get the proportions right and achieve that seamless integration between indoors and out. We have 17 designs suitable for acreage blocks across all our product ranges, and we can further personalise them through our design options.”

We also teamed up with Alison Fenton, COLORBOND® steel's Design and Colour Consultant, to chat about some of the exterior details of the Highlander display home. She loves the Basalt finish for the roof, gutters, downpipes and more. “It’s one of our classic finishes, a neutral colour in that mid—to-dark grey organic colour palette,” Alison says. “Choosing colours that relate to the landscape is an ideal direction for acreage homes.”

What do I need to take into account when planning an acreage home?

It sounds like a dream, but what are the practicalities of acreage living? James says Metricon will do all the heavy lifting. “We’ll give you a hand figuring out what requirements your unique block brings with it,” he says.

That includes positioning the home on the block, navigating the topography, considering local planning permits, and figuring out how to connect to utilities and drainage. “Bring us the details of your block of land, let us sit down with you and we’ll work through that together to get the acreage home you want for your plans.”

Because we’re based in local communities, we draw on local tradespeople’s expertise. “It’s one of the best things about building with us in regional areas,” James says. “We’re building homes with local people. Our kids go to the same schools, and we bump into people we know at the local supermarket. I have personally sold homes to three people who actually were part of building my own home with Metricon. It’s something we’re very proud of.”

The acreage seal of approval

But don’t just take our word for it. Metricon customer Tracie can’t stop raving about the acreage home we built for her and her partner Peter. “We decided to build in regional Victoria because we’ve actually got a winery business here and always wanted to build a home on our estate,” Tracie says.

“From the salesperson to Studio M through to all the tradies, everybody was perfect. From when the slab went down until we were in, it was about four and a half months and nobody can believe how good that was. You’ve got no worries about having good tradesmen working in regional Victoria. When we have guests come over as they walk in the front door they just go ‘wow’.”