Star Quality

Above: The combined dining, breakfast and kitchen area

Above: Rear view of house from the landscaped garden

Above: The double front entrance doors

Above: The fabulous conservatory/family room

Above: The lounge

Above: The conservatory from the galleried landing

Above: One of the boldly-patterned bedrooms

Above: The galleried first-floor landing

When it comes to stylish and desirable places to live in South Dorset, the leafy and peaceful residential suburb of Lower Parkstone in Poole certainly gives its near neighbour Sandbanks a good run for its money. After many years of building luxury homes for other people, local developer Dave Dwyer jumped at the opportunity to build his own family home in such a sought-after area.

The plot of land Dave acquired already had outline planning permission for a Georgian-style house, but although the traditional design was very much to his liking, the proposed size of the property didn’t suit the needs of his family. In consultation with his architect, Mike Clarke of Clarke Design Partnership in Poole, Dave decided to add a sizeable glass conservatory to the rear of the property at under-eaves height which would increase the living area and provide an integral focal point for the house, but not affect the originally planned width of the property or compromise the appearance of its Georgian frontage. Remaining faithful to its traditional style, Dave chose to use handmade clay bricks, with cemented ‘V’ joints, under a slate-tiled roof, and to fit hardwood sliding sash windows.

After full planning permission had been granted, the building works began in mid-May 2007 and continued through one of the wettest summers on record, during which time whole sections of brickwork were spoiled by the heavy rain and had to be re-laid. Dave is quick to point out that all his tradesmen did a superb job in such atrocious weather! Even so, by early December of that year Dave, his partner Pauline and their three girls, Jade, Kylie and Krista, were able to move into their new, fully-furnished home just in time to hang the Christmas decorations! To achieve that much in just a few months is quite a feat but, as Dave explains, good pre-planning is essential and makes a builder’s life so much easier.

Although Dave and Pauline favoured a traditional period design for the exterior of their home, they wanted the interior to be modern in style. Beautifully figured hardwoods feature prominently throughout the house. Dave has chosen dark-walnut worktops with matching casings for the kitchen, solid-oak internal doors and a pair of bespoke front entrance doors – also of solid oak and inset with semicircular patterned glass panels to his design.

Cream throughout was their initial colour of choice for the kitchen, but they had second thoughts and decided to break up the expanse of single colour by fitting units with a slightly darker ‘cappuccino’ shade which would also contrast well with the dark worktops and black granite surfaces around the sink. The L-shaped working area usefully includes a large, American fridge/freezer and wine cooler as well as a range of top-quality appliances. Beyond this is a dining area with bar stools, a two-seater brown-leather sofa and a chunky oak dining table where the family gather at mealtimes.

A more difficult choice was the type of floor tiles to use for the ground-floor rooms and entrance hall. Eventually, they opted for 20mm-thick polished marble which Dave describes as ‘the icing on the cake’ because not only were they a natural product which would be a good conductor for the underfloor heating, but also that their neutral colour would suit any colour of furnishings they then chose. The marble-tiled entrance is certainly stunning. At its centre is a long, polished stainless-steel staircase which rises to a galleried landing and glass atrium on the first floor. The open oak treads of the staircase purposely allow views of the landscaped garden through the glass-walled conservatory adjoining the end of the hall.

Due to its mainly glass construction, the conservatory incorporates a slim steel structure which supports the half-ton weight of tinted, heat-reflecting glass in its roof. Mostly used as a family room, the conservatory is comfortably appointed with two large cream sofas and a glass-fronted gas fire which is flush fitted into the chimney breast forming part of the room’s structure. Above the fire hangs a delightful picture by talented local artist Caroline Shotton which depicts the wistful faces of four charming cows in her limited-edition painting wittily entitled, ‘Knowing me, mooing you’, a take on the similarly-named song by Swedish pop group Abba.

Alongside the family room, and with level access from the dining room, is an area of hardwood decking from which it is possible to step into a built-in jacuzzi. Steps lead down from the decking onto a wide, sandstone-flagged terrace beyond which is the newly-planted and landscaped formal garden. Backed by mature woodland, the garden has been cleverly designed by Dave and Pauline in conjunction with their local landscaper Rob Gee, whose partner Lucinda used her specialist skills to imaginatively plant out the garden. At its centre is a square, paved area and pond, around which are several specimen conifers, sections of lawn and a classic wooden pergola. There is an alpine garden, too, and borders containing various exotic ornamental plants including slender bamboo, palms and swaying grasses.

Inside the house, Pauline chose all the fabrics and furnishings and the colour scheme throughout, except for the girls’ bedrooms where they were each given colour samples and material swatches and allowed to choose their own individual style, but with the proviso that one wall had to be decorated with boldly-patterned wallpaper! They also chose their favourite style of bed, the colour of which was then matched to the fitted wardrobes.

Naturally, the chocolate-brown and beige master bedroom has its own style, too. Stepping from this room into its remarkably spacious en-suite bathroom is rather like entering another world where veined, beige Turkish marble, impeccably and seamlessly tiled both underfoot and on the walls, silently but definitely, states ‘quality’. Even the bath surround is tiled and so too is the walk-in shower cubicle, but here with white, tumbled mosaic.

The lighting throughout the house is also amazing, particularly the cluster of spiralling ‘wands’ which illuminate the atrium with their constantly changing coloured pinpoints of light, and look fantastic at night. In fact, every aspect of Compton House is pretty special: a tribute to the craftsmen’s skills which have made it so.

Most importantly, though, Dave and Pauline’s fabulous home is just that, a stylish and comfortable place in which to enjoy life!

SUPPLIERS

Builders and Developers:
Dave Dwyer, D & J Developments, Lower Parkstone, Poole. Tel: 01202 742403.

Architect:
Clark Design Partnership, 21A Haven Road, Canford Cliffs, Poole BH13 7LE.
Tel: 01202 709955. www.clarkdesignpartnership.co.uk

Fitted Kitchen:
Kitchen World (Andrew Bowie), 111 Parkstone Road, Poole BH15 2PB. Tel: 01202 723838.

Marble Floor Tiles:
Stone Couture, 48-50 Poole Hill, Bournemouth. Tel: 01202 312200.

Bathroom Tiles:
A & C Dunkley Ltd, 4-10 Kemp Road, Winton, Bournemouth BH9 2PW. Tel: 01202 526206. email: showroom@dunkleytiles.co.uk or visit www.dunkleytiles.co.uk

Tile Fixer: (bathrooms, kitchen and ground-floor areas)
John Bocchetta, Parkstone, Poole Tel: 07803 212156.

Bathrooms:
Island Bathrooms, 308-310 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth BH8 8AY. Tel: 01202 396778.

Front Entrance Doors:
Strouden Joinery Co, 54 Balena Close, Poole. Tel: 01202 696123.

Lighting:
ESE Lighting Ltd, Unit 2-3 Benridge Business Park, Holyrood Close, Poole. Tel: 01202 658111.

Painters and Decorators:
Southbourne Decorating Services Ltd (David Stapleton), 38 Nugent Road, Southbourne.
Tel: 07971 286990.

Garden Landscape Design, Construction and Planting:
Rob Gee, Westbourne, Bournemouth. Tel: 07971 665252.