Dario can sit back and enjoy a good storm in his cedar weatherboard home of almost 10 years because he knows it has been well-built.
"The guy who built this house built it for his mother so he would have taken extra care to make it secure and solid for her."
Dario started doing renovations on the 22-year-old house only about 18 months ago and worked within the existing footprint.
The bathroom is a prime example of how he has worked some magic on the home. Here, Dario has used an enlargement of a picture he took beside the Desert Road while on a snowboarding trip and turned it into a mural that wraps around behind the shower, covered by glass. "I wanted to make it feel as though you are out in the wilderness and standing in the rain when you are having a shower," he says.
What appears to be a towel rail doubles as a door handle that opens up a storage cupboard concealed behind the Desert Rd scene.
Even the light cord has been artfully tangled to cast interesting shadows at night.
Another mirrored wall also has a door that opens into a dressing room and laundry. "After a shower you can walk straight in here and get dressed and put your old clothes in the laundry."
As well as upgrading the bathroom, which has Italian tile floors and an engineered stone benchtop, Dario renovated the kitchen, putting in European appliances and Poggenpohl cabinetry with a durable plastic facing that looks like woodgrain.
The kitchen is part of an open-plan living and dining space, warmed by an open fire, that flows out to the deck overlooking the beach.
Built in-seating along the edge of the deck makes this an ideal outdoor entertaining space.
At the northern end of the house, the master bedroom also opens to the deck and enjoys the same dramatic views and built-in seating.
Dario has employed a mostly neutral colour scheme inside that provides a counterpoint to the warm tones of the exposed timber beams and sarked ceilings, a feature of the living area and bedrooms.
The home's second bedroom is upstairs, with a window looking out to sea.
What used to be a garage at the front of the house has been lined, insulated and converted into what was to be a studio although Dario now uses it as his home theatre.
It has bifold doors opening out to a walled courtyard, a sheltered spot that has been landscaped with cabbage trees, river stones and grasses.
"I had to dig up the front yard to replace the septic tank so I used that as an opportunity to create a cabbage tree oasis, which I had always wanted," says Dario.
It's Dario's love of photography that is behind his decision to sell so he can be debt-free and focus on setting up a photography/design business.
He says, "I don't want to go but I want to do the things I love rather than the things I need to do to pay the bills."
