@deborahhutton
Former model and media legend Deborah Hutton is in the grips of a months-long south coast home renovation, and she’s taken us behind the scenes of her exciting build.
Speaking on Home Beautiful‘s The Edit podcast, Deb gave us an audio walkthrough of her plans, designed by renowned Sydney architect, Walter Barda.
“He is an award winning designer but, apart from that, his aesthetic really aligns with what I love about architecture and his strength is those beautiful plantation houses,” she revealed . “I love a weatherboard house. I love going back in time and having V-groove cladding inside, and adding a lot of timbers and textures. And he’s got this beautiful feel of how it sits in the land.”
Listen to Deborah Hutton on The Edit podcast:
Purchased as an escape from Sydney following the COVID-19 pandemic, the new build takes full advantage of the home’s oceanfront locale, offering sweeping views from the private, tropical retreat.
While Hutton’s early months at the property were met with a record-breaking landslide, her knock-down build has come a long way. “Today, the roof is on, the doors are arriving and we’re ready to start tiling,” she said of its progress during The Edit podcast recording.
As for the design, Deb explains: “The whole feeling of the house is very along the line of British colonial, Raffles [hotel] Singapore, plantation style. A little bit of Bermuda. It’s kind of Sri Lanka. Like, I’m doing dark plantation shutters. There’s no white.”
As we eagerly await an expected Christmas finish, Home Beautiful has been lucky to receive a preliminary sneak peek into what you can expect from Deborah Hutton’s south coast home.
Everything we know about Deborah Hutton’s South Coast build
Where is it?
Deborah Hutton is currently building a new home in Wombarra on the New South Wales south coast. Just over an hour south of Sydney, the 1000 square-metre property is 20km north of Wollongong and close to the Royal National Park. It sits sits directly above the beach in Wombarra, with Deb enjoying spectacular ocean views from the site.
When did Deborah Hutton buy her south coast home?
The property was purchased in October 2021 for $5.6 million, eventually settling in January 2022.
Months after moving in, the area suffered heavy rain and landslides, which Deb had to factor in to the renovation of her land. This resulted in her adding “six or seven” sub-soil drains, 70 concrete piers and a shoring wall to the back of her property.
The site was previously home to a small, red-brick cottage, which Deb and her partner, Andrew Marsh, lived in for three years before knocking it down in June 2025 to commence the new build. In an Instagram post, Hutton shared that “We had such a beautiful experience in that house and it’s a shame we couldn’t have renovated it,” before explaining that the structural elements of the house are “no longer safe.”
Call it fate, but the house already came with pre-approved permits for a new build designed by renowned Australian architect Walter Barda, of whom Deb was already a fan. Prior to the demolition, Hutton shared a series of plans and drawings for her new home on Instagram, showcasing the gorgeous four-level mansion by the sea.
Before making the move to the South Coast, Hutton lived in a stylish Hamptons inspired beach house in Bronte. She sold the home in 2021 for $9.85 million, after deciding that she wanted a lifestyle change.
Inside Deborah Hutton’s south coast home
The exterior
As Deb told The Edit, the home will follow a British colonial, tropical plantation style. Its frontage is deceiving, with only two levels visible from street level. However, the view from the back shows off the home’s full five storeys, descending downward towards the beach.
You can certainly see the colonial inspiration, with plantation shutters and timber picket balustrades adorning multiple levels. The terraces are tiled with “beautiful porcelain tiles that look like they’ve been ripped up from some chateau in the south of France”, and will be lined with larger planter boxes filled with bay trees.
While the original renders show a dark, black-grey exterior, Hutton told Home Beautiful this has since changed to a “Dulux forest green”.
Kitchen and living areas
The home will have a mudroom-style entry from which you can either head down to bedrooms or slightly up to the kitchen, living and dining areas. The living area, which Hutton calls “the f-ing awesome room’, features a “huge fire place and two Indian doors hiding the TV because I hate looking at the TV,” Deb shares.
The pitched ceiling is also a feature Deb is very proud of. “We’re doing this beautiful open-raftered roof,” she detailed. “The ceiling detail is this beautiful Weathertex. It’s got this lovely wood-grain finish, it’s textural.”
While we haven’t received a sneak peek of the kitchen, Deb assures Home Beautiful that it features a centre kitchen island measuring nearly four metres in length. This sounds like an impressive focal point alone, however, the real hero is the view.
“Everything is designed around this north-facing terrace, which is very generous in size,” Deb shared. “[The living area] has three huge glass panes, [including] two huge sliding doors, which are like 3.4 meters each.”
Bathrooms (and steam room!)
The home has at least two bathrooms, with one also comprising a steam room.
In the guest bathroom, Hutton is planning a small steam room, complete with green tiles, a domed ceiling, and Geyser Steam fit-out. “I’m putting a very beautiful steam room in [the guest bathroom],” Hutton confirmed to Home Beautiful. “It has these dark green tiles that are so imperfect they’re perfect, and it’s got this lovely dome ceiling which will be really softly lit with LED, and a fantastic huge 1.8 Caesarstone bench.”
Taking to Instagram, Deb shared an update on the room, showing her inspiration images for the space with glistening mosaic tiles.
Meanwhile, the main bathroom will follow a more traditional set-up with stone countertops and wall sconce lighting.
Finally, the powder room will take on some green hues, with tropical-inspired wallpaper and brass tapware.
Bedrooms
The home contains three bedrooms, a rumpus room, and a semi-separate self-contained studio.
“It could be [for] carers, you could be renting it out, my nephews would want to stay,” Hutton explained of the decision to add the studio. “And I think for resale value – not that I plan to sell it – it becomes a four-bedroom house as opposed to a three-bedroom house. I just think it made a lot more sense.”
Meanwhile, the home’s bottom level is a rumpus room, containing a kitchenette, sauna and access to the back yard.
The colour palette
After confessing there’s no “white” in her new home, Hutton revealed she leaned towards green tones for the build. “This house, is so many variations of green tones.So much that I even changed the outside colour, which I think is like a Dulux forest green,” she said on The Edit.
“I started off with a really warm coastal palette. just really simple – neutral,” Deb had previously shared on her Instagram. “It’s evolved over time…and it’s turned into this sort of Anglo-Indian sort of British Colonial feel with lots of greens coming through the palette, which is really interesting for me as that was not something I was every drawn to but I’m loving where it’s going.”
SOURCE BOOK – your trusted home directory >>
Architect: Walter Barda, walterbardadesign.com.au
Builder: Toki Construction, tokiconstruction.com.au
Head to YouTube to watch Deborah Hutton on The Edit, or listen on your chosen podcast platform.
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