Chris Clout designer home in Castaways Beach hits market

An ultra-glamorous, grand and sprawling Chris Clout home designed for his own family by the building designer who has been at it since he was 15 has been listed for sale.

A building designer who has been designing homes since the age of 15 has put his own unique home at an exclusive Sunshine Coast location up for sale.

Driftwood House, on Driftwood Dr at Castaways Beach is a six-bedroom, six-bathroom, six-car garage home completed in August last year after a two-year labour of love by building designer Chris Clout and his team of 20 – which included his father, an ex-builder – who came out of retirement for it.

Positioned a four-minute walk to the beach and described by agent Rachel Sellman as “two homes within one”, the striking property makes the most of a 839sq m block with 920sq m of internal space and a 33m frontage.

“This house can’t be replicated with the new council laws,” Ms Sellman said.

Chris Clout's own "Driftwood House" at Castaways Beach is currently for sale via tender closing Friday April 14 at 5pm.

“You can live on one level like an apartment, so it’s not necessarily just a house for kids, it’s also a house for an older couple if they just wanted the extra space.”

The first house Mr Clout has designed for him and his family, it has a tri-level footprint with “lots of voids which bring in all the gardens”, Ms Sellman said.

Chris Clout's own "Driftwood House" at Castaways Beach is currently for sale via tender closing Friday April 14 at 5pm.

Fully integrated and automated with speakers in each room, the decadent home has two wet edge pools, a mini putt-putt golf course, a touch tennis court, a commercial grade basketball ring, games room, gym, theatre and bar.

Chris Clout's own "Driftwood House" at Castaways Beach is currently for sale via tender closing Friday April 14 at 5pm.

The home also comes fully furnished by boutique and interior design atelier Clo Studios.

Mr Clout, who was a naturally talented designer crafting his own three-storey cubby houses from the age of six, has been designing homes for 25 years but waited until now, and on the cusp of his 40th birthday to create his own personal home.

Chris Clout in a cubby house he designed as a kid.

“This house was very complex,” Mr Clout said.

“It may look simple when it’s finished but what goes into the construction is very challenging to create, through every detail.

“Everything is integrated, everything is smart home, all the airconditioning is integrated through the ceiling, you’ve got pools that are heated, with spas and wet edges and lighting and waterfalls all integrated into the structure.

Chris Clout's own "Driftwood House" at Castaways Beach is currently for sale via tender closing Friday April 14 at 5pm.

“Everything is thought backwards.”

Mr Clout says he invented his particular style over the years by pushing the boundaries and learning to deliver the homes people want.

Chris Clout's own "Driftwood House" at Castaways Beach is currently for sale via tender closing Friday April 14 at 5pm.

“My goal has always been to create concepts around the world,” he said.

“It’s coastal minimalist and all our designs are very unique, upside down and back to front.

“It’s taking another step in evolution.”

Ms Sellman said she wasn’t putting a price out there because of the tender situation which closes April 14.

“We don’t have to sell straight away, so we’ll just see what interest we get really, put it out there and just see what happens,” Mr Clout said.

Originally published as Chris Clout designer home in Castaways Beach hits market