This talented crew has good reason to smile. After 2½ years of painstaking work, they're ready to show the world their unique collaboration.
The dream team and their boss, ad mogul John Singleton, were devastated when their Central Coast luxury retreat Pretty Beach House burned down in 2012, taking with it irreplaceable Australian art and a beautiful building. Since then, they've been recreating their piece of paradise on the Bouddi Peninsula – and it's poised to open in two weeks' time.
The team of Singleton, interior designer Michelle Leslie, proprietors Karina and Brian Barry, chef Stefano Manfredi and restaurateur Julie Manfredi Hughes, gave S an exclusive glimpse of their new baby – and it's beautiful.
Leslie, who has found her groove in this career after modelling and that harrowing 2005 spell in Bali's Kerobokan jail, couldn't hide her excitement as she talked us through the look she's carefully put together. "We wanted to keep the integrity of the building, so I tried to find as many artisans as possible who can make things by hand," she says. They even bought a bridge, for "It was a decommissioned bridge in Queensland that was built in 1893. We've used the beautiful posts. No power tools were used, it was all carved by hand."
A blacksmith who lives off the grid in the Blue Mountains made brass fixtures and local sandstone was carved by a local stonemason. Mud brick walls were lovingly built by hand. However, as you'd expect from a guesthouse that's entertained throngs of celebrities, the earthiness is all wrapped up in uber-luxury.
Says Julie Manfredi-Hughes: "We have fine French porcelain and Sheffield cutlery, and the linen is from an eighth generation Italian company, handmade on 450-year-old looms."
Perhaps happiest of the whole team is Singleton himself, who was devastated by the loss of his favourite spot on the planet.
"I've been spending time in the area since I was five years old," he told S. "Those two weeks I spent on my annual holiday there as a kid were the best two weeks of my year. Pretty Beach House is part of my legacy to somewhere I love, and it celebrates the magnificence of the place."
