Yarralumla residence for sale complete with giant outdoor chessboard and secret door

Imagine whiling away your evening by enjoying a chef-quality meal, then sidling up to the bar for a gin and tonic before slipping into the cinema to enjoy a film in surround-sound.

It’s not a slick new restaurant or members’ club, but rather life at the home of 15 Guilfoyle Street, Yarralumla.

In fairness, the award-winning kitchen won’t cook your meal for you, but with top of the range Miele appliances including two pyrolytic ovens, it’ll do everything but.

The property’s immaculate design, superb quality and luxury finishes have attracted several awards including a national MBA Custom Built Home award and ACT Home of the Year award.

“It’s a very appealing home from the outside, but it’s quite unassuming,” says selling agent Stephen Thompson of LJ Hooker Manuka.

“The emphasis on quality, luxury and fastidious attention to detail, it’s a really high standard. I get to see a lot of top-end houses, and this one is right up there.”

It’s not just the prominent elements – the landscaped gardens, the real flame gas fireplace in the living room, or the solid timber flooring – but the secret hidden features that surprise and delight.

“The media room has this amazing secret door. You think it’s a wall, but it’s a secret door finished to within millimetres. You wouldn’t know that it’s there unless you pushed against it,” says Thompson.

Should you tire of evenings in the secret cinema, the generously sized main suite offers a different take on luxury. De-robe in the walk-in wardrobe, relax under the rain shower and then slip into bed, where a 55-inch television will descend from the ceiling at the push of a button (and is further enhanced by ceiling speakers).

The attention to detail extends to every area of the home but is perhaps most noticeable in the living area, where soft-closing magnetic sliding doors open up to the outdoor entertaining area, and the motorised blinds are concealed in bulkheads.

The home is unmistakably built for families, with an additional three bedrooms upstairs each with their own en suite. Then there’s the four-car garage, study and upstairs rumpus room, offering multi-purpose spaces for flexible living.

The open-plan, north-facing living room, adjacent courtyard and outdoor entertaining area offer plenty of space to spread out, as well as ample opportunities for intimate gatherings, large celebrations or simply nights spent by the fire or the barbecue.

You might think that a home of this size and calibre comes with its fair share of maintenance, but it’s been designed to offer low-effort luxury.

“It has that flexibility of being a really large family home but without all the maintenance. The home has been designed so you can turn key and go away, and it’s completely private, it doesn’t have a big massive lawn to mow or anything like that,” Thompson says.

“For someone who still wants quality but doesn’t want the great big half-acre block and all the work that goes with it, this really works well.”

Yarralumla

View property

Price guide: $3.295 million-$3.495 million

Private sale

Agent: LJ Hooker Manuka, Stephen Thompson 0418 626 254