On fifty acres at Carbrook, Queensland, a warm, mid-century-style family home rises from an open grass paddock, where an equestrian lifestyle and precise, considered craft meet beneath the native gums. This is Ellody Farm, a custom-built property by Adam Smith Homes and the cover home of Queensland Homes’ Spring 2026 issue.
The story of Ellody Farm began where the home now stands: in a clearing on a fifty-acre property, with a builder and his clients standing on open ground, imagining what might be. Referred to Adam Smith Homes by a previous client, the owners, Tony and Laura, arrived with a vision as clear as the outlook: a functional horse property built around a warm, contemporary mid-century family home that felt connected to its rural surroundings. Largely an open grass paddock with gently sloping topography, framed by established native bushland, the property offered the kind of natural setting that rewards a considered hand. “The brief was to balance the practical requirements of an equestrian lifestyle with thoughtful, considered design,” says builder Adam Smith, “creating a home and property that would be both highly functional and enduring, while sitting naturally within the landscape.”
A PARTNERSHIP ON SITE: HOW ADAM SMITH HOMES BUILT ELLODY FARM
What sets an Adam Smith Homes project apart begins long before the finishes go in. Taking on only one or two builds a year, the studio makes a point of bringing owners along for the journey, giving them a front-row seat to how each element is crafted. “The collaboration on this project was truly exceptional,” Adam reflects. “We spoke a few times a week, diving into the smallest details of the design and build. That constant dialogue gave us a real sense of partnership.” It’s an approach that changes how a home is understood by the people who will live in it. “By seeing the process unfold, the owners gained a deep appreciation for the craftsmanship and structural integrity behind the home. So when they finally stepped inside, it wasn’t just a finished house; it was a space infused with meaning, calm, and trust in how it came together.”
LIGHT, FORM & LANDSCAPE: MID-CENTURY DESIGN MEETS MODERN FARMHOUSE
The home is a beautifully crafted split-level design, shaped by the sloping block’s natural topography. Surrounded by lush bushland, it is anchored in its rural setting, with vast expanses of glass flooding the interior with natural light. Its defining gesture is a 45-metre outdoor corridor, a resort-like passage that connects every living space and bedroom, giving each room a direct line to the landscape beyond.
Then there is the alfresco zone, positioned in a bold and deliberately unconventional move to face west. It is a choice that reads as counterintuitive against the midday heat, until the afternoon proves its logic. As the sun sets, light filters softly through the native gum trees, casting a dappled, cooling effect across the space and framing a breathtaking outlook. This harmony of light, form and landscape ensures a calm, luxurious rural retreat where every day feels like a resort stay.
TIMBER, STEEL & PRECISION: THE MATERIALS BEHIND ELLODY FARM’S DESIGN
Inside, the material story strikes an iconic balance between natural timber and exposed steel. Herringbone Blackbutt floors and quarter-sawn Blackbutt cabinetry bring warmth against crisp white walls, while the home sits on a meticulous structural grid, its bold exposed steelwork defining that framework in a way that is both functional and sculptural.
That same hand extends to the furniture itself. Among the more personal touches of the build, Adam Smith Homes crafted the dining and coffee tables in-house, finished in a microcement that deliberately echoes the Venetian plaster of the ensuite and the fireplace plinth in the lounge. It is the kind of detail that speaks to the studio’s intimate nature: a builder able to carry a single material story from the walls right through to the furniture within them.
Beyond the visible finishes, the home is built to breathe, with a full vapour-permeable barrier, Proclima tape, and a 35-millimetre cavity system that controls moisture naturally and reduces energy costs year-round. Completing the picture is a custom-built pool, perfectly scaled to the home, fully tiled with an integrated spa and a striking infinity edge that echoes the sense of luxury and calm found throughout the property.
A HOME ON AN EQUESTRIAN PROPERTY IN QUEENSLAND
For all its refinement, Ellody Farm is a genuine working property, and the design accommodates both farm and family with equal care. With no power or town water on site at the outset, the team ran power across a paddock and trenched it to the house, now supported by a 160,000-litre rainwater tank that ties beautifully into the owners’ passion for off-grid living. Beyond the home, an expansive garden grows fresh produce, and horses graze the surrounding paddocks, the family immersing themselves fully in farm life, two dogs (and sometimes the neighbours’ dogs) roaming the open space, while the layout keeps paddocks and animal care within easy reach of the modern sanctuary at its heart.
A MODERN FARMHOUSE BUILT TO LAST GENERATIONS
The build by Adam Smith Homes took eleven and a half months from groundbreaking to handover, a measured pace that reflects the studio’s deliberately small output. “Since we only take on one to two projects a year, we can really focus our attention on each detail,” Adam explains. The result is a home the owners describe as an absolute dream, one they find hard to leave, so immersive is its resort-like atmosphere. For Adam, it stands as a distillation of everything the studio believes in. “Once we hand over a home, it carries our name and our reputation, so we treat every detail with the utmost respect. This home is not just a place to live, it’s designed to be a generational asset, something the owners can pass down and cherish for decades.”
Photography: Tom Blessing Studio
