When Dan Fitzpatrick began work on his cherished Crace abode, he knew he was designing something he would find difficult to part with.
The five-bedroom, three-storey house at 8 Ettrick Street is an eclectic mix of recycled materials and custom designs curated by Mr Fitzpatrick.
Seven years of construction and another six collecting materials made the family home a labour of love, stretching ideas of what was "possible" in Canberra design.
A green marble bench and patchwork stained glass windows greet you on entry.
In the master bathroom, blue tiles, arranged in hexagon shapes, provide a design feature for the room.
The house has won a hefty number of awards, but for Mr Fitzpatrick, that is not what has mattered.
"We've raised two kids here - my wife has had maternity leave twice in this house. It is nostalgic for us," Mr Fitzpatrick, a building designer, said.
The house has cypress pine from Red Hill development and rare marble from one of Canberra's biggest development, which was no longer manufactured by the time Mr Fitzpatrick got his hands on it.
The timber architraves and skirting boards came from a home in Yarralumla.
They're not the only wood features that stand out. In the kitchen, parquetry gives an optical-illusion like effect.
Bricks were collected from other sites and used in the living room, while an old cement laundry tub found in the backyard of a Canberra home now lives in the downstairs bathroom as a repurposed sink.
"I'll never have the energy or time to do something like this again, or the materials available to me," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
So when it came time to sell the house in mid-2024, he had a "bittersweet" feeling.
Selling agent Theo Koutsikamanis of Bastion Property Group said recognising the work that had been put into the property was important.
"The house is very bespoke and wasn't going to be for everyone, but we found the [right buyer]," he said.
The property was listed with another agent in 2022 but did not sell at the time.
This gave Mr Fitzpatrick and his family an extra two winters to enjoy the light-filled home.
"The general comfort of a well-built house with good orientation is a joy," he said.
Being on a hill, the house offers great views of Canberra's skyline.
"The amount of light that comes in and how bright it is is so uplifting," Mr Fitzpatrick said. "You're really in touch with the seasons and quality of light."
The house has now sold for just over $2.2 million, making it the second-most expensive sale in the suburb by CoreLogic data.
The buyer is "one of the biggest fans" of the house in Canberra, according to Mr Fitzpatrick.
"It's nice to know someone will really cherish it," he said.
Another offer was made, but Mr Fitzpatrick said that potential buyer wanted to make a lot of changes - a concept he found hard to stomach.
"People need to make it their own, but I was a bit like, 'My baby'!" Mr Fitzpatrick said.
"There's a trend called millennial beige," he said.
"I'm a millennial but I didn't [want that]."
The family purchased the 555-square-metre block in 2013, with CoreLogic records showing the greenfield site sold for $315,000.
Mr Fitzpatrick, who owns Canberra-based custom building company Megaflora Group, will begin work on a series of townhouses next year.
