We’ve been meticulous about choosing the right materials to achieve our goal of working with the natural environment instead of against it. It’s a balancing act though. While striving to blend into the landscape, we still want to have a liveable home. One way we’ve achieved this is through our three decks, where we can live outside while being light on the land.

All three are more than a metre from the ground, which means we’re required to install a balustrade around them for safety reasons. We were initially a little gutted about this because we were worried that they would obscure our views into the bush and ruin our vision for a seamless flow between inside and out. Plus they often look ugly with little design consideration given to them.

However our builders suggested that we meet with a company called Glass Vice. They’d recently worked together during the renovation of a nearby cliff-top home and the business’ frameless glass balustrades preserved the sea views and architectural integrity of the house while exceeding all safety requirements at the same time.

Buoyed with that prospect, Kylie and I contacted them and arranged to pop into their showroom on William Pickering Drive in Rosedale to look at their products.

We were greeted like old friends by founder Warwick Allen and his wife Jane. We explained the vision for our home, and then listened to how they might be able to help us achieve it. I love an innovator and Warwick had us captivated from the get go as he explained his journey over the past eight years to create a range of superior glass balustrading products that minimised or totally eliminated the visibility of any fixings – the final solution coming in the form of his patented Glass Vice clamp, which is now exported around the globe.

Eureka, that was music to our ears, but seeing is believing, so Warwick took us through to look at his product range. I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with something as functional as a balustrade, but Kylie and I did the moment we set eyes on Warwick’s new Clearline by Glass Vice. It looked so good and like no other balustrade we’d ever seen before.

The Glass Vice clamps holding the sheets of glass were completely hidden beneath a sleek aluminium cover panel, which can be powder coated to a colour of your choosing. Then set into the panel was a series of small LED lights washing across the deck. We were so impressed with the system that we completely changed the layout of our two lower decks right there in the showroom so we could incorporate more of these show-stopping balustrades into our house.

We then moved onto a solution for the roof top deck. Warwick explained that they are the only company in the country with a product that can be fixed onto the top of a floating deck like ours. The sleek Glass Vice is attached directly to the top of the deck, then clamps onto the sheets of glass, leaving a small gap beneath which makes cleaning a breeze. Plus you only need two fixings for every 1.8m piece of glass, keeping the visual impact to an absolute minimum. Sold, with LED lights centred in the deck below each pane of glass please.

With our order made, Warwick said the install team will be on site next week. Choice, can’t wait!

Anthony from Glass Vice installing the top-fixed vices on our floating roof top deck.

Anthony installing the Clearline system on the deck behind our bedroom.