Glen Rosa sits quietly within the orchard country of Myrtle Creek Farm—a 1914 cottage renewed with a gentle hand. The project leans into the home’s history, strengthening its everyday functionality while deepening its relationship with the land that has held it for more than a century. Every move is deliberate, drawing from the site’s material memory and the slow, seasonal rhythms of its agricultural past.

A pivotal gesture was the transformation of the existing shed into a generous bathroom, now lined in recycled Tasmanian oak. The timber wraps walls and ceilings alike, allowing the space to hold onto its shed-like honesty while offering the comfort and ease of contemporary living.

Throughout the cottage, original rooms were preserved and carefully restored. The former study—once a narrow, transitional space—now offers a quiet nook for watching TV. The existing bathroom, previously constrained by awkward access, has been reworked to feel more spacious and resolved. During construction, one bedroom revealed early split timber boards concealed behind later linings, including the ceiling. These were meticulously stripped, repaired, and reinstated, becoming one of the home’s most treasured features.

A glazed corridor now threads old and new together. This light-filled passage clarifies circulation, defines the back entry, and introduces a sheltered porch. Its transparency allows the original cottage to remain visually prominent, while the new addition offers a calm, contemporary counterpoint.

The kitchen has been expanded and reoriented to strengthen its connection to the lounge, and a fully glazed dining space acts as a conservatory—opening the interior to the landscape and flowing seamlessly to a charred timber pergola built from pine trees felled on the property. Those same pines were milled and used to line the ceilings and walls of the new corridor and dining area, stained dark to emphasise their grain and create a deliberate contrast with the crisp white palette of the original cottage.

Across the project, new elements adopt a dark, charred timber language. This material strategy grounds the additions in the landscape. It establishes a quiet, respectful dialogue with the 1914 structure, tying the architecture back to the pergola and reinforcing a cohesive identity across the site.

Glen Rosa is a thoughtful, understated renewal—one that supports contemporary life while honouring the heritage, materiality, and agricultural story of Myrtle Creek Farm.

Team:

Architects: Biotope Architecture + Interiors 

Photographer: Rosie Hastie

Materials Used:

Kitchen

Benchtop Material

• Recycle timber

Sink Type

• Abey boutique Lugano One & One quarter drainer left hand bowl artisan copper or black pearl, with Brodware Halo pullout Kicthen set 1.9507.94.2.01 in brushed nickel finish

Existing Cabinetry Finish

• Stain the existing timber cabinet doors dark so some of the timber grain shows.

New Cabinetry

• The door style should be panelled like the exisitng kitchen but and stained like the exisitng timber cabinet doors.

Splashback Design

• Aretdomus finger tiles in white.

Handles for Cabinetry

• Designer doorware Kamen cabinet knob in weathered brass finish.

Appliances

• Fridge- reuse existing.
• Rangehood -SMEG 90cm undermount rangehood with autovent 2.0 Matte black KSGAU9P4MB.
• Dishwasher Smeg integrated dishwasher

Shelving

• King Billy would be good to use otherwise recycled timber. Clear finish

Ensuite

Floor Tiles

• Option 1- Regolo 309 Tane Ulm 75 x 300 tiles
• Option 2 Elements - Tundra 37 x 116

Wall Tiles

• Regolo 309 Tane Ulm 75 x 300 tiles
• Option 2 Elements - Tundra 37 x 116

Basin

• Studio Bagno Nur 60 white gloss or matte white

Vanity Design and Materials

• Charred or stained timber to architects approval

Tapware Finish

• Brodware Halo wall set with metal handles 1.9506.50.2.XX: Flow controlled variant. Brushed Nickel finish

Toilet

• Studio Bagno In wall cistern under bench type Expert Evo.
• Studio Bagno toilet pan Milady Rimless wall faced pan

Shower Screen

• Not required as we can positon a waterstop along the edge of the opening between the wall and opening to the shower area

Accessories

• Brodware Halo single handtowel rail 900 wide
• Halo toilet roll holder
• Halo hook all brushed nickel finish

Mirror

• Custom joinery with mirror cabinet door as detailed

Laundry

Benchtop Material

• Artedomus finger tiles Saita Border benchtop

Splashback Design

• Artedomus finger tiles Saita Border

Cabinetry Finish

• The laundry area is very tight. The bench width needs to be at least 700 deep x 600 clear width to fit the washing machine and dryer.
• If the kicthen joinery cupbpoards can work here then use it.
• I would stain the cupboard dark.

Sink Type

• Abey LT120 45 litre single bowl with overflow black pearl L470 x W450 x H 250.

Tapware

• Brodware Halo wall set with metal handle 1.9528.84.2.XX: Flow controlled variant in brished nickel finish