The owner of this original 1940’s workers cottage, a young, single, male, professional wanted the extension and renovation to provide improved functionality and quality of living, whilst creating a free flowing connection to the outdoors. In its original state, the cottage had a confusing and impractical layout resulting in areas of dead space and a lack of natural light being dispersed throughout the house. The owner wanted to convert the existing two bedroom, one bathroom house into a three bedroom, two bathroom with a large open plan living. The end product needed to suit the owners social lifestyle, with a home reflecting a young, modern design focused on entertaining and centred around a main display showcase for the owners many gadgets, intended to serve as a talking point within the home. The brief needed to be executed whilst working within a modest budget.

Solution:

Through smart design and a clever re-use of existing spaces and existing walls, this once cramped, small footprint cottage has been transformed into a spacious, three bedroom two bathroom, open plan living home. The once confusing layout with vast amounts of wasted space was reworked, keeping as much within the existing footprint as possible and combined with minimal, carefully placed additions in order to transform every room into a more functional liveable space.

Large expansive glazing to the north, combined with an open layout allows a large amount of natural light to enter and be dispersed throughout the home, whilst providing a natural connection between the internal living space and the entertaining deck and sunken garden, perfectly suited to the owners social lifestyle.

A custom bookshelf was built in to the main living area to best utilise the minimal space available for storage, as well as double as a focal point within the house for the owners many collector items.