A Sunny, Nostalgic Extension For A California Bungalow
Earlier than its renovation, this solid-red brick bungalow in Coburg harboured a shabby, asbestos-clad lean-to extension, closed off from the backyard.
This was lower than superb for the house owners, who approached Drawing Room Structure and Courageous New Eco with hopes of making an adaptable house that would serve their younger household now, and into the long run. However relatively than specializing in strictly open-plan areas, the transient requested for areas that permit for unity and separation — permitting the household to be collectively, even when they have been doing completely different actions.
‘[The owners] wished somebody to be within the kitchen space listening to music, whereas one other particular person reads or watches the footy within the residing space,’ Drawing Room Structure’s Nicola Dovey says.
They imagined a kitchen that would ‘work onerous’ and was in a position to look simply pretty much as good when in chaos or clear and tidy. An extension carved out area for this newfound coronary heart of the house, connecting the outdated to the brand new with steps, as different rooms have been reconfigured utterly.
‘We wished all most important residing areas to have northern solar and easy accessibility to the backyard, in order that they have been moved within the new extension footprint, [replacing] the demolished lean-to. The sunny sitting room was the present eating room, with a brand new massive opening carved into the northern wall to usher in heat and light,’ Nicola says.
The extra problem was bringing the outdated house on top of things on right this moment’s sustainability necessities. Retrofitting insulation to the present rooms and new heavy drapes ensured the outdated components of the home might really feel heat and cosy, whereas passive photo voltaic design components like massive, glazed doorways and home windows helped create the low-energy extension.
‘The distinctive facet of this renovated Victorian-era house is that it continues to hold its distinctive heritage character but works wholly in all of the methods Victorian period homes fail,’ Nicola provides.
Courageous New Eco’s layered interiors additionally improve the refreshed, sun-drenched home. A phenomenal stone benchtop is mixed with a gunmetal sink and backyard views within the kitchen, the place earthy colors and refined textures effortlessly cover day by day fingerprints and smudges. A mix of timber and wood-grained laminate usher in further heat (as do the golden-yellow tiles within the loos!) and the cinnamon tile flooring was a sensible and scuff-proof floor for youths.
‘I really like the tones and textures, they’re very nostalgic, and are evocative of an earthy childhood house with a sort of heat sepia tone of daylight streaming by,’ Courageous New Eco founding director and principal designer Megan Norgate says. ‘[The couple’s] house was joyously curated with a mishmash of outdated and handmade, every merchandise a lot liked and with a narrative connected and we wove this concept into the brand new areas.’
One of many standout options — the open-shelving that hyperlinks the residing and the kitchen — even advanced out of a suggestion from the house owners. It’s only one instance of how the design blends perform and type, creating a house for his or her lovely objects and beloved information, whereas additionally assembly their authentic transient for a household house that embraces connection.
