Client brief:

Our client’s home was a quaint and charming original Canberra cottage that completely lacked functionality for their family.  The original kitchen, laundry & bathroom were all small, dark rooms offering a rabbit warren type design allowing no space for the family to engage in meals together or to connect with the garden.   The windows were small leaving the interior dark and the outdoors lacked disconnection to the home.  The original single doorways and single step down to the back yard made wheelchair access extremely difficult.  The brief was to create more useable space without extending together with future proofing and designing the space with the intention of an extension to be added in years to come when the budget allowed.

Design:

The new open plan renovation design is a beautiful, visual appealing space offering a functional kitchen and spacious dining area and has changed the way our client’s live, enabling the family to come together for meals and to have the space to entertain.  The incorporation of the large windows and stacked sliding doors offer much needed light and warmth to the space together with a beautiful view and adding connection to the outdoors and providing easy access to the outdoor entertaining area.

The chair in front of the large picture window has proven to be the family’s favourite seat in the house, especially in the winter!  The wide opening sliding door and ramp to the backyard has also presented our clients the much needed wheelchair access.  It is envisaged that the future extension will extend out from the current kitchen to add another living space for the family.  The European style laundry and powder room are a functional addition that met our client’s needs and were thoughtfully positioned with the future home addition in mind.

Construction:

Renovating homes that were constructed 60 years ago require specialists and through our thorough design planning ensured accuracy in our design and therefore full preparation prior to construction.

Due to the age of the home there were many issues that needed careful detailing and planning during the construction phase including the removal of asbestos cement ceiling sheets, the assessment and removal of an old water tank in the roof, the removal of original concrete slabs and the original brick fireplace.  Due to the open plan nature of the new design, support of the roof and flooring was necessary.

It was pleasing to recycle the original chimney bricks into the exterior walls of the renovation offering a cost saving measure as well as paying homage to the original home.  AWS aluminium double glazed windows and stacked sliding door contribute to the visual appeal and energy efficiency of the home and the ash floating timber flooring adds warmth to the interior.

Completion:

Our clients were thrilled with Build Professional’s ability to take care of the complete design and build process which was exactly what they were looking for.  The design was so much more beautiful and functional than they had imagined and they found Build Professional’s robust processes, open communication, design conscious, clear costing and extremely well-orchestrated construction process to be such valuable components.

The brief was achieved and all within our client’s agreed budget!   Their home now offers a solar passive, open plan, light filled new kitchen and dining space connecting to their garden, a functional laundry, a powder room and back yard wheelchair access.  The interior and exterior aesthetic has been improved and the architectural merit of the existing home has been retained and further enhanced.  Build Professional has changed the way our client’s live and they are thrilled with their home renovation and we look forward to working with them again when they are ready to engage in stage 2 of their home extension