Casa Bungan - Master Ensuite

The brief for our Belgrave project was to create a transitional style home that could blend both a traditional and contemporary look. The existing home had a small kitchen with a walk-in-pantry and an external door as well as a bathroom that doubled as a laundry. By using the pantry space to create a Euro Laundry that was accessible from the other side and removing the external door in the kitchen, we were able to give the client a much larger kitchen, euro laundry and separate bathroom that all made the best use of the available space.​ Our client was excited to use colour in the renovation, which is always a bit of fun. We selected a dark blue tone for the kitchen which was paired with a shaker style cabinetry profile, a butler's sink and antique brass handles, lights and tapware. A natural stone benchtop, subway tile splashback and touches of timber to match the new blackbutt flooring completed the look. To create a cohesive home, we carried through similar colours and finishes from the kitchen into the bathroom. We used the same timber for the cabinetry, the same subway tile for the walls and selected a ceppo di gre look tile with blue tones for the floors. However, in the european laundry, we chose to match the client's existing Laminex Green Slate robe cabinetry instead.

Brunswick Parlour transforms a Victorian cottage into a hard-working, personalised home for a family of four. Our clients loved the character of their Brunswick terrace home, but not its inefficient floor plan and poor year-round thermal control. They didn't need more space, they just needed their space to work harder. The front bedrooms remain largely untouched, retaining their Victorian features and only introducing new cabinetry. Meanwhile, the main bedroom’s previously pokey en suite and wardrobe have been expanded, adorned with custom cabinetry and illuminated via a generous skylight. At the rear of the house, we reimagined the floor plan to establish shared spaces suited to the family’s lifestyle. Flanked by the dining and living rooms, the kitchen has been reoriented into a more efficient layout and features custom cabinetry that uses every available inch. In the dining room, the Swiss Army Knife of utility cabinets unfolds to reveal a laundry, more custom cabinetry, and a craft station with a retractable desk. Beautiful materiality throughout infuses the home with warmth and personality, featuring Blackbutt timber flooring and cabinetry, and selective pops of green and pink tones. The house now works hard in a thermal sense too. Insulation and glazing were updated to best practice standard, and we’ve introduced several temperature control tools. Hydronic heating installed throughout the house is complemented by an evaporative cooling system and operable skylight. The result is a lush, tactile home that increases the effectiveness of every existing inch to enhance daily life for our clients, proving that good design doesn’t need to add space to add value.

Chris Warnes