This Oakley & Parkes designed house, built in 1926 as part of the now heritage listed ‘Forrest Housing Precinct’, had had numerous unsympathetic renovations and extensions over the years. The brief from our clients was to:

• Provide a co-ordinated/re-furbished upgraded house that sat comfortably in its own skin and provided all the levels of modern amenity that are expected in 2016;
• Co-ordinate the indoor/outdoor relationships;
• Totally reconfigure and remodel master suite and ensuite;
• Demolish the double carport at the front of the building and reconfigure/reimagine the relationship of the newly designed car accommodation with the existing formal entry; and
• Review location and hierarchy of all secondary spaces and provide options for redesign.

During the design phase of the project the team of Steve Andrea Architecture and Karin McNamara (KMD) strove to meet all the requirements of the clients’ brief as well as highlighting opportunities to further add value and flair to an already exciting project. Some of the highlighted opportunities were:

• Removal and redesign of the dutch gable roof that covered the extension of the front of the house; and
• Following the exposure of some of the original details, strategies were put in place to preserve the integrity of these thus creating some creative references to the past life of the house. These included the partial stripping of the dining room fireplace and the partial exposure of one of the original front archways and subsequent intentional light rendering to leave it exposed.

The original size of the house was approximately 330m², with an external carport. This consisted of: 3 bedrooms, main bathroom, ensuite, laundry, boot room, kitchen, dining, lounge, meals and family room.

The remodelling increased the size to approximately 357m² of living, plus 42m² for a tandem garage. Overall there are now 4 bedrooms, 2 ensuites, main bathroom, a powder room, laundry, lounge, meals, dining and family rooms, a study area, large kitchen and pantry.

At the commencement of the project extensive demolition works were undertaken to remove the interior of the existing portion of the home, together with removing a portion of the existing home such as the carport and shed. In addition, the existing landscaping was also cleared (excluding the pool and immediate surrounding landscaping).

During construction additions were made to the floorplan. These included an additional bedroom, laundry, powder room and tandem garage.

The entire home was stripped back to its shell and underwent extensive renovations, such as:

• Replacement of the existing roof trusses and battens including the installation of sarking throughout;
• Running of new services and fittings (mechanical, electrical, plumbing);
• Installation of 3 x gas fireplaces;
• Installation of new joinery throughout;
• New flooring throughout (parquetry, tiling/stone and carpet) which included the rectification of the existing sub-floor;
• Internal doors and door hardware;
• Double glazed windows and doors;
• Security system;
• Under tile heating;
• Shower screens & mirrors;
• Installation of a photovoltaic system;
• A new audio visual system;
• Installation of new kitchen/laundry appliances;
• Wrought-iron entry door; and
• Internal & external painting.

Finally, the landscape to the property was completely rectified and altered. These works included:

• Installation of Bundanoon sandstone;
• Porphry Filetti driveway;
• Planting;
• New turfed areas;
• Automated irrigation system;
• New pond;
• Gates/ fences;
• Vergola;
• Retaining walls;
• Granite paths, edging; and
• Extensive external lighting system.