Toowong

This post-war home turned neo-colonial castle in Toowong underwent an extensive internal renovation, on top of a carport and deck extension.

When I initially the meet my clients on site, the house had already been gutted. There was just an empty shell waiting for an amazing transformation.

The plan entailed building a carport to the side and enclosing the existing deck to the rear and transforming it into a sunroom, to allow users to capture the warmth of the sun, through extensive colonial style windows. The dominating sandstone cladding subsequently directed the next evolution of the house aesthetic. We had been surprised to learn that this house was originally a post- war house that had been renovated to resemble a Neo-colonial style house.

external consultants

Engineer

An engineer was required for the aspects of the renovation that involved the bracing, carport structure, sunroom structure & beams to replace a wall removal.

Certifier

Initially I had been engaged to only provide plans for the carport and enclosing the deck. However, a common misconception is that only extensions are required to be certified, when in fact all building works should be certified. This house was undertaking a full internal renovation, and therefore I provided a full set of plans documenting the demolition (which had already started) the proposed new layout, deck conversion to sunroom, new deck and carport extension.

I recommended Michael Ewald and his team, for the job. They are always friendly and happy to walk around the site to discuss the progress.

Due to the bushfire level on the block, the carport and sunroom had to be built from Hebel. The Hebel panels are thicker and heavier then the usual cladding, but due to their thickness they offer additional ways to play with articulation and pattern.

The kitchen was previously located under the rear windows, in its own separate room, as was the style in previous times. The wall dividing the kitchen to dining was removed and the kitchen shuffled to the other side, opening up the the space. As the original kitchen windows, outdated sliding aluminum, did not match the rest of the house, we removed and replaced them. However as there is a BAL rating on the block, the windows had to be upgraded to suit.

The stairs not only got a modern reinvigoration they also had relocation.

Due to the generous amount of existing dormer windows each upstairs room is bathed in light. The bathroom being no exception. The light just dances into the room, and being able to look out the bath through the windows into the sky and trees beyond will be an absolute delight for the owner.

It’s always exciting seeing the scaffolding just before it comes down. You can see that there are changes happening, but can’t quite appreciate the full visual extent yet.