Adding Space and Functionality to a Unique Home in Glenelg South

The Client's Story

The original house was built in the early 1900s, with the upstairs areas being added at a later date. However, the upper floor extensions were not especially functional and the design did not use the available space very well. In addition, the bedroom and ensuite bathroom required a facelift, as they had become a little tired and not consistent with much of the rest of the house.

One of the key goals that the client wanted us to achieve for them was the creation of a more functional ensuite bathroom that made better use of the room’s unusual dimensions and layout. They also wanted the overall look and feel of the ensuite to be updated and refreshed. This included timber tones to be introduced to match the theme of the existing kitchen and timber floors in the upstairs master bedroom, that matched those downstairs. A further requirement was a new built-in bed head (with hidden joinery) that would create more storage space.

Better use of the space and an updated style was a must for the ensuite, as was a more inviting and spacious layout for the bedroom which had unusual angles and dimensions of the roof (formerly an attic).

After

The first stage was replacing the old carpet with Tasmanian Oak timber floor to match the existing flooring in the kitchen and elsewhere, creating a much more unified look and feel throughout the house.

We then devised a creative solution for the bed head which now conceals a unique ‘walk-through wardrobe’ that gives the clients significantly more storage space. It was important that this innovative feature blended with the rest of the room, given its unusual roof angles and dimensions.

The ensuite was completely stripped back so that we had a blank canvas to work with. While retaining much of the same floor plan, we then added a large freestanding vanity unit, giving the clients more storage space and makes the room more user friendly.

The unusual angles of the ceiling in the bedroom and the ensuite bathroom meant that some interesting solutions were needed, and this led to it becoming quite a significant renovation project. Amongst the solutions we devised was to run fans in the roof space next to the bathroom with ducting to the vents to achieve proper levels of ventilation in the ensuite, as this had been an issue with the previous configuration.