Watch this heritage house transformation (No extension)
What I love about myself and my work is the ability of seeing possible in the impossible. When it comes to renovation, extensions are not always viable, there are multiple reasons making an extension not an option when it comes to upgrading your home. The easiest answer would be budget, sometimes hardcore constructions involved or the lack of available space to extend it to. In this case is a bit of all.
This house is located in a prominent suburb in Adelaide Australia. Because it is an heritage listed house, it means most of the walls are rock solid (actually made out of rocks.), and the front of the house cannot be touched. The rare yard is not big enough to do any kind of extension. (but don't worry we don't need one.) This is a four bedroom, one bathroom house, which is not really practical in the modern days if you are a household needing 4 bedrooms, (can you imagine the fight between 3-5 other people sharing that bathroom? Over my dead body!) In order to fix this let's look at some obstacles and objectives. And like always, all my designs has a holistic approach using Feng Shui Psychology.
Extended read: Let's talk about Feng Shui Psychology, what's Feng Shui and what does it have to do with psychology?
There is only one bathroom that services the 4 bedrooms.
Like we mentioned earlier, this is simply not viable for a family that may need 4 bedrooms, plus the location of the bathroom is all the way at the back , means the flow of the house gets really cramped. The bathroom door is is also direct facing the kitchen, in Feng Shui Psychology, it is known to bring filthy energy and moisture towards our space where we eat, which does not sound appetising at all, regardless if it is first entering to the laundry area, it is still considered as a bathroom door. There are also many sharp corners at the back sections of the house. Too many corners are not ideal. (obviously we will always have the standard four corners) More random and awkward corners means more obstacles on the way, it either creates more accidents, or our brain becomes more aware of these sharp edges and creates instability in our mind.
The living room is far from the kitchen and dining, as well as the family area is too small.
In a traditional settings we will have the living room at the front. but with the preference of modern day living, unless you have the luxury of multiple living areas, people usually like the space to be together. (Who doesn't love a big beautiful open plan living kitchen dining?)
With the living room all the way at the front, another reality is that it will less likely to be used.
Lack of storage.
A big four bedroom house but literately no storage space besides the little storage room. The area in front of the bathroom also turns in to a dead space that you could not place anything without blocking the flow. There are no wardrobes, linen closet, laundry storage, or pantry. Three of the rooms has fireplace, which we are intend to keep to continue the heritage character.
Those are our obstacles and now let's see what are our objectives.
Keeping 4 bedrooms.
We would not decrease the number of bedrooms just because we need more space. so we will still need 4 bedrooms to keep the value of the property. Only more not less.
Have a master bedroom with ensuite other then main bathroom (so two in total)
Not only this gives more sense for the occupiers of the house, this increase the property precede value instantly.
Have an open plan living kitchen dining area for family time.
Nothing beats an open plan family space, it opens up the area and gives more options on life styles. family having enough space to leisure without being on each others face. Again adds instant value compare to the current floor plan.
Create ample storage for day to day use.
All four bedrooms will need wardrobe. Kitchen needs pantry, Linen closet to service the 3 rooms. Laundry also needs plenty of storage. A house without storage is a nightmare to live in, overtime it becomes so messy and unorganised (remember our Feng Shui lessons? messy and unorganised space leads to messy and unorganised mind.)
Extended read: Let's talk about Feng Shui Psychology, what's Feng Shui and what does it have to do with psychology?
"Wow, reading the list that is a lot to add and change but so little space to change in!" you might think. Well, I love a good challenge. I saw the potential of this place upgrading to a much higher value home even without an extension. I have done several different versions of it and here is my favourite. Let's have a look at the plan and the journey of the design.
In the new plan, 70% of the wall remain untouched, means we not only keeps the heritage value, we also save a lot of money demolish those solid stone walls. Bedroom 1 & 3 remains the same but with wardrobes. The front living room tuns into a huge bedroom with build in wardrobe, the build in area is long which means it has the options to have office area or tv wall together with the build in wardrobe.
Functional 3 way bathroom with ample storage laundry, and access to rare yard.
The original office space turn into our functional 3 way bathroom and laundry, which means the space can be used in 4 different ways with different people at the same time. This way the bathroom services much more efficient and even an extra door way to outside for hanging clothes. With the double sink on the vanity, this space has creates maximum function and value. It is definitely the highlight of the whole design.
Bathroom vanity with double sink.
Master bedroom with ensuite.
We replaced the kitchen space to create an ensuite for the room for a master bedroom. The wall of the living room is with build in TV wall that algins with the double door to the varandah. Again, double sink on vanity with plenty counter space, double shower and a bath, this master ensuite is very dreamy.
Open plan kitchen dining with hidden walk-in pantry. That's a lot of storage.
The updated family area looks so much bigger and more spacious than before, even though it might be a very similar size. We especially love the hidden walk-in pantry and island (who doesn't love a big beautiful island in the kitchen?), it adds a lot of storage space.
Dining area with recess wall for buffet or wall art.
A very functional kitchen with big island bench, who would have thought is was changed from the small kitchen from before?
What do you think of the transformation? Would you live inside this house with your family?
My name is Chia Yun, or as known as Rachel. I am an award winning interior designer based is Sydney/ Adelaide Australia. Make sure you follow me on Instagram to see my latest work and design trend. Follow me on my YouTube channel to get some Feng Shui Psychology master class.
Stay Awesome!
Extended read: Let's talk about Feng Shui Psychology, what's Feng Shui and what does it have to do with psychology?
Check out my YouTube channel: GIA Interior
Check out my Insta: @GIA_interiordesign
Check out my Pinterest: @GIA_interiordesign
Comments