A relaxed family home in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs

Source: Australian House & Garden
Photos: Prue Ruscoe

This clever renovation, which we stumbled across on fabulous interiors and property website Homes To Love, is a considered example of how to form a new family home from two separate apartments.

The original 1930s brick building in Sydney’s Coogee was a duplex, with one two-bedroom apartment on top of another. Architect Madeleine Blanchfield was appointed to blend the two apartments into one family home, honouring the building’s history while infusing it with contemporary style.

The finished result is remarkable. Madeleine inserted a staircase where the bathrooms once were, connecting the two floors. An oversized laundry occupies the space where the downstairs kitchen used to be. Upstairs are three bedrooms (the main bedroom where the old living room was) as well as a sunroom, walk-in wardrobe and ensuite in the former kitchen and eating areas.

Downstairs, the new living and dining areas are housed within a light-drenched pavilion with stacking doors along the western, garden side.

Clerestory windows above the oak joinery make the ceiling appear to float and the polished-concrete floor connects to a concrete terrace that abuts the lawn. Across the lawn and past the pool, a new double garage is clad in western red cedar and has a Palm Springs air.

The kitchen space links the new pavilion with the old building and combines period and modern elements – exposed, painted brickwork juxtaposed with streamlined custom joinery.