What happens when an interior designer, who works in a design and architecture studio, decides it’s time to create the home of her dreams?
She turns, of course, to her colleagues, who not surprisingly help her create a real life fairytale.
Ecohabit interior designer Lou bought a 1950s home in Coolbinia which had incredible bones but needed to be revitalised.
Picture: Peter Ellery
The general design of the home was sound, with plenty of space inside, but the layout needed some modifications to get the best out of what was there. Better flow between the indoor and outdoor areas was also desperately needed.
Some gorgeous original features, including a stone wall at the centre of the living areas and a sunken lounge with timber ceiling, provided incredible assets for the team to work with and so, the home was opened up as far as possible and more mid-century modern style injected.
Picture: Peter Ellery
Picture: Peter Ellery
Changes to the layout and in particular, modifications to an undercroft garage that provided a huge barrier for flow, meant the expansive external areas were no longer under-utilised.
“Whilst the existing site had good orientation to the north, the former layout did not effectively capitalise on it,” Ecohabit director Adrian Fratelle says.
“Our approach was to build on and enhance the benefits of a well-oriented site.”
With a perennial focus on sustainable design, the team at Ecohabit were all about making sure Lou’s new home was environmentally friendly and as self sufficient as possible.
Lou wanted to make sure her new home did not draw excessively from grid power and she was keen to minimise waste and the need for brand-new materials.
“Glazing was increased to the well-positioned north-facing kitchen and dining areas and on the flipside, the poorly positioned eastern windows were shaded naturally through extensive strategic landscaping, a solution that helped with natural cooling of a previously problematic area without having a large impact on budget,” Adrian says.
Picture: Peter Ellery
Picture: Peter Ellery
With three young children to cater for, Ecohabit had to make sure the refurbished property was functional too.
A solar PV system adds to the efficiency of the building, allowing the family to run an air-conditioner throughout the day powered by solar energy. That cools the masonry by day and allows it to absorb heat during the evening, stabilising the home’s temperature.
“Very little was used in the way of materials to transform the home, so the net result has been a very low carbon footprint in the reinvention of this building,” Adrian says.
Most importantly, the finished home is light, bright and airy. There’s more than a nod to its original design era and it oozes character.
