MALVERN

The brief was to totally renovate an historic house in Unley that had been converted into 4 flats after the Second World War and had been used as inexpensive short-term rentals for over 70 years. Part of the building had been condemned by the Council, the property consisted of 4 kitchens and 4 bathrooms that had not been renovated since 1945, there were cockroaches throughout the property, no heating or cooling and a shared external laundry. When the new owners moved in they discovered that one of the long term tenants had not vacated!

Major renovation of every aspect of the building was begun including the creation of a large new family room and kitchen with additional guest accommodation above. The clients requested that all renovations and the significant addition would be in keeping of the period of the original building. 

Piano room

The Brief was to create an interesting space to accommodate a piano. The available area was tiny, a remnant from the 1940s when a veranda was enclosed in a 19th Century house to accommodate a minute kitchen. The space had no inherent appeal, a low ceiling, old asbestos tiles and ordinary little windows. The area leads directly from the original sitting room.

The solution was to visually link the tiny piano room to the main room and give the piano room some interest and impact of its own so that it would add to the adjoining space. We achieved this by; glazing the upper panels of the door dividing the spaces, removing the false ceiling so that the two spaces would enjoy the same lofty ceiling height, covering the piano room floor in a sea grass matting and painting the wall facing the sitting room to resemble stone blocks. The lighting in the piano room has an informal festoon effect, which references the chaotic 1940s wiring we discovered when we removed the ceiling.

Media room

The Brief was to find a use for a small room with only a modest amount of natural light and which had only 1 useable wall, with 3 doors, 1 window and a fireplace all in the space.

The solution was to create a snug Media room which would include a wall mounted TV above the fireplace, a big comfortable sofa to take up the entire useable wall and a bold striped wall behind the sofa. A collection of carefully selected art was hung on the striped wall, to refence the 19th Century bones of the room, with bold contemporary art hung on adjoining walls. The amazing Indigenous art work was commissioned for the space.