This Coorparoo client has a renovation story that will resonate with a lot of Brisbane families. They were looking for a house close to their daughters’ high school, and the one they fell in love with just happened to be the ‘worst house in the best street.’ 

It was also tiny: a 2 bedroom post-war cottage with an unusable sleepout. Another complication was that their girls were entering their senior years at school, so it wasn’t the right time for a major renovation. But they had to get into the house, and fast. 

So we delivered a two-stage renovation. The first was a temporary renovation—more of a tidy-up of the main house but with the addition of a modern, double-height extension at the rear that added new living space and bedrooms. This first stage took the house to being ‘comfortably liveable’.

The project then went on pause while the girls got on with finishing school, before it was time to commence the full renovation. When stage two commenced the clients moved out while the lot was levelled and the house was raised and built in under. The original post-war cottage section was beautifully renovated, highlighting heritage elements like the casement windows in the stunning main bathroom. Finally, a pool with a gazebo area was added at the back. 

By the end of the project, an unloved 2 bedroom cottage was transformed into a 5-bedroom, 5- bathroom multigenerational home complete with study, media room, and 2 living spaces. Unsurprisingly, the daughters, having left school, have no intention to move out any time soon — delivering on the client’s wish to have a large family home with plenty of room for everyone.

We know renovations don’t always follow a conventional timeline. If you’ve got a renovation or extension project planned in Brisbane, pick up the phone and talk it through with us.