After having lived overseas for 20 years, these clients were retiring back to Perth and wanted to revive their old family home. Now empty nesters, they wanted the house to be a sanctuary for them and for their visiting family and friends.

They engaged us to completely re-imagine the existing house - their only brief was to keep the front facade (we did much more than that…). The house had always appeared small and quaint from the front, and opened up to feel much more spacious internally. The new design takes this and magnifies it - creating a courtyard house with garden aspects from all windows, maximising the internal living space to suit the clients wants and needs, while also ensuring the original cottage is brought back to life and celebrated. The entirety of the ground floor becomes their space - like a large one bedroom house, with the upstairs being more private for guests and the children they can never get to quite leave, as well as for quiet reflection in the pilates and music room. Retirement done right!

The courtyard is positioned so that the outlook from the new spaces orient towards the garden and cottage, making the new spaces feel nestled within greenery.

The interiors and architecture reflects their sophisticated European lifestyle with touches of terrazzo, luxurious marbles, glass bricks and steel framed doors, all subtly layered to feel at peace in a Victorian Federation cottage.