Houzz Tour: A Country Bungalow Gets a Makeover
Modern twists on traditional features bring a small house into the future
This pretty bay-fronted bungalow on a rural property in Auckland nearly didn’t make it: builders and well-meaning friends had recommended tearing down the 1920s cottage and starting afresh. The owners, Kiwis returning home from Australia in 2015, had thought they’d spend a few thousand dollars to refresh the old house to live in while they planned a big new build. But during the renovation process, they fell in love with the old house and brought it back to life for their long-term home.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A professional couple and their toddler
Location: Rural Auckland, New Zealand
Size: 110 square metres; 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Designer: Hayley-Anne Brown from Lou Brown Design
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A professional couple and their toddler
Location: Rural Auckland, New Zealand
Size: 110 square metres; 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Designer: Hayley-Anne Brown from Lou Brown Design
First up was the kitchen. The couple are big entertainers, so the kitchen would be the heart of this home. However, they didn’t want it to become the main traffic route from the entry to the bedrooms and bathroom.
AFTER: Brown opened up walls between the old kitchen and living room to create an extended rectangle running from the front of the house to the back. The living room is street-side, with an old-fashioned front porch, while the galley-style kitchen runs to the back of the house and the main entrance off the dining room.
Cabinetry: Peter Hay from Placemakers; benchtops in ‘Deep Nocturne’ Corian: Platinum Motor Homes; pendant lights: pop-up factory sale; Villeroy and Boch Butlers Sink: Paterson; Mardeco handles in Pewter and Alfresco spring sink mixer spray faucet: PlaceMakers; paint in ‘Nocturnal’ for the feature walls, and ‘Quarter Black White’: Resene
Cabinetry: Peter Hay from Placemakers; benchtops in ‘Deep Nocturne’ Corian: Platinum Motor Homes; pendant lights: pop-up factory sale; Villeroy and Boch Butlers Sink: Paterson; Mardeco handles in Pewter and Alfresco spring sink mixer spray faucet: PlaceMakers; paint in ‘Nocturnal’ for the feature walls, and ‘Quarter Black White’: Resene
By running cabinetry against the window wall, with more storage in a generous island bar opposite, Brown created the perfect solution – the cook is in the middle of the action, but the kitchen is not a thoroughfare.
Visitors can lean on the island and chat, there are no walls or dividers to cut people off from each other. And it all fitted in a space of only 2.6 x 3.7 metres.
At one end of the kitchen Brown made room for a dining room by inserting a bench seat, which uses less space than individual chairs, under the window.
Barstools: Early Settler
Visitors can lean on the island and chat, there are no walls or dividers to cut people off from each other. And it all fitted in a space of only 2.6 x 3.7 metres.
At one end of the kitchen Brown made room for a dining room by inserting a bench seat, which uses less space than individual chairs, under the window.
Barstools: Early Settler
There was no room for the walk-in pantry the owners had hoped for, but Brown demonstrated to them the beauty of a space tower of sliding pantry drawers from the Blum Solutions system.
The keen cooks were converted by how much they could access in a 600 millimetre-wide tower. Brown also specified drawer storage for most of the cabinetry, so that every centimetre of storage was accessible and usable.
Discreet panelling on the cabinet doors nods to old farmhouse style, as do the vintage-industrial lights and deep butlers sink. Paired with modern Corian bench tops and striking one-metre-wide cooker (dubbed ‘the beast’ by its loving owner) the look is cool and current.
Instead of busy subway tiles, which would have been chopped by overhead cupboards and window sills, Brown specified a textured mosaic which plays with the light.
Kitchen wall tile ‘Porcelanosa Mosaico Zen’: Tile Warehouse; floor tile: Bath and Tile; Ariston 6-burner oven; Fisher and Paykel; fridge, toaster and jug: Morphy Richards; curtains and blinds: Curtain Studio
The keen cooks were converted by how much they could access in a 600 millimetre-wide tower. Brown also specified drawer storage for most of the cabinetry, so that every centimetre of storage was accessible and usable.
Discreet panelling on the cabinet doors nods to old farmhouse style, as do the vintage-industrial lights and deep butlers sink. Paired with modern Corian bench tops and striking one-metre-wide cooker (dubbed ‘the beast’ by its loving owner) the look is cool and current.
Instead of busy subway tiles, which would have been chopped by overhead cupboards and window sills, Brown specified a textured mosaic which plays with the light.
Kitchen wall tile ‘Porcelanosa Mosaico Zen’: Tile Warehouse; floor tile: Bath and Tile; Ariston 6-burner oven; Fisher and Paykel; fridge, toaster and jug: Morphy Richards; curtains and blinds: Curtain Studio
The owners, with the help of a craftsman builder friend, did much of the work themselves over six months (fortunately, they were not living in the chaos). The house needed levelling and ceiling trims restored where walls were removed, but as much as possible of the original features were kept – or repurposed. Builder Andrew Dean Lum made the sliding barn door from timber saved from the demolition of old walls.
Brown and the couple loved the rough layers of paint on the door – stories of the old house – and sealed them for waterproofing. Existing floors were sanded back to their original beauty. The old concrete pad was treated to modern concrete-look tiles in the dining room and kitchen, part of the play of traditional-meets-modern that defined the renovation.
“We nodded to the old house, but we also wanted to move it on to the future,” explains Brown.
Recycled timber barn door: Active Projects
Brown and the couple loved the rough layers of paint on the door – stories of the old house – and sealed them for waterproofing. Existing floors were sanded back to their original beauty. The old concrete pad was treated to modern concrete-look tiles in the dining room and kitchen, part of the play of traditional-meets-modern that defined the renovation.
“We nodded to the old house, but we also wanted to move it on to the future,” explains Brown.
Recycled timber barn door: Active Projects
That thinking drove the repeated use of tongue-and-groove wall panelling, replicating that of the original house. With the modern grey colour palette, Brown nudged the owners to braver and deeper shades of the crisp grey and white scheme they’d had in mind.
Brown laughs that the nay-sayers now think that the charcoal colour that runs through the length of the living space and repeats in the bedroom wall is “awesome”, and a dramatic backdrop to the couple’s collections of vintage furniture.
Brown laughs that the nay-sayers now think that the charcoal colour that runs through the length of the living space and repeats in the bedroom wall is “awesome”, and a dramatic backdrop to the couple’s collections of vintage furniture.
It took the owners a week to scrape off the old paint on this feature fireplace, exposing the natural brick. Once again, Brown used plain wood to frame the hearth and mantelpiece, bringing the old beauty into the 21st century.
Memorabilia and Kiwiana have room to breathe in displays around the house. The cottage is on a former commercial orchard, so the owners have plenty of storage space in the old packing sheds and shop to store collections and rotate them through the house.
Vintage tins: various vintage shops and Trademe
Vintage tins: various vintage shops and Trademe
With only one bathroom to service three bedrooms, it was important to make it useful for family and guests. The sliding barn door opens directly from the living room, so Brown and the owners were careful to create a lobby to the bathroom that is private and stylish. See the laundry below for how they created a stylish transition from public to private spaces.
Brown and the owners combed online auction sites to find a vintage dresser to repurpose as a vanity for the bathroom. It was bought for a song, but Brown warns it is not cheap to restore: the cabinet was sanded and re-finished with multiple coats of a two-pot outdoor polyurethane to make it waterproof.
Custom vanity resurfacing: Earthwood Furniture Restoration; Aquatica Novecento taps: PlaceMakers; Trento ‘Bianco’ (white) and ‘Arlecchino’ (black) floor tiles: Bath and Tile; heated towel rail: Trade Depot; ‘Black’ paint: Resene
Custom vanity resurfacing: Earthwood Furniture Restoration; Aquatica Novecento taps: PlaceMakers; Trento ‘Bianco’ (white) and ‘Arlecchino’ (black) floor tiles: Bath and Tile; heated towel rail: Trade Depot; ‘Black’ paint: Resene
The couple wanted a separate shower (next to the toilet, out of shot) and the bathroom was big enough for an old-school tub as well. Again, the concept played off traditional against modern, updating the classic shape with a solid base, modernising the look of simple black and white floor tiles with modern printed tiles.
The towel rail with crisp white below, striking black above, brings an architectural feature into the small room.
42nd Avenue freestanding slipper bath tub in black: Newtech; wooden stool and wooden candle sticks: SM Interiors
The towel rail with crisp white below, striking black above, brings an architectural feature into the small room.
42nd Avenue freestanding slipper bath tub in black: Newtech; wooden stool and wooden candle sticks: SM Interiors
Brown brought in a romantic touch with a series of hanging candles – an easy way to add height and drama, without the expense of electrical fittings.
Hanging pendant candle holders: SM Interiors
Hanging pendant candle holders: SM Interiors
The laundry is visible from the kitchen, so the couple were excited by Brown’s simple design solution: midway through stripping the existing wall panelling, she stopped them when she saw the gorgeous layers of colours of the old paint, and instead simply sealed it for water-proofing. The copper tap fittings, dramatic black sink, benchtop and taps continue the living room colours.
Cabinets, black Heritage Hardware EcoGranit Aorkai 550 Nero sink: PlaceMakers; custom copper taps: Heritage Bathware, Christchurch
Cabinets, black Heritage Hardware EcoGranit Aorkai 550 Nero sink: PlaceMakers; custom copper taps: Heritage Bathware, Christchurch
Nothing was wasted: the clock seen here was made from remnants of the demolition wood used for the sliding door.
Old crates from the orchard shed next door were re-purposed for smart storage in the house.
The square bungalow floor plan does not waste space with hallways. Brown continued the dark grey feature wall through to the guest bedroom, to create a strong connection between places. As with the rest of the house, she used crisp white to highlight the joinery and trims.
Solution dyed nylon carpet: Budget Carpets
Solution dyed nylon carpet: Budget Carpets
The owners are keen travellers, so the guest bedroom features a vintage map marked with all the countries they have visited.
Striped curtains in all the bedrooms repeat the colour scheme in crisp ways.
Curtain fabric: James Dunlop
Striped curtains in all the bedrooms repeat the colour scheme in crisp ways.
Curtain fabric: James Dunlop
Rather than develop a special kiddy scheme for the owners’ toddler son, Brown repeated the sophisticated grey palette of the rest of the house in his room. It is a great foil to the youngster’s toys now, and will happily transition to a backdrop for the young boy’s passions – even a teenager’s posters – as he grows up, Brown says.
Curtain fabric: James Dunlop
Curtain fabric: James Dunlop
The master bedroom’s curved bay window was one of the best original features of the house, accompanied by the beamed ceiling and domed ceiling rose. The crystal chandelier was sourced from Lighting Direct, and Brown added silk-look curtains for effect. Layers of softer greys in textured bedding were used to create a serene and relaxing room.
Curtains: Curtain Studio; fabric: Baltimore, James Dunlop; chandelier: Lighting Direct
Curtains: Curtain Studio; fabric: Baltimore, James Dunlop; chandelier: Lighting Direct
As a final homage to the old house, it was decided to repeat the panelling used in the living spaces, using it as a bedhead for the pretty room and anchoring the bed.
Instead of being reduced to a pile of rubble, this orchard bungalow cottage has realised its potential, becoming a respite from the busy lives of this young family for many years.
Pendant light: Lighting Direct; light grey paint ‘Surrender’: Resene
TELL US
What’s your favourite feature in this resurrected home? Let us know all about it in the Comments section.
Instead of being reduced to a pile of rubble, this orchard bungalow cottage has realised its potential, becoming a respite from the busy lives of this young family for many years.
Pendant light: Lighting Direct; light grey paint ‘Surrender’: Resene
TELL US
What’s your favourite feature in this resurrected home? Let us know all about it in the Comments section.
The couple’s tight budget – and even tighter time frame – meant they didn’t want to expand the cottage’s footprint, so the existing kitchen, bathroom, laundry and living spaces had to be reconfigured in as smart a way possible, without moving exterior walls.