Contemporary farm house renovation.

Brunswick Parlour transforms a Victorian cottage into a hard-working, personalised home for a family of four. Our clients loved the character of their Brunswick terrace home, but not its inefficient floor plan and poor year-round thermal control. They didn't need more space, they just needed their space to work harder. The front bedrooms remain largely untouched, retaining their Victorian features and only introducing new cabinetry. Meanwhile, the main bedroom’s previously pokey en suite and wardrobe have been expanded, adorned with custom cabinetry and illuminated via a generous skylight. At the rear of the house, we reimagined the floor plan to establish shared spaces suited to the family’s lifestyle. Flanked by the dining and living rooms, the kitchen has been reoriented into a more efficient layout and features custom cabinetry that uses every available inch. In the dining room, the Swiss Army Knife of utility cabinets unfolds to reveal a laundry, more custom cabinetry, and a craft station with a retractable desk. Beautiful materiality throughout infuses the home with warmth and personality, featuring Blackbutt timber flooring and cabinetry, and selective pops of green and pink tones. The house now works hard in a thermal sense too. Insulation and glazing were updated to best practice standard, and we’ve introduced several temperature control tools. Hydronic heating installed throughout the house is complemented by an evaporative cooling system and operable skylight. The result is a lush, tactile home that increases the effectiveness of every existing inch to enhance daily life for our clients, proving that good design doesn’t need to add space to add value.

apaiser Reflections Basins in the main bathroom at Sikata House, The Vela Properties in Byron Bay, Australia. Designed by The Designory | Photography by The Quarter Acre

The bathroom brief for this project was simple - the ensuite was to be 'His Bathroom' with masculine finishes whilst the family bathroom was to become 'Her Bathroom' with a soft luxury feel.

Stunning bathroom designed with modern aesthetics and a focus on luxurious functionality. The standout feature in this space is the floating vanity, which adds a touch of contemporary elegance. A mirrored shaving cabinet is strategically placed above the vanity, providing ample storage and serving as a practical and stylish addition.

To meet the client‘s brief and maintain the character of the house it was decided to retain the existing timber framed windows and VJ timber walling above tiles. The client loves green and yellow, so a patterned floor tile including these colours was selected, with two complimentry subway tiles used for the walls up to the picture rail. The feature green tile used in the back of the shower. A playful bold vinyl wallpaper was installed in the bathroom and above the dado rail in the toilet. The corner back to wall bath, brushed gold tapware and accessories, wall hung custom vanity with Davinci Blanco stone bench top, teardrop clearstone basin, circular mirrored shaving cabinet and antique brass wall sconces finished off the look. The picture rail in the high section was painted in white to match the wall tiles and the above VJ‘s were painted in Dulux Triamble to match the custom vanity 2 pak finish. This colour framed the small room and with the high ceilings softened the space and made it more intimate. The timber window architraves were retained, whereas the architraves around the entry door were painted white to match the wall tiles. The adjacent toilet was changed to an in wall cistern and pan with tiles, wallpaper, accessories and wall sconces to match the bathroom Overall, the design allowed open easy access, modernised the space and delivered the wow factor that the client was seeking.

A minimalist industrial dream with all of the luxury touches we love: heated towel rails, custom joinery and handblown lights