Image Credit : Pablo Veiga
Project Overview
Following multiple renovations and additions, the Federation details of this 1910 cottage had become nearly unrecognisable. We celebrated the few that remained and thoughtfully reintroduced others, continuing the home's layered narrative by carefully refining the transitions between old and new. The client’s eclectic art collection served as a key source of inspiration, informing a rich, period-spanning palette and a considered mix of furniture from various eras.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Designer: Brett Mickan
Builder: D A Construction Group
Joinery: EKD Kitchens & Joinery
Project Brief
Over the years, this charming 1910 Federation cottage had lost much of its original character beneath layers of mismatched renovations. What remained was a dark, disconnected layout and a cramped rear addition that no longer served the needs of modern family life. The brief was clear: create a spacious, light-filled home that flowed effortlessly from the front door to the garden, blending old-world charm with contemporary comfort.
Rather than start from scratch, we chose to honour the home’s story. We celebrated the few surviving period details and reintroduced others, allowing heritage elements to guide the new design. The real transformation came through subtlety—refining transitions, opening up spaces, and letting light and art lead the way. The client’s eclectic collection inspired a rich, layered palette and a blend of furniture styles that speak across eras.
The result is a home that feels both timeless and entirely personal—a seamless conversation between past and present, made for easy living, entertaining, and the quiet joy of being surrounded by meaningful things. Nestled once again in its garden, the cottage has reclaimed its place with confidence and grace.
Project Innovation/Need
We introduced a design approach that prioritises subtlety over imposition, eschewing trends in favour of a thoughtful response to the home's existing character. Our innovation lies in treating the home’s fragmented layout, caused by years of ad-hoc additions, not as a problem to erase but as an opportunity to refine and unify.
By embracing imperfections and emphasising continuity through scale, colour, and repeated period details, we created a cohesive flow that respects the original architecture while enabling moments of surprise and individuality. This approach delivers a new model for renovation: one that celebrates what’s already there and curates new spaces specifically to enhance and frame the client’s diverse collection of art and furniture. The result is a home that feels both seamless and deeply personal—an outcome that redefines how heritage and contemporary design can coexist.
Design Challenge
The primary challenge wasn’t materials or timing—it was achieving cohesion between the home’s fragmented history and the clients’ vision for a functional, contemporary family space. Years of piecemeal renovations had left the Federation-era cottage with a layout that was dark, disconnected, and stripped of its original character. The design problem centred on how to reorganise and modernise the home without erasing its story.
Understanding the emotional and aesthetic needs of the client—and recognising the value in the remaining period elements—became the foundation of our solution. Rather than relying on structural overhauls, the challenge was met through careful spatial reconfiguration, refined transitions, and a curated layering of colour, materials, and texture that referenced both the past and the present.
By drawing on the client's art collection and the few surviving historical details, we reintroduced character and cohesion through bold yet thoughtful design gestures, like defining newly opened spaces with expressive ceiling colour and balancing neutral backdrops with rich, tactile finishes. This created a home that feels intuitive, unified, and completely personal—a seamless blend of heritage and contemporary living that responded not just to the space, but to the lives within it.
Sustainability
At 11 Lucreitia Avenue, sustainability was approached through thoughtful reuse, restraint, and respect for the home’s layered history. Rather than demolish and rebuild, we chose to work with the existing structure, preserving and enhancing what remained of the original 1910 Federation cottage while refining previous additions. This minimised waste and reduced the project’s embodied carbon footprint.
Every intervention was deliberate: walls were removed or adjusted only where necessary to improve functionality and flow. Period details were reintroduced to unify old and new spaces, avoiding the need for over-design or excess materials. By integrating the client’s existing art and furniture collection into the design, we reduced the need for new purchases, reinforcing an ethos of reuse and personal meaning.
Our palette and planning prioritised natural light and ventilation, enhancing liveability and reducing energy demand. Ultimately, this project is an example of quiet sustainability, where beauty, function, and longevity come from careful refinement rather than wholesale reinvention. It’s a home that honours its past while being built for the future.
Interior Design - Residential
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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