When Paul and Valerie came to us, their garden was overgrown but filled with potential. They had 1300 square metres to enjoy in their dream home, nestled in one of the prettiest parts of Blackburn. They wanted a practical and playful garden for a young family to compliment their newly renovated modern home. The design used a mixed planting palette, including natives and perennials to provide a cottage feel. We introduced modern sculptures into some hidden pockets with the idea of encouraging the children to explore a garden full of character. It was a wonderful design collaboration with the family. And it met the approval of visiting kookaburras and other native birds, including ducks and the Gang-gang Cockatoo. Check out the crazy paving paths, which allow the children to ride their bikes the entire span of the yard. They have since been busy exploring and so has Lulu, the pet doggie! What makes this project even more special is that the children’s names have been represented by some perfumed roses, something very personal to Paul and Valerie. Look out for other features, including espalier planting, a massive chook house, hidden bin areas, and vegetable beds too! We completed the design of the driveway to match the existing brick path that was in the front garden and gave it a modern twist. See how this outdoor space was transformed into a practical and playful paradise. Before: After:

Hi there, As I see it the problem is common in that there are too many doors in the nearly square space so all the room should be taken with traffic lights! Can the laundry be over with the kitchen? Can the proposed living room have three walls uninterrupted by doors on the north or east (garden) sides? This will give u place to put sitting furniture. Then make kitchen & l'dry on south side as skinny as possible maximising the width of the room for dining table. The other problem that is silly is the garage at the back of the site (It was for keeping the horses away from the house). It is wasting all the drive space. If cars can park at the front of the site it frees a heap of extra space on the south that can be used far better. Kitchen and laundry over by the south boundary, clear space for dining that could open to the existing lounge, area on the north for bedroom creep adding ensuite next to existing bathroom, and living area to the north and east......This helps maximise north light and living too. Hope that makes sense for you! Happy planning, Margot

In have just done my first project and launched a business called Sparkling Returns. The agent‘s appraisal pre tennants moving out was $325K. After a 6 week light reno inside and out, forensic cleaning and staging; with an investment under $20K, the property was listed at $419K, sold in a day for $415K, with a 28 day settlement 🙏🏼✨💗 Now we’ll see where Sparkling Returns journey’s with Corona!!

Hi Amelia, Of course you could extend your house, AND get a great outcome....that's actually relatively easy to demonstrate......but how exactly? and what will it cost? ......everyone will have a different opinion and take on it...and I'd actually argue other people's opinion on whether you should do this or that or spend this much or that much is in fact arguably irrelevant - all that matters in these situations is what you want/need and working out the balance between that and the investment involved, whether it's viable or sensible or both or not, and in what particular format that looks like....it's not something you can get the answer in asking the next door neighbour or a friend who's just done a project. Every situation is different and unique because it comes back to personal priorities and financial capacities and opinions on what a particular lifestyle is worth to them. There's no online calculator or simple answers for this stuff! $850K may sound like a lot of money, but it's all relative. Some people may think you're crazy considering spending that on a knock down, and argue you should work with what you have. A builder may tell you you're crazy to spend $650K on a reno when he can supposedly give you twice the bang for buck for new build.....to rationalise the options we must understand that there is a complete difference between what are you getting for a new build $850 in a project builder land vs a customised $650K renovation utilising existing structures & character.........it's not accurately or fairly comparing apples & apples.......you may find you're taking a downgrade in quality with spending more on a new build option, of course depending upon the builder / product / design etc.....it depends on the size and complexity of the design. It's always an exercise of working through & balancing certain project requirements in relation to project scale and quality level against available budget within specific context. This is a classic dilemma we deal with regularly - that is, owners considering what is the logical path forward for their property.....there are always options and it's never right or wrong. There is an issue in looking at something purely in terms of cost when there is not enough information around WHAT exactly you can potentially achieve for $X in one particular option vs the next. Just because something is less in cost doesn't necessarily mean it's the best value option and vice versa. It requires specialised analysis and exploration in order to provide the accurate answers. What someone was able to achieve say for $650K in one scenario is not applicable to the next example. Every project, particularly when talking about renovations & extensions, are unique and have their own complexities. Also $650K in owner builder DIY land is completely different to $650K in building contract financed by bank land.....in a contractual situation take the number, remove GST, remove builder's margin and you're left with something like 75% left to play with for the actual raw construction costs. In regards to a renovation scenario, it's likely more accurately a renovation AND extension scenario. The thing is with renovating and design solutions for them, there comes a point when it becomes false economy on a dollar for dollar comparison exercise to substantially change that you have. When you consider reno scenarios, there typically needs to be some inherent value to the existing, such as in existing character or layout, that makes sense so you're not having to rework the whole thing. So how do you work this stuff out? Where do you start? Well, we deal with this scenario with a "feasibility" stage of service that has repeatedly proven successful to help clarify project options and scenarios properly so home owners (for example) can make an informed decision one way or the other. It involves properly exploring viability and potential in broad form for certain project scopes, so for example you can see what is involved if you renovated and added a bedroom and a bathroom and how that would look and what it wold cost vs a more conservative option that maintained an existing 3 bedroom format prioritising spend on the main living area of the home. One thing we find is important with growing families is the accommodation of a 2nd or flexible living space, which becomes higher use and helpful for living options as families/kids grow and move through different stages. It's also super important to ensure that the home is well balanced and properly scaled, in that say living spaces are not undersized for the number of bedrooms - eg it's a big fail to have lots of large bedrooms with a generous ensuite but ignore/retain only a limited relatively sized living area. Of course everyone has their own requirements and need to work out how exactly they want to live and what their priorities are, however when it comes to designing solutions for these things, particularly when banks and valuers get involved, you have to make sure that the proposal is aligned with the investment from a value point of view...so if you are spending $500K simply rejigging an existing 3 bedroom only to make it nicer, it could potentially be considered over capitalising. Of course location makes a difference with this aspect of the discussion........ In terms of timeframes involved for renovation/extension projects, again it depends on what the exact scope is, how much fit-out is being done, the availability of sub-contractors, the capacity of the builder to manage the process efficiently to minimise downtime. The same scope renovation could take anything between 6 - 12 months, the difference/variance in timeframe dependant upon any one or combination of the above factors........ Sorry for the elongated answer / info overload but unfortunately, there are no simple easy black & white answers for you.....BUT there are professionals with the knowledge who can assist. The one piece of advice I'll provide is at least make sure you are making informed decisions for these significant investments , and typically that will involve a certain degree of investment in professional advice, particularly at the front end of the process (an investment for "the" investment shall we say!). Take whatever a builder says with a grain of salt, particularly when it comes to design outcomes, and remember numbers are only numbers until they're contractually established to a certain set of documents and specifications........... Good luck! Cheers PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com