Dr Retro House Calls

After our initial Dr Retro house call we engaged Alistair to undertake the 2D and 3D models for our house renovations. It took over 9 months (and many follow up calls, emails and messages) to finally receive a PDF copy of our 3D design. On good faith and the promise to send through the finalised 2D/3D plans in a format our draftsman could use, we paid our bill. At this point, we have not received the plans we paid for and he has also stopped answering my calls and emails. This means, we will be out of pocket for the draftsman to re-measure and produce plans we can use for the build. Needless to say we are so disappointed and frustrated by this experience.

We called in Dr Retro (Alistair) to confirm that our beloved 1982 one-off architecturally designed bespoke house could be adapted relatively easily if needs be to more modern expectations and lifestyles. We wish we had called him in a year earlier, well before embarking on our sales campaign. We had insufficient time to follow up on Alistair's very practical major proposals before going to market in a few weeks. However, the simpler ideas gained from his consultation should give the house appeal to a broad range of buyers, from the devoted "retro" market to those who can see the potential for modern adaption. Improving the light within gloomier areas, removing some blinds, a smaller desk to create more study space, bringing viewers more directly to the front door are just some of his many ideas easily implemented. His grander proposals will be passed to prospective buyers to help them see that the design can be adapted without loss of era or quality, if that is their desire, rather than have a Real Estate agent make amateur suggestions. The cost of the "Dr Retro House Call' is more than compensated for by our increased confidence that our special house will now present more appealingly to potential buyers. Time will tell! Pam and Allan

With an upcoming extension and renovation planned for our 1970's split level home in Charlestown NSW, I contacted Alistair for some advice. He has a very professional and pleasant disposition with passion and knowledge regarding mid-century homes. What I think Alistair really excels at are concepts, being able to take an outsiders look at the property from both that of an investment angle and also on an emotional one. My experience is that before the consultation it pays to tell the entire story about your home and what the requirements placed on it will be. This will allow Alistair to do his background research prior to the consultation and understand how best to make things work. Personally, after speaking over Zoom which was excellent, I probably felt the need to comeback a week later for a second shorter follow up consult as the first raised so many ideas I hadn't even thought of beforehand. Excellent service!

Alistair assisted us with our plan to install 'interesting lighting' at a budget cost, using a mixture of track lighting, wall lights and pendant lights. We are still building but are plans are now firmly in place. We had a number of goals in mind, regarding 'mood lighting' and lighting of our modest but much loved collection of 'art'... Using Zoom for consultations was a breeze and Alistair came up with numerous ideas that inspired us, followed up diligently with the detail we need to implement - including precise distances, light wattages etc. We are most appreciative of Alistair's ability to address our changing needs, as we became more aware of cost and other implications. In addition, Alistair pointed out a number of changes we could make to our house at planning stage that will give great improvements in the future. A value-add we hadn't expected. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Alistair.

I have recently purchased a mid century house on Phillip Island and was pleasantly surprised to find this unique service when I was looking for renovation ideas. Alistair was able to make a house call to me when he was visiting another one of his projects on Phillip island. He brought along his "doctor's bag" of excellent resources which he had prepared specifically for my house visit. I was very impressed with his professionalism and knowledge and look forward to making use of the design service in the future.

Overwhelmed with our ‘renovators delight’ we had just purchased we found Dr Retro’s website and prayed he could give us some guidance. After just 2 hours with Alistair, his thoughts, knowledge, suggestions and contacts were just what we needed to give us the confidence to move forward without breaking the bank. We now have a spring in our step as we walk around our home to be. Thanks Alistair.

We engaged Alistair's services as we needed guidance in how to move forward in restoring the warmth and character of our mid century home. Dr. Retro arrived loaded with reference, and samples of materials appropriate for our home. He also opened up his extensive book of contacts which was invaluable. Having him over was the perfect action we needed to clear up any confusion, and point us in the right direction of where we knew we wanted to go, but needed an experts eye. We would highly recommend Dr. Retro to any body who is unsure of what direction to go with, or who is unsure of professional trades to engage for work on their home. Thank you Dr. Retro.

We recently had Alistair visit for a Dr Retro house call. It was such a valuable experience - reinforcing some of the ideas we already had for a future renovation and suggesting some new ideas we wouldn’t have even thought of. It was fantastic to be able to spend a couple of hours picking Alistair’s brain and drawing on all his experience with mid century homes. We would highly recommend his service.

We appreciated Alistair's time and generosity with his knowledge. Having a consultation with Alistair gave us lots of ideas to work towards, which was very beneficial to us both - particularly because we had no idea where to start with our house!

We moved into our 1970 built house just over two weeks ago and were thrilled to discover Alistair was making house calls in Adelaide. We jumped at the chance of showing him around and discussing lots of quirky issues and how to solve them, which he certainly did. We had a laugh at our ugly pool and he had some great ideas on how to make it a fantastic feature in the future. The house was swarming with tradies and many paint and other decisions had already been made so we really appreciated the way he took this on board and brainstormed ideas we hadn't thought of. Having his input and design experience on hand was invaluable and worth every cent as we now have some clarity and can keep moving forward with confidence.

I was confused as to where to start in fixing and improving my 1960's triple fronted brick veneer home. It's held up very well with minimal maintenance but deserves some TLC. I chose to call Dr Retro because he had knowledge about andrespect for mid century houses Alistair came well prepared with information about the house and of resources and suppliers , He was a great listener and came up with ideas that fitted with what was important to me and pointed out a problem I hadn't considered. The consultion helped me prioritize the jobs that need to be done and Alistair has given me the confidence, direction and support I needed.

We own modest post-war (ie: cream brick) house and have been struggling to work out how to best to renovate/extend it to suit our family's needs. Our recent Dr Retro House Call was incredibly helpful. Alistair gave us great advice to help clarify what may and may not be possible within our budget. He identified a few key maintenance issues and has given us a much stronger sense of direction for how we might proceed.

From our initial discussions to our actual Dr Retro House Call I found Alistair very pleasant and easy to work with. My partner and I have a lot of ideas regarding how to approach renovations and our meeting today really helped not just refine current ideas, but also add value by recommending specific colours/materials/trades/suppliers/products/layouts/designs etc. If you have an MCM home, you cannot go wrong with a visit from Alistair; his keen eye, passion and specific experience will leave you perfectly placed to tackle your renovation project/s.

We hired Alistair for a 2 hour consultation / Dr Retro House Call to help us with renovation and updating features of our new home. We found the consultation efficient, and informative, giving us a clear direction and confidence in our ideas and new ones - from renovation layout options to design and styling features. We were also pleased to receive a follow up email to clarify our discussion points, as well as some colour swatches sent from Dulux.

I used Dr Retro for their Colour Consultation Service. Alistair and Jo were very knowledgable and passionate about mid century design. They helped select period correct colours for my 1960s house and provided detailed colour schedules. Now all I need to do is start painting! I will definitely be contacting them again for further help with my renovations and highly recommend you do too!

Alistair provided lots of good ideas ie how we can incorporate heating and cooling into our MCM house, how we can lay out the carport and more. It's given us a great start on our reno journey without having to jump straight into expansive plans. Alistair was very thorough and we appreciate the ideas! Thank you

Dr Retro House Calls Alistair completed a Dr Retro House Call at our mid century home for 2 hours. He was efficient, knowledgeable and his communication was clear. He gave us excellent suggestions on resources and style. I will be using his services to review our plans also. On top of having the technical skills and knowledge Alistair is a top fellow.

Highly recommend using Alistair for his house plan review services. He is easy to deal with, professionally and expertly providing his input on our concept after listening to our goals about what we wanted to achieve. He was also cognizant of budget and recognised we had no money tree to fund the renovation. Most grateful I engaged with his company.

Alistair and his colleague Jo gave us prompt, well reasearched and informed advice on bringing our Merchant Builders home into the 21 st Century and addressing with confidence - the long list of maintenance issues. Recommend highly this service for Mid Century home owners looking to update and maintain their homes sympathetically.

We are considering renovating our mid-century home and engaged Alistair to come out for a Dr Retro House Call. It was important to us to engage a professional that understood our vision of sympathetically renovating our home in the current style. The visit was very beneficial as we discussed possible solutions moving forward. We were satisfied with the consult so much so, that we have engaged Alistair's service for the next phase of concept designs. Highly recommend.

I booked Alistair for two hours to review design of the proposed new house. Alistair has identified a few problems in the design. Some of these problems were created by last minute changes by a builder whom I blindly trusted, and they easily escaped from untrained eyes like mine. It's much better to find them out now than moving in! I highly recommend Alistiar to review your design. The second opinion from a professional will save you time and money!

We are building a new home and Alistair helped us with: - Light design: took into consideration where to put wow-factor lights, how to create balance, energy efficiency, practicality both interior and exterior - Kitchen bench top selections: sizing, colour, cost, practicality and how it would affect the look of other adjacent rooms - Floor tiles: what to look for, what to avoid, colour selections based on kitchen bench top - Exterior colour selection: helped us match our chosen brick with window frame, gutters, fascias, roofing, front door, driveway - Interior colour selection: helped us choose wall colours based on floor tiles and how to add feature walls. He also made comments on design that we would not have asked and diagnosed problems providing solutions along the way. He always kept in mind cost and practicality and we would highly recommend Alistair if you are designing a new home. We had a great experience, it felt like an intensive school excursion travelling between showrooms. Thanks very much!

Alistair completed a Dr Retro House Call at our mid century home for 2 hours. He was efficient, knowledgeable and his communication was clear. He gave us real direction for where our renovation was heading that aligned with our values for the house. Alistair is happy to share his honest opinion and ideas about what would work best for the home. I would happily recommend this service.

We purchased a 1950s post war house with lots of charm however, we wanted to update the house to be more open plan and provide greater connectivity between the house and gardens without losing all of the 50's charm. Whilst we engaged an architect already, in the back of my mind I was concerned that some of our proposed renovations may detract from the 50's charm of the property. Whilst researching online about sympathetic renovations I came across a few blogs written by Alistair from Secret Design Studio that resonated with me. I then learned of his Dr. Retro house calls / consulting service. Given we were already heavily progressed with plans, we engaged Alistair to review our plans and provide some recommendations. We also had several questions about which period elements/features to retain, how to sympathetically update the kitchen/bathroom and also some assistance with finishes, products, colours etc. The 2 hour meeting was invaluable. Alistair is very knowledgable (both in terms of architecture and also an expert in this period), he had some excellent ideas/ tweaks to our plans and recommended several suppliers for us to consider. My only regret is not knowing of this service before I started the process... indeed this would have saved me a lot of time. I would highly recommend Alistair to anyone with a post-war/mid-century home and seeking to restore or sympathetically update it.

We asked Alistair to help us with ideas for expanding our 1960's mid-century style house. Not only did he give us plenty of ideas and practical advise on the expansion but he did a thorough review of all aspects of the house from both a design and a deeply practical angle. It was a hugely worthwhile experience and I now have pages of valuable notes and greater knowledge about the house. Highly recommended.

Alistair gave us some valuable tips and some cost estimates on some work we are thinking about doing on our modest 1950s fibro beach house. Totally worth getting Alistair out if you are planning any renovations to your mid-century property, he really knows his stuff. Best to be well prepared with a list of questions and what you want to achieve before he arrives as the 2 hours go very quickly!

Alistair came and gave me an extensive consultation about so many questions I had about updating my brick veneer post-war home. He was immensely knowledgeable and helpful and I will be implementing his advice and ideas for many years to come. I was really stuck on so many questions, as I don't love all aspects of my house, but it's home and probably will be for many years to come. He was able to give me some clear guidelines about which were the 'good bones' of house to keep, which features were a little mid-century modern and so could be enhanced and so on. I am also in the process of trying to improve the energy efficiency of my home and he was a wealth of information about tradespeople who could install double glazed windows appropriate and sympathetic to the house, how to hide the new split system well and so much more. I would highly recommend his services and will most likely engage him when I get around to renovating my kitchen.

I highly recommend the Dr Retro House Call service. I have a Mid Century Modest 1956 Small Homes Service house and Alistair gave me great advice about my proposed small renovation. I really appreciated the comprehensive range of information I received: design advice about proportions, colour and use of space, maintenance advice about upkeep and potential problems, and a list of companies and professionals to help me achieve a sympathetic renovation. I feel much more confident going forward after the House Call, thanks Alistair

Alistair and his associate Jo were fantastic. We were mired in years of inertia and confusion as to what exactly could be done to improve our somewhat crumbling home, and so glad to have an expert with years of experience to see what we could not see in both our home’s potential and limitations. We now have a clear to-do list and goals. Alistair was also very generous in following up with various matters after our “Dr Retro” house call.

Alistair gave us wonderful insight into what would work with our house, and was patient and understanding with our many needs and ideas. His experience with our era of home (late 60s/early 70s) shone through, and we finished the consultation with renewed enthusiasm and confidence in moving forward with our renovations. He was not afraid to give frank opinions that we needed to hear, and we are grateful his flexibility allowed us to have him come to our home in Bendigo on a weekend. Absolutely no hesitation in recommending his services.

We greatly enjoyed engaging Alistair for a Dr Retro House Call. He was obliging, courteous and helpful, generous with his extensive industry knowledge, and a wealth of information about our mid-century renovation dilemmas. He was able to guide our future decision making and thus also help guide our financial planning.

We really wish we had known about Alistair's fantastic House Calls service a year ago. In contrast to our previous experience with architectural services, Alistair cost effectively provided us with the direction and expertise to move ahead with our renovation. In our consultation with Alistair we were given workable solutions to some complex problems such as improving the internal and external flow of very quirky 1980s changes to a 1960 house. All while coming back to what the priorities were on our very very tight budget. We were so impressed with Alistair's knowledge of midcentury design, we asked him to give us a colour consultation for painting our home. So here we are, confident that we are back on track with a vision for our home and some great professional contacts (and yes we are keeping the natural bricks, you'll be glad to know) Highly recommended, you won't look back. Thanks again, Lisa & Simon

We had struggled with a vision for upgrading the facade of our home. In the 2 hours that Alistair was with us during our “Dr Retro House Call”, Alistair demonstrated an immediate understanding of the issues we faced; went through the entire property, questioning and analyzing everything to come up with ideas the we had not considered ourselves, demonstrating a great knowledge of everything from landscaping through to house color selection. He provided us with a solution to our problem and a vision for our home. A great investment - Thank You! Alistair.

We used Alistair for a Dr Reno House call, and spoiler alert - he was great. Our early 70's home was designed by Michael Dysart during his time at one of the Project Home builders. Alistair immediately recognized the design, and was able to then see what had been update, and how the layout had changed. Our primary goal was to go over an exterior colour scheme to suit the house and it's position, he immediately discussed the pro's and con's of various colour schemes and was then able to suggest a colour combination that we are looking forward to applying and testing on a exterior wall. It wasn't just about the exterior colours, we also covered, windows, floor boards, roofing, patio areas. In a short, but intense 2 hours we now have the starting point for a plan on how we'll maintain and update our home, and a resource that we can engage with going forward. We'd spoken with a number of designers and architects and had them out to go through our place, but they didn't click with us and importantly didn't get the house, the layout or the feel. Alistair was the complete opposite, providing practical suggestions to questions, and advice on products and services that he's specified and has used, and how they can be integrated into our home. I'll admit it did seem a bit strange booking an Architect house call, but when we went through the list of topics that we have have discussed over the past few years and then had the opportunity to run them all past an expert, that was to good an opportunity to pass up. If you are considering booking a Dr Retro House call here are a few tips. Build up you list of questions / topics Book the appointment Send the kid / dog / distractions away for a few hours while you have the appointment.

Alistair was great! We have a 1960's house and have been stuck for a long time on layout. Didn't know what features to keep and what to modify. Alistair had a great knowledge 1960's architecture and was so helpful. He was very respectful of our small budget as well and provided some great advice on what would work within our budget. High recommended!!

We used Alistair via his Skype service, as we live in Adelaide, for ideas for our already renovated but not quite right 1926 bungalow. Even though Alistair specializes in retro design, he was extremely helpful with ideas (which we have already started implementing and they have made such an improvement). Alistair's knowledge of products and materials were fantastic and he was able to direct us straight to suppliers in Adelaide. Alistair is very prompt and professional, we would highly recommend Secret Design Studio - Dr Retro House Calls.

Alistair visited our Pettit+Sevitt home and was able to offer some wonderful advice. His suggestions were in keeping with the style of the home. He was also able to bring us back to reality on the difficulty and cost of other options we had dreamt up. Thanks Alistair.

We hired Alistair to provide advice about our recent purchase. He was extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of our house. He conducted background research about our property and provided pictures of other houses by the same architect. Some parts of our house have been renovated from the original and Alistair also showed us pictures of rooms (such as kitchens) that likely resemble the original kitchen in our property. He provided plenty of ideas and inspiration for our upcoming renovation.

Alistair was great to work with, he provided different insights into how we could use our space and where and what to focus on. His information has ensured that we spend money where it is needed and kept future costs down.

We asked Alastair from Secret Design Studio to bring our 1970s house into the 21st century; to create a large modern living area without destroying the character of the house. Alastair prepared three options each admirably fulfilling the brief we gave him. His options were imaginative, and his services timely, efficient and affordable.

Our Dr Retro house call with Alistair was invaluable. We were able to learn more about the possibilities and options to extend our Pettit and Sevitt home and we are so excited at the possibilities going forward. We encourage anyone to contact Alistair for a consultation prior to any renovations of their mid-century home.

Living in Adelaide was No Hurdle - Melbourne Dr Retro House Calls SKYPE CALLS WORK!!! Immediately on our first call I knew Alistair expressed a genuine “care factor” to the brief I gave him via email. His professional expertise a along with his love & thirst of retro homes makes the Skyping a easy friendly process. To the point that I have extended the job from initial brief. Don’t let being interstate stop you from receiving first class recommendations - as we all deserve a home sweet home. Berny Abberdan Clapham South Australia June 2018

Alistair is amazing. We had him out for a house call. He immediately had great design advice regarding our front fence. We then engaged Alistair to design an extension to our cream brick 1960 home. Our brief was 5 pages long! Alistair presented three concepts. One concept was modest (lowest cost) and met all of our requests in the brief, plus some really good ideas from Alistair. I'm an engineer and work with a lot of architects. I find most to he very impractical and rigid regarding their designs. Alistair is just so practical. All of his concepts were really well thought out. Highly recommend him.

Down to earth and friendly. Alistair offered great advice and provided plenty of information about the whole building process we are about to start.

Dr Retro was great - his knowledge, insight and advice gave me tons of confidence, inspiration and guidance for planning how best to renovate our mid century modern home in Sydney's northern suburbs.

We are delighted with our new kitchen and pantry. We would like to thank you for your thoughts and design and for arranging for such professional crafts men to build and install the equipment.

I first contacted Alistair for a Dr Retro House Call. His knowledge of mid century homes is excellent. I learnt things about my house that I hadn't realised in 10 years of living here. I have since engaged Alistair to develop plans for my kitchen/laundry/powder rom renovation and the plans he has provided offer several options to make creative use of a challenging space. Having professional advice on this project has been critical to producing design options that are functional, make good use of the space and at a range of budget points.

Alistair got straight into it on arrival, collecting our thoughts but more importantly, noting every feature and detail that could be improved for an enhanced home environment. Lots of suggestions were made and contacts supplied. We were very happy with Alistair's thoroughness and outcomes achieved.

If you are in a mid-century home and you're not sure how to proceed, don't touch a thing until you have spoken with Alistair. Our budget was not large but Alistair gave us excellent advice on what would work best for our home and how to use our budget most effectively. (Budget below.)

The Dr Retro house call gave us so many great insights into how to renovate and decorate our house now and further down the track. We'd started to renovate part of our house and have made a few wrong decisions along the way, Alistair has helped us to change direction with the renovations for the rest of the house, and make the most of it's original features. Thanks!

Well, at the risk of being accused of plagiarism, I concur and echo all previous sentiments. Dr Retro provided us with multiple services that were greatly appreciated; and even some that were a wonderful surprise. As an owner of a Mid-Century Very Modest House, his questions about our intentions were on-point, insightful and prompted a re-think of some existing plans - which he looked over of course. He was honest in his appraisal and offered many suggestions that we intend to take on; he recommended subsequent contractors and did so with a great sense of humour. Thoroughly recommend, time well spent.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Alistair for anyone interested in keeping their modernist house in good shape. My wife and I are at the crossroads in terms of renovating or moving out (growing family) and having Alistair visit and provide advice was invaluable in terms of shaping our thoughts on this. Not only is Alistair clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about these houses, he also has great ideas about how to improve safety, insulation and generally improve the living quality of these at times older houses. He provided great guidance to the whole design process and how we would think about an extension, while remaining sensitive to the special history of the house and its location. As an architect Alistair is able to assist with taking the next step of any renovation and we will quote possibly engage him to provide concept drawings for a second wing to our house. These modernist houses are special and will continue to provide joy to families living in them thanks to the expertise and advice of Alistair aka Dr Retro. Nice work!!

Absolutely delightful, lots of advice and assistance on a wide range of aspects for our home. His experience with other mid-modern houses meant almost straight away he could come up with solutions that have worked well for him & other clients previously-but more importantly suit the style of our house so perfectly. My partner & I feel such a relief that we will get the perfect rroms that suit us and our house.

We are fortunate enough to live in and love our mid century home. We'd been delaying renovations and updates as we simply didn't know where to start and didn't want to make errors with design details. Alistair's 'Dr Retro House Call' has given us the confidence to get moving! Alistair has also brought to our attention things that the average person would not consider with regard to safety, which is particularly pertinent as parents of a young child. Alistair provided us a very thorough overview of what work and repairs are necessary and then what we can do to improve our home aesthetically. His breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm for mid century homes and design is very inspiring.

Alistair is amazing!! We renovated my wife's family home which is built in the Mid Century Modern style. Before we did anything we sought Alistair's expertise on anything from colour scheme to materials and what to keep and what to replace. Almost everyday we look at some feature of the house and say " Alistair told us to do that or Alistair chose that colour scheme. There is something special about walking into a house that has been designed by an Architect, you can't always put your finger on it , it's more a feeling of good design. We can thoroughly recommend Alistair for your next project. Regards, Jeremy & Geraldine

Our house was a 1960s house and whilst we had vague renovation ideas, we didn't want to ruin the house with renovations that were unsuitable. We knew the house deserved sympathetic treatment and when we came across Alistair's website we thought here was someone who could point us in the right direction. The two hours spent with Alistair were absolutely worth it. For us as amateurs in renovation it clarified our thoughts, prioritised the tasks and when Alistair started to go through our house, it was apparent he knew what he was talking about. It was really helpful to get advice across the various parts of the house, whether about design details or construction issues. He was also able to suggest suitable contractors. We are very happy with Dr Retro House Call, and highly recommend Alistair's service.

Alistair is an approachable architect who really knows his stuff. I engaged Alistair's fabulous Dr Retro House call service to ensure that any renovations in our very modest 1965 built home were period appropriate. I wanted advice specifically for our 'problem areas' including a 1980s (awful) renovated bathroom, an outdated kitchen, and a generally gloomy living space which lacks sufficient daylight. I prepared images based on what I liked and Alistair was able to not only respond to these but talk through advantages or disadvantages of each. He was also able to offer advice based on our budget (or lack thereof) in a way that means we can achieve the custom look we wanted using readily available products or manufacturers where genuine retro items are no longer available, to Australian Standards or otherwise unsuitable. I have no doubt Alistair saved me many, many hours of research and unproductive project investigations. We have recently completed the first of our projects - the much hated bathroom has become one of my favourite rooms in the house. Our next project - skylights - should literally brighten our lives. When I'm ready to tackle the final major project - the kitchen - I know I'll save money by engaging Alistair again early in the design process. Thanks Alistair - you made every aspect of tackling this staged renovation less daunting. When the finishing touches are complete I'll write a separate review about the bathroom and include photos.

I stumbled across Alistair's Dr Retro house call service via google and could not believe how perfect this service was for me and my hubby. We love our little mid-century home and wanted to improve it without loosing all the little quirks we love, like the raked ceilings and 'crazy paving' open fireplace. Armed with idea bubbles but no clue where to start Alistair has set us on the right path. Alistair is very knowledgable and knows the architectural vagaries of the period inside out. He was able to point out the areas of the home that did not quite fit with the style and give us real-world advice on making it safe, energy efficient and more practical for our family. I would highly recommend this service.

I engaged Alistair for a Dr Retro House Call to help my wife and I understand how we can efficiently modernise and improve the thermal performance of, and think about extending, our Merchant Builder home whilst keeping within the underlying design principles of the building. Alistair is very knowledgable and his guidance has been invaluable to helping us think about how to approach improvements to our home. He was also very adept at managing our aspirations in line with our budget requirements.

My partner and I hired Alistair for a Dr Retro House Call, as we were a bit stuck on how to approach some minor renovations. Alistair walked us through a number of options, including some we hadn't considered. He was very helpful and friendly, and now we have a much better idea of how to approach the renovations. Would highly recommend if you have an art deco/midcentury home that you want to renovate sympathetically.

Alistair has provided us with an excellent design layout for our house that we never would of thought of on our own! Not only did he visit on the weekend (twice), but he also followed up with a Skype call. Very efficient in getting plans back to us with our changes too - Thanks

If you have a renovation, extension or new build project and wish to incorporate aspects of mid-century modern architecture into that project then I would absolutely recommend Dr Retro. Even of the cost seems high (and it really isn't) the insights, ideas, and inventive solutions that you will gain will more than pay their way. We are renovating a beach house and wished to inject a mid-century aesthetic into the extension. We got that and more. In a world where reality TV tries to convince people that they can do things themselves it is experiences like the redesign of our house that remind us that there is absolutely no substitute for experience and knowledge and professionalism. If you have a mid-century house that requires renovation you'd be crazy to go anywhere else.

I hired Alistair for a Dr Retro House Call. We have an orange brick house built in the 70's that needs updating, while still retaining some of its original features. There are a lot of small things that needing reworking - some opening up of walls and doors to allow more light, and increasing the size of the master ensuite. Alistair was able to sort through all my ideas and give sensible advice in all areas that were a problem, and my husband and I can now put together a prioritized list of what needs to be done. He also gave me some cost effective solutions that I had not thought of, in particular around the reworking of our steel and timber staircase. I was delighted with the Dr. Retro House call and would highly recommend this service!

Alistair, principal of Secret Design Studio, provided a design which Ken Dobson, builder, executed. At the beginning of his design intent Alistair wrote “I feel that after a lot of work that these three bathrooms demonstrate Shibui [Japanese]. There is no direct equivalent … words that combine to give a sense of its meaning include simplicity, elegance, beauty, functionality, restraint, reserve and refinement …. The common factor is that something Shibui looks effortlessly simple, even inevitable, however it takes much labour and refinement to make it so. ” Three winters on that is true and I am still thrilled with design and its execution, regularly complimented by friends and fully satisfied with the investment. For a main bathroom, an ensuite with shower and a powder room, each small and without natural light, Alistair used architectural features including ledges and partially lowered ceilings with concealed lighting and both room and mirror lighting to abolish “boxiness” and “flood” with adjustable light. In this and with equal care for the ventilation and plumbing work (now neither seen nor heard) and for the specifications and finishes (which look great and wear well), Alistair brought a breadth of experience, a depth of knowledge and respect for budgets and timetables. Working remotely with words and pictures over the Net from Melbourne to Sydney, liaison between architect, builder and client was quick and clear. The plans, drawings and specifications were accurate and detailed, such that I left the builder for holidays for 2 of the 6 weeks of work, and lived at home in between. There were no surprises, but quite a few and continuing delights!

We worked with Alistair of Secret Design Studio Recently to design an extension for our home. We loved mid century modern architecture and had struggled to work out how we could incorporate that into our plans. Alistair listened to our ideas and spent time working with us to see what our family needed in terms of functional accommodation, look and feel. Right from the start Alistair gave us a fresh approach by designing an extension that included all that we needed, incorporated our 'like to haves' in terms of form and function and most importantly, the mid century elements that we wanted. He was mindful of our budget through out and was extremely helpful in providing us with product information and ideas. His knowledge of Mid Century Modern has no bounds! Melissa & Rob

The redesign and extension of our 1950s home located in a National Trust street in Melbourne required an architect with specific knowledge and skills. We needed someone who could: 1) design an extension that would meet our needs while respecting the highly restrictive Special Landscape Overlay guidelines for our area set by local council 2) create additional space while protecting and enhancing the unique midcentury character of the original home 3) consider the changing needs of our family to design a home for the future 4) redesign the front facade of the home in keeping with the "bushland character" of the street Alistair McLean's knowledge of midcentury architecture and his practical advice has been priceless to our design process. He is keenly aware of the way space and design can affect the "flow" of a home and the way individuals interact and relate. He has helped us understand how small design decisions can have big implications at different stages of family life. Alistair is organised, efficient and reliable and I recommend his services readily to those seeking an expert with specialist knowledge of - and passion for - midcentury modern design. His patience and sense of humour make working with him an easy and enjoyable experience.

We couldn't be happier and thoroughly recommend Alistairs' services. We contacted Alistair from Secret Design Studio to assist us in the renovation of our 1960's home in Sydney. We loved the mid century architectural merit of the home and were looking to retain and celebrate its character whilst creating a modern, family home. From the first conversation, we knew Alistair was exactly the person we needed. He is very passionate about MCM design and his knowledge and expertise is extensive. We are thrilled with his direction, advice and support throughout the process.

We highly recommend Alistair from Secret Design Studio for any mid-century modern project. Alistair's knowledge and enthusiasm for MCM design is apparent in the amazing on-line resources that he provides and he has the skill to create great MCM spaces that are compatible with contemporary lifestyles.