Things wear out, regardless of whether you apply a touch up here, a lick of paint there, a hammer and a nail. Sometimes you need to take it up a notch to make it shine again. This family home at Warners Bay owned by Danielle and Ben Asquith recently underwent an extensive renovation and now the old girl is loving her new lease of life.
Rather than relocate, it was decided that the family would stay put in their single-level dwelling and make it bigger, while updating a few elements.
"We love our location, but the house was older and in need of repair. To make room for our three girls we decided that extending the home would be a good option," Danielle said. "We didn't want it to feel like a display home though, it needed to be functional and welcoming."
Nathan Webster at local Lambton firm Narndra Built was approached, having years of experience working with extensions and renovations in the Hunter.
"Their needs included a larger, open plan home to cater for the growing children and family lifestyle," Nathan said, "with functional use of all spaces: open living, kitchen, dining area; and larger bedrooms to cater for the children."
They set to work blending the old home with the new, working on the existing floorpan and within their set budget. Some of the hardwood floors, frames and walls needed to be rectified to comply with today's building standards and finding a suitable layout to accommodate the new bathroom plans of a separate shower, toilet and sink proved a tough nut to crack.
"The main bathroom posed quite a challenge as it is small, but we wanted to include a separate bath, shower and toilet," Danielle said.
"We also wanted the girls to be able to use the toilet and shower whilst someone else was using the bathroom. After much discussion and working out with Narndra Built we came up with the idea of using the frosted glass and a dividing wall to separate an enclosed shower and toilet. For a small room it is very functional and looks amazing too."
The use of timber joinery and groovy tile patterns on the bathroom floor tie in with the age of the home and the colour palette Danielle used inside and outside the dwelling.
"The way we were able to incorporate beautiful timber and colour lets you feel relaxed as soon as you come home. It is both practical and beautiful," she said.
With a vision to give the home a modern coastal feel, the kitchen embraces the same aesthetic. An ocean blue splash-back, the palest blue walls and that earthy Blackbutt tongue and groove timber flooring and joinery from Groves, plus the pop of white on the cupboards, capture the essence of living by the water and being on holidays.
"Sinotts created the exact colour palette that we wanted and gave our girls the colours and effects that they wanted in their own rooms."
The size of the old kitchen was increased to connect it with the living and dining areas and make it more practical for a growing family.
"Going from a small kitchen to one with double wall ovens, magic corners and raised benches has been wonderful," she said.
Plenty of light and space has been added to the former living area; the warm timber flooring offset by the cool breezes allowed in through savvy louvre windows.
The refreshment has extended to the outside of the dwelling with updated Weathertex cladding in the matching blue tones giving the house a beach cottage vibe.
A new deck to extend the living space to the outdoors takes advantage of a sunny aspect and adds to the laid-back atmosphere.
"It's is an excellent feature of our house; it is wonderful sitting in the backyard enjoying the sunshine on the deck," Danielle said.
A small matching entranceway ensures the flow begins at the front door and connects all the way through to the back of the property.
The overall outcome, which took around six months, goes to show how much can be achieved with a relatively small budget and a strong idea of purpose.
"We love the beautiful finishing and we really love the colour both inside and out. Narndra Built worked hard to ensure that the finishings were executed with skill and we worked together to achieve both a practical and aesthetic result," she said.
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