Houzz Tour: More Room for an Architect’s Family
A new Japanese-style entry courtyard and a new bedroom and bath update this ’70s home in Australia
Architect John Liu and his wife loved their original ’70s brick home in Doncaster, Australia, but they wanted to make it more contemporary and add room to last them through the years as their kids grow older. By opening it up to the outdoors and gaining space with an addition, he made the house suit his family. They now love spending time outside and enjoy their home’s updated layout.
The addition also gave Liu the opportunity to create a dramatic entry with a sense of approach and transition, storage space, and multiple purposes — family members often sit here and enjoy the view to the garden.
“Because of my cultural heritage — born and raised in Taiwan, which was once a Japanese colony — we don’t wear shoes inside. The time spent taking shoes off as you enter a house and putting shoes on when you leave may seem trivial, but you realize you spend a lot of time at the entry other than just handling shoes. You greet guests, see them off and get the kids out of the door to go to child care,” Liu says. This made him want to create more out of the entryway. The full-height blackbutt wood gate helps with this, providing security and a glimpse of what lies beyond.
Skylights: Fakro
“Because of my cultural heritage — born and raised in Taiwan, which was once a Japanese colony — we don’t wear shoes inside. The time spent taking shoes off as you enter a house and putting shoes on when you leave may seem trivial, but you realize you spend a lot of time at the entry other than just handling shoes. You greet guests, see them off and get the kids out of the door to go to child care,” Liu says. This made him want to create more out of the entryway. The full-height blackbutt wood gate helps with this, providing security and a glimpse of what lies beyond.
Skylights: Fakro
The entry is broken up into three sections, with a Japanese influence in the spatial hierarchy, courtyard feel and general sense of calmness. “The entry can often get overlooked in a house design. It’s common to see houses with entries that are narrow corridors or staircases. In apartments, you often enter directly to the living room or kitchen,” Liu says.
Inside the gate is a covered courtyard with a skylight above the front door. The skylight draws light and attention to the front door from the darker space below a low-height ceiling.
Inside the gate is a covered courtyard with a skylight above the front door. The skylight draws light and attention to the front door from the darker space below a low-height ceiling.
Inside the entry, the wall of operable doors and windows draws attention outside into the garden. This space is a link between the old house and the new master bedroom addition.
A built-in bench provides storage along its length with pullout drawers. The operable windows allow for a strong connection to the backyard and cross-ventilation throughout the home.
Sustainable building strategies were important to this family. Working within their budget constraints, they opted for the new windows to be wood-framed with double panes. High-spec insulation was also installed (including upgrading the existing house), external wall finishes are low-maintenance, internal walls are clad in paint low in volatile organic compounds (VOC), and original floorboards are kept and finished with low-VOC organic oil. Finally, solar-powered roof ventilators in both the old and new roofs regulate the temperature.
The existing lower floor’s concrete slab and retaining wall were retained for thermal mass, keeping downstairs cool in summer.
Seen here, the new master bedroom in the addition has a large window that frames a view of the garden and a narrower window (not shown) that frames a view to a footpath with a brick wall and creepers.
This bathroom, which was also added, is a timeless design that reflects the calmness of the entryway, with wood cabinets and concrete-look tiles.
Flooring and wall tiles: Signorino Tile Gallery; cabinet and benchtop: Polytec
Flooring and wall tiles: Signorino Tile Gallery; cabinet and benchtop: Polytec
In the existing house, the living room and dining room were retained. Liu describes their styles as a fusion, as he and his wife like to decorate with pieces they fall in love with rather than having everything match. “It’s a reflection of our personalities — we like to explore new things — and we don’t want to worry about matching them in the future. In general, we like things that have a handcrafted feel — rough or matte finishes rather than polished and shiny,” Liu says.
Sofa: Freedom Furniture; armchair and coffee table: Curious Grace
Sofa: Freedom Furniture; armchair and coffee table: Curious Grace
The internal whitewashed floor finish helps blend together the old and the new flooring. Liu also upgraded the heating from ducted to hydronic and says this was the most expensive update.
The original kitchen gained space by relocating the stairs leading to Liu’s ground-floor office, laundry facilities, bathroom and extra living room to the western side of the house. New appliances bring the kitchen up to date.
Table: MCM House; chairs: Curious Grace; painting: Sarah Brooke
Table: MCM House; chairs: Curious Grace; painting: Sarah Brooke
Although it may have been easier to extend upward, Liu and his family couldn’t be happier with their choice to extend at the front of the house. “Every time we sit at the entry hallway looking at the kids playing in the backyard, we are so glad that we persisted with the difficult option. It was so worth it!” Liu says.
Landscape design: Peachy Green Garden Architects
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Landscape design: Peachy Green Garden Architects
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Who lives here: John Liu of Inbetween Architecture, his wife and their two young children
Location: Doncaster, Victoria, Australia
Size: 3,078 square feet (286 square meters); three bedrooms, two bathrooms
In 2015, after they had lived in the original home for five years, the family’s US$225,500 renovation commenced. The addition included a master bedroom, a bathroom and an entry courtyard. The rest of the home received new paint, sanding and new oil finishes on the floorboards, and updates to the other bathroom and the kitchen. Liu worked with Seventy7 Projects to build the design.
Liu decided to put the addition on the front of the house, primarily to keep as much of the backyard as possible. However, this meant that he had to get government permission and neighbor approval, as regulation requires a minimum street setback of 30 feet or an average of the dwellings on either side. “It was a slow process and nerve-wracking. Had any of the parties rejected our proposal, we had to start from scratch,” Liu says. “But the results made it worthwhile.”
The external concrete render by Melbourne Acrylic Coatings was chosen to contrast with the existing painted brickwork.
Roofing: Colorbond