Don’t want a big reno? Doing less can create more

“These Spanish Mission homes have a certain character and charm, and unlike many Victorian terraces, they embrace the garden,” she says.
To make the kitchen feel ‘settled’ rather than spanking new, the architect included a 1920s-inspired built-in armoire.Credit:
The kitchen was completely reworked with the former laundry, originally plonked on the northern side of the kitchen, relocated to a bathroom.
Unlike most kitchens which have one central island bench, here there’s the main bench for cooking, and a secondary bench for preparing smaller dishes and for making coffee. Both are finished with Calacutta marble, with the timber joinery below painted in a sumptuous dark salmon tone.
And to make the kitchen feel ‘settled’ rather than spanking new, Spinks included a 1920s-inspired built-in armoire.
A new guest powder is room adorned with floral wallpaper that’s evocative of the 1920s.Credit:
“My parents were moving from a large family home so it was important there was sufficient storage for many things collected over a lifetime,” says Spinks.
Spinks also showed her skills when it came to reworking the main bedroom suite located at the front of the house. Featuring pale apple green walls and plush aubergine carpet, it now includes a separate dressing area and an ensuite bathroom – with some of the space borrowed from the corridor.
One of the nifty design features is the shower in the ensuite that comes with a large slab stone bench for sitting on and a sizeable shower rose above. Set at 50 millimetres below the bedroom, the shower is perfect for a couple who don’t want to step in and out of a bathtub.
Spinks also showed a more whimsical side of her design with a new guest powder room adorned with floral wallpaper that’s evocative of the 1920s.
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“When it came to the changes, I was keen to acknowledge the past but also move the design forward,” says Spinks, pointing out the new windows in the living area with its elongated timber inserts. “There’s nothing worse than trying to be pastiche,” she adds.
The Prahran house is still a sizeable home for a couple, at about 250 square metres in area. But unlike many renovations today that tend to squeeze every centimetre into a new addition and sacrifice the garden, this one exemplifies that size isn’t always the way to go.
“People are being fairly cautious at the moment when it comes to renovations. There are certainly ways of increasing the sense of space and light. Doing less can often create significantly more,” says Spinks.
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