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When Dean and Fran purchased this 1904 worker’s cottage in Lilyfield as a downsizer from their former family home, they wanted it to feel spacious and joyful. While its heritage exterior was inviting, its rear was a ‘rabbit warren of dark rooms’.
Co-directors of architecture studio Michiru Higginbotham, Adam Higginbotham and Michiru Cohen knew exactly how to preserve the home’s heritage street presence while still suiting the homeowners’ contemporary lifestyle.
‘The home needed to feel spacious enough to replace their former family house, while remaining low-maintenance and joyful for life’s next chapter. [They] wanted a home that was supremely comfortable for two whilst not compromising on space,’ Michiru says.
‘Rather than treating downsizing as compromise, we approached the project as an opportunity to rethink what compact living can feel like through volume, light, materiality and flexibility,’ Adam explains.
Adam and Michiru drew on brick and timber weatherboard references to match the neighbouring homes. They imbued the abode with light and character, always prioritising the connection between the kitchen and garden to suit the couple’s love of cooking and Fran’s passion for gardening.
An exposed brick threshold connects the original front rooms with the new concealed, two-storey contemporary rear extension. A modern kitchen, living and dining space lie in this addition with ‘a calm, cathedral-like ceiling in the master retreat above.’
The Marseile-tiled hipped roof was also reformed into a gable, adding to the seamless transition between indoors and outdoors.
‘There’s a beautiful moment where you move through the original hallway and suddenly arrive in this light-filled volume that feels completely unexpected for a workers’ cottage,’ Michiru says.
The abode’s Edwardian facade, raised terrace, iron palisade, original front door and front porch decorative tiles were preserved, while inside the home, timber windows, floor tiles and wall lining were retained and reused.
One of the biggest challenges of the renovation was navigating the local council’s careful oversight of the home’s architecture and exterior colours, ensuring the heritage facade remained sympathetic to the surrounding streetscape.
Inside, though, Michiru and Adam had much more freedom to experiment.
‘The discussion with the client was to have more fun with the interiors where we weren’t scrutinised as closely, hence the whimsical response internally,’ says Michiru.
Colour was always going to play a starring role. Working closely with Fran and Dean, Michiru and Adam introduced a playful palette throughout the home, from the blush-pink tiled bathroom to the eucalypt-green bedroom — a reminder that, as Michiru puts it, “playfulness has no age”.
That sense of fun continues in the kitchen, where a graphic checkerboard wall in cork adds pattern, texture and a touch of whimsy. The idea was inspired by a Kylie Kwong restaurant the homeowners had long admired, and it proved to be more than just a beautiful detail.
‘Cork is good from a sustainability point of view, as well as for acoustics, and it’s low-toxin. It was just this perfect synergy,’ Michiru says.
Sustainability was considered at every turn, too, with the renovation designed to support Fran and Dean well into retirement. The home is now fully electric, with solar integration replacing gas and helping to reduce its ongoing energy use and running costs.
For a downsizer, this home feels anything but diminished.
‘It needed to feel joyful and generous enough that [the homeowners] wouldn’t miss the family home they left behind. The interplay between heritage, sustainability and contemporary living is what makes this project so special,’ says Adam.
