With a strong sentimental connection to the dwelling, the team from Smith & Sons Ballarat have respectfully revived the home. The most memorable part of this project was seeing how happy the owner was with the result.
Built by Smith & Sons Ballarat and designed by Zarif Designs (with interior design by Jess Young), this Victorian residence is a far cry from its previous incarnation. Despite its shortcomings, the owner was keen to renovate rather than rebuild the sorely rundown property, which had been passed down to her by her father. With a strong sentimental connection to the dwelling, the team from Smith & Sons Ballarat have respectfully revived the home so it can now play host to its owner and her frequently visiting grandchildren, a modern family home renovation success story.
“The house was practically unlivable when we first got to site,” remembers Ben Beasley, builder and co-owner of Smith & Sons Ballarat. “The kitchen appliances didn’t work, broken windows had been boarded up, the brickwork was cracked and the roof damaged. The client wanted her family home restored so her family could come over to a safe and beautiful space.”
The client brief called for an open-plan living space that spilled out to the north-facing patio. A new load-bearing beam was installed to take weight off the existing roof, allowing for the removal of walls to create the open-plan kitchen, meals and living area. With a new roof extension to the kitchen, dining and alfresco space, as well as new double-glazed windows installed throughout, the house was fully rendered with a new iron roof and treated to new internal linings and floor coverings. “We give our clients a vast colour selection for benchtops, fixtures and fittings, tapware, wall colour and floor colourings,” says Rhys James, builder and co-owner of Smith & Sons Ballarat. “This way they can create their own atmosphere and make their house a home.”
Proving themselves as sentimental as the owner of this spectacularly renovated home, Rhys and Ben say the most memorable part of this project was seeing how happy the owner was with the family home renovation. “This job would have been easier to knock down and start again but the fact the client was sentimentally attached to the house, and that the house meant more to her than bricks and mortar, really set this job apart for us,” Rhys concludes. “It was very personal and that is the approach we like to have with all of our clients. Jobs like this are extra-special because a client is trusting us with something that obviously means a lot to them.”
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