It’s been some time since the clever Taimi Sanders and Elissa King graced our pages (or rather, screens) here at est, but as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. After demonstrating their skills for family-friendly yet stylish spaces with their Terrace House project, this time the duo took on a significant renovation to an existing Victorian home. Collaborating with fellow local studio RBA Architects, the finished product keeps the integrity of the original home intact while introducing an assured modern aesthetic.

With RBA Architects handling the design of the exterior shell, Sanders & King took on the spacial planning and interior fitout, working to ensure the inside of this home more than held up to its exterior expression. Pains were taken to ensure the spirit of the home wasn’t lost in the renovation, by first fully restoring the original house, and keeping much of the original layout. Subtle new additions to the home’s layout include an ensuite and walk-in robe tucked off from the master bedroom, and a children’s bathroom with an enclosed, box-like wet area linked by glazing.

For the modern extension however, distinctions have been made – and celebrated – in the new home. Rather than simply ‘tacking on’ the extension to the existing home, it can be accessed through a pair of large steel glass doors off the main hall or via an oversized brass-clad door, a new secondary side entrance. Embracing the delineation of old and new in the design, the existing rear red brick wall of the original house is maintained in the new design, but it was sandblasted and left raw. The aged timber floor boards of the original Victorian house have also been preserved, but were re-sanded and refreshed with a limed white finish, and the existing hard plaster walls were restored then painted in soft tones with a white trim. Particularly in the original structure, care has been taken to thoughtfully preserve core design features without limiting the home’s opportunity to evolve with time and taste.

Designed as the focal point of the home, the kitchen acts as a touchstone for the refreshed design. With its large poured concrete island bench with brass panel accents and soft neutral tones, the kitchen space sets a material theme that follows throughout the house with joinery, furniture, lighting and accessories. To one side of the kitchen is the new living area, where an open fireplace and sprawling views of the outside garden make it a space sure to be popular throughout the year. Leading off the other side of the kitchen (and cleverly tucked away behind a bank of Black Stained timber cupboards) is a pantry, dedicated coffee area and a home office and laundry space.

Now home to a family of five, this historic house is comfortably settling into contemporary life.