$300, 000 dream extension

Despite loads of character our terrace house in Sydney’s inner-west was unrenovated with two outdoor bathrooms, cramped living areas and limited storage. Old appliances and little bench space characterised the kitchen and we wanted a cooking and entertaining area that could cater for a group. We loved the house and held enough equity in the property that overcapitalising wasn’t an issue, so my partner Mark and I decided to renovate.

On the drawing board

The aim was to retain as many elements of the old house as possible while building a new kitchen attached to a courtyard, knocking down a wall for a larger and lighter lounge plus bringing a bathroom inside.

Adding a new lounge and bathroom meant losing two bedrooms so we extended to create two more, one for our teenage daughter and a guest room.

Months before the renovation we built a large attic storage space above the master bedroom that came in handy during all the building work.

Quite a bit of demolition had to happen. The combined outdoor bathroom-laundry was torn down, keeping as many of the old bricks as we could for later use. The old laundry sink is now a herb garden and the old bath will become a water garden.

The old bathroom on the left was knocked down to make way for a large kitchen window.

Planning and budget

We stayed with the builders who had done our attic conversion. They work on only one project at a time and could go on to plan B if other tradies didn’t show, so were able to stay on schedule.

We were always working ahead of the builders so had time to shop around, saving money and stress.

A well-researched budget meant we managed to stick to it by constantly monitoring expenses. Contingencies were built in so if any costs blew out other choices could compensate.

We went with better-quality carpet and underlay than budgeted because by the end of the project we had an idea of whether we could afford it.

Demolishing the kitchen

One of the two new bedrooms was to be built on top of the kitchen, which meant lowering the kitchen floor and almost completely demolishing it, revealing sandstone from the old hearth that was put aside for later.

We decided to reuse the bricks so the new walls would blend with the rest of the house. The builders worked out it costs the same to clean and stack the old bricks as it would to buy new secondhand bricks. Recycled bricks also take longer to lay, which impacted a little on the schedule.

Ducted heating was being installed and we realised the only time we’d be able to fit the main unit under the lounge room floor was when there was no kitchen floor, so AGL staggered the installation to put the unit in early.

After the new floor went down, plus termite-proofing and the heating unit were in place, the brickwork began.

The new kitchen would retain the old footprint but be reconfigured to allow for six bifold doors opening onto the courtyard, creating a living space. We also reused the old window to keep the character intact.