What Our Clients Are Saying

THREE years ago, a slim block of land measuring less than six metres wide and clocking just 145 square metres went on the market in Carrington. With a noisy, unsightly industry for neighbours and a touch of suburb snobbery, prospective buyers came and went. But when inspired designer Shane Delonix laid his bright blue eyes on the land, he saw a space bursting with potential in a suburb just about to happen. He was correct in both of his predictions, and three years later the visionary creative is thrilled with his one-bedroom home in Bourke Street, largely considered now-cosmopolitan Carrington’s main street. Shane, originally from the Central Coast, has lived and worked in Sydney for much of his creative career but knew he couldn’t afford the home he dreamt of in Sydney.

But rather than building his home on the land directly, Shane engaged Parkwood Homes in Somersby to build his home entirely offsite. “I bought the land three years ago, the place took me two months to design, 14 months to get it through council, four months to be built by Parkwood Homes and one day for them to deliver from the Central Coast!” Shane says. Once constructed, the home was delivered in two pieces and put together in less than 10 minutes on the property. Now the chic one-bedroom home stands proud on the happening street, finished in a dreamy Dulux shade dubbed Swedish Blue.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Shane. He was met with the challenge of creating spaciousness and an abundance of light in his unusually slim home. “I really wanted a modern terrace that wasn’t too dark,” he says. “I knew I wanted a light-filled space with windows along either side of the home and I knew I had to go even thinner than the existing block to make it happen.” But Shane’s eye for clever design meant the home was expertly designed and furnished to feel airy, bright and relaxed. His combined living, dining and lounge area creates the illusion of separate spaces with a floor-to-ceiling window dividing the study and lounge areas, while a protruding wall separates the dining area and kitchen creating a neat dining nook. “I’ve lived in places that have one long uninterrupted area and they feel uncomfortable,” he says. “I think it’s important to create the illusion of corners and dimension in a space like this.” An intersection between a nautical and natural theme underpins the furnishings and fit-out of the home, with a variety of bespoke furnishings sourced everywhere from Africa to a friend-of-a-friend’s garage sale. A bold circular polished concrete dining table sits neatly in the dining nook, with white mesh outdoor seating tucked underneath and softened with layered pillows in blue and green.

Shane’s galley kitchen consists of Tasmanian oak timber cabinetry in a washed white, constructed by George’s carpentry in Crows Nest. Stylish Turkish marble tiling in a dark olive tone is laid underfoot and carried through to the upstairs area. The floating staircase leading upstairs was finished in a washed white to compliment the cabinetry, but was constructed using local driftwood sourced from Sweetmans Timber in Millfield. The bold, sturdy planks of driftwood are carried forth to the balcony of the master bedroom, which overlooks Bourke Street from the second storey of the home. “The driftwood never has to be oiled, so it will go this great shade of silver-grey like an old wharf as the years go by,” Shane says. Rare cylindrical fibreglass side tables sit either side of the bed, while a Turkish rug woven from the wool of camel, goat and sheep lays at the foot of the bed.

A light originally hanging in a Russian cargo ship lights the studio space squeezed between the master bedroom and bathroom, a piece found on eBay and sourced from England. The bathroom consists largely of the same dark olive Turkish marble tile downstairs, as well as an earthy travertine tile in a complimentary shade. A jumbo pot in a rich bronze sits to one side of the bathroom, a consistent feature throughout the home and the garden. “When it comes to my pots, they’ve got to be the right colour, the right shape – and big!” he says. The courtyard is overflowing with lush greenery, including lavender succulents spilling over the lip of another silvery jumbo pot, along with a trio of dragon trees. The front garden also boasts a rich variety of blooming flora, including vivacious buxus, the sweet flowerbuds of rhaphiolepis and sharp, spiky echidna grass planted in circular garden beds in the concrete walkway leading onto the street. “People walking by often stop by and have a look inside,” Shane says. Read Full Article By The Herald

“As our family grew from two to five we outgrew our original three bedroom kit home. The house was not only too small but badly in need of either renovating or pulling down,” Castaing says. “We also love the walk to the beach, the local community and our native garden.”

Castaing explains that both budget and the need to live onsite throughout the renovation led them to opt for the prefabricated extension option.

“It solved all our concerns,” she says, “and the thrill of having a crane lift the prefab over our existing house and eucalypts was unforgettable. We moved in within days, which freed up our old place for renovating.” “Our impression was not using prefab was going to add at least a further $15,000,” Castaing says.

“Once we told our builders what the quoted prefab cost was they quickly said they couldn’t match it.” The ability to live onsite during construction also saved the family big dollars in rent. “We managed to avoid paying around $10,000, and also avoided the hassle of moving and finding alterative accommodation,” says Castaing.

“Prefabs are built so quickly so there’s no time to make any changes,” she says. “It was a very different to our normal experience building on site with a builder who will call up with questions, or will invite you to go and have a look at something before it’s completed.”

From a design point of view it’s also a far cry from heavy construction according to Thomas, because the building must be framed and light in weight; a masonry house cannot be transported. “There are many other parameters to do with engineering, assembly and the whole factory process,” she explains. “And of course, the dimensions have to fit on the back of a truck.”

The short timeframe means there’s also virtually no construction site. “In this project the concrete footings were poured and a couple of weeks later the building arrived and the owners could move in.” The transportation of the prefab module presented a number of challenges, due to the size of the block and the location of the extension, according to Thomas.

“Getting the module into the back garden was an interesting exercise of artistry from the point of view from the man driving the crane,” she says. “We had to lift the pavilion over the roof of the existing house.”