house profile regional victoria

On
a
shoe
string
Minimal floor plan changes, new north
windows and a collection of retro doors
revive a tired weatherboard in central
Victoria – all on a modest budget.

Words Anna Cumming

Photography Rachel Pilgrim

D
Deciduous plants will eventually
shade the west-facing windows
in the enclosed back verandah,
preventing the space over-
heating in summer. In the
meantime, homeowner Fran
has put up shadecloth.

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L L
For budget reasons, Fran Two of Fran’s collection of
chose an Ikea modular salvaged etched lyrebird
kitchen. While she’s happy doors lead from the main
with the carcase, some of the bedroom to the deck on the
surfaces haven’t worn very house’s north-east corner.
well. She says that next time
she would have the timber
benchtops and cupboard
doors custom made locally.

When community consultant Fran bought her house
on the edge of Castlemaine in central Victoria four years ago, it was
“dark, dirty and dingy”, but it fit the bill. “I wanted to buy a cheap house
that I could renovate in the way I wanted to, not deal with somebody
else’s renovations,” she says. Also, a good sense of community was
important to her, and she was already friends with the artists next door.
Sawn in half and relocated to the large site by truck around 20 years
earlier, the weatherboard house had had little love lavished on it in that
time. Fran initially planned a small-scale renovation to improve the
natural light access and make the house more energy efficient: “I had
previously lived in a house that was off-grid, with a wind turbine, solar
power and solar hot water, and it was really important to me that I spend
money on those features.”
However, she quickly realised that achieving her aims was going
to require more work than she had thought. The house was a warren
of small, dark rooms, with few windows to the north, making it cold in
winter. Lacking any significant thermal mass, the house needed to be
thoroughly insulated to achieve better passive thermal performance.
Polyester batts were installed in the roof and almost all internal and
external walls, a job that necessitated removing weatherboards and
replastering inside. The underfloor was insulated too.
Castlemaine building design firm Lifehouse Design came on board
to produce a design for a floor plan reconfiguration that would work
within Fran’s small budget. They concentrated on opening up the spaces A vintage mirror etched with a
and adding carefully placed windows for better solar gain and cross- lyrebird design was the catalyst
ventilation, and to make the most of the rural views while maintaining
privacy.
for a hunt for similar pieces that
The two bedrooms and the bathroom were retained as they were, eventually yielded three pairs of
but a collection of small walls and a triangular cupboard in the northern etched French doors.
part of the main living room were demolished to open up the space.
The door and part of the wall between the kitchen and the living room
were removed, leaving a large L-shaped cut-out that brings light into the
kitchen and connects it with the living space. Lifehouse Design’s Robyn
Gibson is particularly pleased with the long, thin window made by a local
builder and set into the south wall. “The shape of the window captures
the peaceful treetop views to the south without letting too much warmth G
escape or giving the neighbours a view in,” she says. Double glazing A small section of
supporting wall was
and low-e glass reduce the heat loss from the window. The tiny existing retained when the living
space was opened up. It’s
window was salvaged and incorporated as an opening section at one end
been faced with stacked
of the new window unit, to allow for cross-ventilation. slate as a feature wall. A
corner study space is
Along with some help with painting and carpentry from friends, tucked in next to the
Fran employed local tradespeople for the renovation. She and her son entry to the kitchen.

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The retro mirror etched with
a lyrebird motif now hanging
in the bathroom was left in
the house by the previous
owners and was the
beginning of Fran’s collection
of etched glazing. The hand J
basin is secondhand and Opening the kitchen up to
fitted with recycled low-flow the living area was a central
taps picked up at a garage part of Lifehouse’s design for
sale. the renovation. The new
cut-out in the wall frames
the windows and views to
the east and south.

D
New glazing to the north
maximises the light entering
the living area and the large
refurbished east-facing window
frames the view over the
Castlemaine hills. The house 1
is furnished with second-hand 1
lived in a friend’s 1950s caravan onsite for most of the four months it others installed to access the deck from the living area and from Fran’s pieces collected over a lifetime.
took to get the house liveable, using a makeshift kitchen on the back bedroom; the flock of lyrebirds that now parades through the house
verandah. “It was a great adventure for about a month, but then it wasn’t lends character to the white walls and simple lines of the interior.
so much fun any more,” she laughs. During the renovation the original With the house’s passive thermal performance much improved, the 2
3
kitchen and part of the bathroom were pulled out, the carpet came up next step was renewable energy. Fran purchased a 1.5kW grid-connected
and the hardwood boards underneath were sanded and polished. After photovoltaic system through a local environmental group’s community 8
5
the insulating and replastering were completed the house was painted bulk-buy program, and says it provides about 75 per cent of the small
inside and out. For the interior, Fran chose untinted white low-VOC family’s electricity needs. She also installed an evacuated tube solar hot
4
paint: “The tints can be toxic, and I like the pure white, it feels very water system with an instantaneous gas booster.
clean and very open,” she explains. She also invested in Luxaflex Duette Fran is very happy with what she’s achieved so far. “It’s a very liveable
6
blinds to insulate the north- and east-facing windows. The blinds’ house; it’s beautifully light, the view is spectacular and people always 7

white translucent fabric lets diffused light in, while the honeycomb comment on that.” The next thing on her list is to pay some attention
structure makes them an efficient window insulator. As a bonus, they are to the front garden, neglected so far in favour of a productive vegetable
lightweight and take up very little space when open. and herb garden at the back. In the future, she’d like to add water tanks, Floor Plan
1 Bedroom
Though there wasn’t much of the original interior worth retaining, replace the septic tank with a more eco-friendly option, terrace the 2 Bathroom
3 Hallway
the previous owners left Fran a vintage mirror etched with a lyrebird garden and plant an orchard, and do some work to make the enclosed,
4 Living/Study
design. This was the catalyst for a hunt for similar pieces that eventually west-facing back verandah more liveable. In the meantime, she’s 5 Dining
6 Kitchen
yielded three pairs of etched French doors, mostly salvaged from a 1950s enjoying being several steps closer to her energy-efficient ideals. 7 WC/Laundry
house in Melbourne. Two panels were reworked as internal doors and the 8 Sunroom

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Castlemaine Residence

Designer Sustainable Features Active heating & cooling

Lifehouse Design Hot water – Ned Kelly slow combustion heater
— Apricus evacuated tube solar hot water system with www.woodheaters.com.au
Website Rinnai instantaneous gas boost unit – Second-hand Rinnai Energy Saver 551FT gas space
www.lifehousedesign.com.au www.apricus.com.au; www.rinnai.com.au heater, bought at a garage sale
— www.rinnai.com.au
Project type Renewable energy
Renovation 1.5kW grid-interactive photovoltaic system with Windows & glazing
— Sunnyboy SB1700 inverter, bought as part of a – Living and dining room windows: a combination of
Project location community bulk-purchase through Mount Alexander new plantation hardwood frames custom made by a
Castlemaine, Vic Sustainability Group local builder and recycled timber frames. Some units
— are double glazed with low-e glass.
Cost Water saving – Bedrooms: second-hand windows and salvaged
approximately $70,000 – Ikea Elverdam low-flow tap in kitchen: WELS French doors
— 4 star rating
Size – Recycled low-flow tapware in bathroom found at a Lighting
house approximately 100 sqm; garage sale Second-hand pendant light fittings found online and at
land approximately 2,000 sqm – Water-efficient shower head garage sales, with compact fluorescent globes

Passive heating & cooling Paints, finishes & floor coverings

– Autex GreenStuf polyester batt insulation – low
VOC and containing approx 85% recycled material:
R1.5 under floor and in walls (this is all that the wall
cavity space could accommodate) and R3.0 in roof
www.autex.com.au
– Luxaflex Duette window shades for their insulating
properties www.luxaflex.com.au
– Low-VOC paints: untinted Dulux, and Haymes
Nature’s Palette
www.dulux.com.au; www.haymespaint.com.au
– Organoil hard burnishing floor oil and Feast Watson
Master Touch carnauba wax used to finish floors.
www.organoil.com.au; www.feastwatson.com.au

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Underneath the worn carpet,
the original hardwood
floorboards were in great
condition. They were sanded
and finished with Organoil
and Feast Watson
Master Touch carnauba wax.

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