Why Less Is More In This Tonal California Bungalow Renovation
Architecture
Willowbank by Chloë Antonio Architecture reworked the addition and bathroom of a California bungalow in Fitzroy North.
Travertine and timber elements injected warmth and texture across the interiors.Kitchen wall light by Volker Haug.
The new bench provides a central gathering space at the heart of the home.
Custom-made pendant light by Anna Charlesworth in collaboration with Chloë Antonio Architecture.
Timber joinery adds to the renovation’s minimalistic atmosphere.
Bookshelves and soft curtains enhance the lived-in feel.
Dining room table by Made Studio. Wall lights by Studio Henry Wilson.
Timber wall panels create an intimate setting for the dining space.
Partitions were used strategically for a sense of separation.
The bullnose detailing of the island nods to the bay window.
The dining now open directly to a new pergola outside.
The revamped bathroom in the original section ties in with the new material palette.
Wall lights by Volker Haug.
It’s not often that an architect is engaged to work on a house that had already been renovated just a few years before.
But the owners of this California bungalow in Fitzroy felt like their family home was still missing something when they approached Chloë Antonio Architecture in 2023.
They purchased the house with an existing extension, likely completed in the late 1990s, that replicated many of the bungalow’s original features, incorporating a bay window in the lounge, kitchen, and dining space at the rear.
‘Prior to our involvement, the clients had undertaken a recent renovation during the pandemic,’ director Chloë Antonio says.
‘The works included the addition of an ensuite to the main bedroom, a renovated kitchen, a reconfigured plan incorporating a home office, and enlarged openings to further open the rear living areas.’
These updates had gifted the house a lovely garden outlook; however, there was a lingering sense of disconnect. The kitchen felt undersized and a little too understated with primarily white finishes, while the scale of the dining area was overly generous and difficult to style.
‘The enlarged openings also reduced opportunities for retreat and privacy, qualities the clients were seeking to reintroduce into the home,’ Chloë says.
This patchwork of prior updates laid the groundwork for a more restrained response this time around. To reconcile the various layers, Chloë worked within the home’s current footprint, instead opting to exchange the position of the kitchen and dining spaces.
In the new arrangement, an extra dividing wall was added to delineate the more intimate dining area from the rest of the living areas. Dark timber wall panels help soften the strong northern light that floods the extension, as bi-folding doors open to a new pergola.
The same warm timber was also used in the ‘dry’ zone of the revamped bathroom at the front of the house, ditching the late ’90s finishes for a tonal look that feels visually linked to the textural materials at the rear.
‘The kitchen, previously constrained by a pokey U-shaped layout and relegated to the periphery, is re-established as the social and functional heart of the home,’ Chloë says.
A new four-and-a-half metre island bench topped with travertine forms the central anchor, as the bullnose detailing draws inspiration from the curves of the nearby bay window.
‘It’s a place to gather over sangria and shared meals while hosting, to slowly complete jigsaw puzzles together over weeks, to perch with a morning coffee, to work in the sun, or to linger while dinner cooks and homework is done.’
With a less-is-more approach and relatively minimal interventions, Chloë Antonio Architecture found the missing puzzle piece that the family home had been waiting for.