Since moving into her Wollongong family home, interior designer Isa Stancourt has used the 1950s fibro garage as a home office and to sleep guests — but it was never quite big or functional enough.

‘As soon as the sofa bed was open you could barely skirt around it. There was a rudimentary shower and laundry in there too,’ she says.

Isa saw an opportunity to create a bespoke space to be used by her 18-year-old daughter, and later as short-term accommodation.

Significantly extending the existing 17-square-metre studio wasn’t possible without impacting the main house or deck, so Isa opted to push the length of the studio outwards by just one metre.

‘I could see that by extending it by just one metre was able to improve the layout and space significantly,’ she explains. ‘I changed the entry point and reconfigured the bathroom, and I removed the flat ceiling to make it raked, which gave the studio more volume.’

The added space has provided valuable extra room, allowing for a separate laundry.

In extending and reconfiguring the floor plan, Isa worked with Stancourt Builders to fully strip the interior and half the exterior, including the ceiling.

‘We left the existing concrete floor, old car oil stains included! This was a budget decision, and added a new patch of concrete flooring in the extension.’ Isa says. ‘We added a steel beam to support and extend the existing roof framing.’

Two newly installed skylights with automatic blinds ensure the studio gets plenty of natural light without sacrificing privacy.

The studio is now fully self-contained thanks to a kitchen (situated along the wall of the living/sofa bed area) with pale yellow cabinetry, custom timber handles, a grey tiled splashback, and a matching stone bench (made using offcuts from another project). There’s also a built-in study nook adjoining the kitchen area, and storage space at the entry.

The bathroom is a feminine and playful space, tying in with the studio’s new pale pink exterior walls and ceiling. A blush square tile fully lines the floors to match the vanity, while equally sized maroon tiles on the floor create the illusion of a deeper space. Deliberately mismatching coloured resin tapware by Wood Melbourne and lilac towel rails offer delightful points of interest.

Isa managed costs by slowly designing and building over the course of a year. The budget was $80,000-$100,000, and she was pleased to come in right in the middle at just over $90,000.

The fully contained studio provides Isa’s daughter with greater independence and a potential source of income if they decide to rent out the space as accommodation.

Budget breakdown

Trades/labour: $44,000
Joinery (kitchen, wardrobe, vanity): $16,000
Kitchen and bathroom benchtops: $4,500 for installation only. (Stone was leftover from another project.)
Hardwood desk and lid: $2,080
Tiles for kitchen splashback & bathroom: $3,100
Tapware: $1,820
Appliances: $2,685
Windows & skylights: $8,400
Miscellaneous (air conditioning, blinds, shower screen, and other): $8,000

Renovation total = $90,585