2015 Gladesville Californian Bungalow

The project was to renovate a run down full brick 1920's classic Californian bungalow in Gladesville. It had been with its previous owner for around 80 years and was full of character and potential.  The house was purchased by the owner with the intention of building her dream home to live in for the rest of her life. She is retired and wanted a home for her family and friends to be able to visit and stay. At the auction she spoke to the under-bidder whose eyes lit up when he told her of the plans he had envisioned for the home. As fate may have it, they hit it off and that was how Peter Ginns from Genuine Building Services became the builder of her new home.

The existing external features of the bungalow were to be retained and restored including all windows visible from the street. Internally the front sunroom and the main front bedroom window seat were to be restored. New and larger windows were to be added in the other areas of the home to bring in additional light. The rear sunroom was to be demolished to make way for an internal garage and a large open plan living area to the rear of the house capturing the incredible city views. The living area would open onto a timber deck that led to a large grassed area perfect for the owner's grandchildren to play on.

In the original plans the rear of the living room opened out onto a beautiful rear yard but the city wasn’t visible from the kitchen and there was also a steel post interrupting the view and disconnecting the yard. Peter suggested replacing the two separate sets of sliding doors, the highlight windows above them and the steel post in the middle with one set of full height sliders across the width of the living room thereby creating uninterrupted views.

Old houses have their challenges and in this home it was the restoration of the front sunroom. The owner really wanted to keep the existing windows, which were by far the most out of level, out of plumb and in need of the most work of all the rooms and windows in the house. She also wanted to fit plantation shutters to these windows which would have been very difficult in their condition. The Genuine Building team worked for three days rebuilding the reveals, reconfiguring the windows and removing and trimming new pieces to the existing out of plumb window frame. They were eventually able to provide a beautifully restored set of windows that were able to have plantation shutters fitted to them. The ceiling was lined in V groove lining boards and a new door opening was made into the room and fitted with a glass door. This room now has sun streaming in from all sides and has provided a great spot for reading a book or as an office. This room is now the owner’s favourite room of the house.

The best part of this project apart from the amazing house, is the teamwork throughout project between Peter, his team and the owner. Peter would like to give the owner a lot of credit for the way the project was fully completed. She loved this house from the time she bought it and made sure its original character was retained even when it meant doing that bit extra and getting the existing house tuck pointed and having an amazing traditional landscaped garden. This has resulted in a beautiful home that has such a warm feeling about it which probably comes from the love of the house by the client and the whole Genuine Building Services team. This is by far the favourite project the Genuine Building team have worked on. It has resulted in a lifelong friendship between Peter and the owner and warm family home for the owner and her family which will be the place of many family memories for years to come.