Gambrel House

The brief

Keep the character, transform the spaces.

The existing home was a sweet but dated traditional home with a gambrel-style roof — living upstairs, bedrooms downstairs. Our clients wanted to flip the levels: living and kitchen downstairs with flowing spaces, bedrooms upstairs. They also wanted the tandem carport replaced with a double garage.

The response kept the gambrel roof as the signature form and demolished much of the lower level so it could be rebuilt with more space, a deck, and better connection to the garden. The front bedroom was widened and converted to a garage with traditional tilt doors.

The gambrel upper level was extended to the rear for a large master suite with balcony. The overall styling of the completed home respects the traditional character of the original while delivering a completely contemporary interior.

The design thinking

Respecting the form, reinventing the life within.

The gambrel roof is the house’s identity — the reason it sits well on its Balgowlah Heights street. The design decision to retain and extend it rather than replace it was fundamental: the renovation needed to feel like the house had always been this way.

Reversing the levels — putting the living spaces downstairs and the bedrooms upstairs — transformed the relationship between the house and its garden completely. Where the original home turned its back on the rear yard, the renovated home opens to it.