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More than a decade of hard work has paid off for a Brisbane family, with their clever renovation choices earning their home the title of Australian House of the Year.
Zuzana Kovar and Nicholas Skepper saw their shophouse-style vision come to life when they found the Red Hill fixer-upper in 2011.
Since buying the two-storey worker's cottage, the husband and wife have opened their architectural practice.
"One of the things that attracted us to the property was that it sits on a corner block," Mr Skepper said.
"The topography is such that the land kind of falls away on the side street, and it reveals the underside, understorey of the house — we always imagined that'd be a great spot for an architecture studio."
Working with less than 200 square metres, their design won its category in the 2024 Houses Awards and was also the overall winner.
Building smarter, not larger
The 1910 home's age and "poor condition" meant it was a good-value investment.
"Smaller houses are inherently more affordable," Mr Skepper said.
One of the first things the couple did was swap the living and bedrooms to make the most of the available light and ventilation.
"There's very little expenditure there in repositioning those things [but it] makes a big difference to the amenity that those spaces have," Mr Skepper said.
The largest room in the home is used as an office but can also offer the family another living space.
"If we have a birthday party here for the kids, or we have friends over for dinner, our studio table doubles as a dining table for a large group," Mr Skepper explained.
Houses Awards head juror Alexa Kempton said this kind of flexibility in room planning meant no space was left unused.
The judging panel said this kind of flexible design became popular when COVID turned the concept of remote work into "a pretty confronting reality", and many people still prefer to work from home.
Ms Kempton said this multi-use property was a good example of how personal and professional life could co-exist.
Mr Skepper agreed "appropriate separation" was needed between the spaces, with the couple's studio located downstairs.
"The house has its own front door to the main street, but we have the ability for the studio to open directly onto the side street for us to receive visitors and clients that way," Mr Skepper said.
It bucks the trend of building out to the extremities of the block — using as much land within your fence line — which Ms Kempton said was "fairly conventional" among renovators trying to maximise their money.
"People often look at rooms in older houses and think 'oh, it's too small, it needs to be bigger'," she said.
"What this house does is push back against that way of thinking to show that, actually, you can build an excellent house that gives you everything that you need without building out to the boundary."
Mr Skepper said close collaboration with the builder opened the door for more environmentally-friendly practices too, such as retaining original materials and recycling items.
Keeping the backyard
The couple wanted to work within the existing home's footprint, hoping to preserve the long block's "good-sized backyard".
Large sliding glass doors and open spaces give the house a "semi-external quality", offering the feel of a verandah without taking up precious garden space.
"When the weather permits, which is most of the year in Brisbane, those sliding doors fold back [to give] that direct outlook to the garden," Mr Skepper said.
"But we haven't had to make a deck, which [would've required] more material, more expenditure, and kind of chewed up more of the backyard.
"We have two young kids, and that outdoor space is essential. Aside from wanting to be able to preserve the garden and be able to use that space, the interiors benefit from that outlook as well."
Ms Kempton described the home as a celebration of the Queensland undercroft, a feature that suits the city's warm climate.
She said the "wonderful, wild garden site" offered plenty of shade and a great view.
"[It also] maintains greenery in our inner suburbs, which is something that we're really grappling with as we look at cities becoming increasingly dense," Ms Kempton said.