The Veranda House

The brief was simple to say and hard to do: the family wanted the central courtyard — the original reason they bought the plot — to actually be felt from every major room, not just glimpsed from the dining table.

We started by stripping back a decade of partition walls and false ceilings that had slowly closed the house in on itself. The living and dining areas were reopened into a single volume facing the courtyard, with sliding glass panels that fold away completely on cooler months.

"We'd stopped noticing our own courtyard. Now it's the first thing anyone says when they walk in." — Homeowner

Materials were chosen to read as an extension of the courtyard rather than a contrast to it: a kota stone floor that continues from inside to out, oak joinery left in a raw matte finish, and linen upholstery in tones pulled directly from the garden's clay pots.

The Kitchen & Family Wing

The kitchen was relocated to share a wall with the courtyard, with a breakfast counter facing the garden. Storage was custom-built floor to ceiling on the opposite wall to keep counters clear — a request from a family that cooks daily, not occasionally.

Upstairs, the three bedrooms were each given a distinct material identity while keeping a shared palette, so the house reads as one family of spaces rather than disconnected rooms.