Boolaroo House
A period cottage reimagined around the rhythms of family life.
Boolaroo, Lake Macquarie, NSW · Renovation + addition · Design dated 2019
A sheltered life unfolds behind the screen
Boolaroo House reimagines a period cottage for contemporary family life on a compact corner site.
Wrapped in a light timber screen, the unbuilt proposal balances privacy, openness and a stronger connection to the garden.
Within its constrained footprint, flexible rooms and a practical side entry support the rhythms of everyday life—from bicycles, prams and pets to family gatherings.
The design preserves the cottage’s generous character while revealing the quiet potential of a challenging suburban site.
01 / THE BRIEF & OVERVIEW
PROJECT DETAILS
Location: Boolaroo, Lake Macquarie, NSW Project: Renovation + addition / unbuilt feasibility study Home: Existing beach cottage Scope: Architectural design, development application and construction documentation Client: Private
More room for family life on a compact corner site.
The brief was to adapt the home for a growing family, creating flexible spaces for everyday living, entertaining and life with dogs.
Practical storage for bicycles and prams, improved connections to outdoor areas, and greater privacy from traffic and neighbouring properties were central to the design.
Boolaroo House responds to a compact corner site within the established suburban fabric of Lake Macquarie.
Drawing on the modest character of the surrounding cottages, the design uses a light white timber screen to create privacy from two busy street frontages while filtering daylight, air and outlooks.
02 / EXISTING + CONCEPT
The existing cottage’s high ceilings and period details formed the starting point.
Rather than treating the small site as a limitation, the proposal used its constraints to establish a clear planning strategy:
Protect the private edges, open the shared spaces to the garden and make circulation work harder.
A generous side entry became both an arrival space and a practical passage for bicycles, prams and everyday movement between the street, house and garden.
03 / PLANS & SECTIONS
The layout places shared living at the centre of daily activity and uses each part of the compact site efficiently.
Adaptable bedrooms and useful entry storage support changing family needs, while carefully positioned openings connect the interior to protected outdoor spaces.
Maximum site potential
The compact proposal uses every available metre, with flexible rooms that adapt as family life changes.
Connected everyday living
A hardworking side entry combines arrival, storage and circulation, while shared spaces open directly to the garden.
A screened corner
White timber screening creates privacy from neighbouring properties and passing traffic while filtering light and outlooks.
04 / MATERIAL PALETTE
The palette begins with the character of the existing cottage.
White-painted timber screening gives the addition a light, familiar expression while providing shade, privacy and a softer edge to the busy street.
New finishes are intended to sit comfortably within Boolaroo’s modest residential fabric.
05 / THE PROJECT
Explore the proposed sequence from the protected side entry to the central living spaces and rear garden, with the white timber screen mediating between the home and its busy corner setting.
06 / BEHIND THE PROJECT
Boolaroo House was an exercise in extracting the greatest value from a difficult site without losing the qualities that make a home calm and livable.
The proposal grew from close attention to everyday routines: arriving with a bicycle or pram, giving the dogs an outdoor route, finding privacy from traffic and making room for a growing family.
Though unbuilt, the project reveals the site’s maximum feasibility and a clear architectural response to Boolaroo’s compact, evolving suburban fabric.