Water therapy

Photography: Dave Wheeler

Often, when home owners are considering putting in a swimming pool they struggle to find the space to accommodate it. But in the case of this Darlinghurst property, the large backyard pool took up so much space, the owners decided to downsize it.

“Almost the entirety of the original back yard was taken up with a large-scale pool, rendering the rear yard unusable other than for swimming,” says Jen Humphry, of Paddington-based design and construction company Modify.

“The reduction in pool size and shape allowed for far more practical use of the rear external area. And changes to openings out to the rear yard created a far more seamless and usable interaction between indoors and outdoors.”

Modify began reconsidering the grand, three-bedroom house on Barcom Ave during the early stages of COVID-19, with careful consideration given not only to resizing and reshaping the pool, but to the home’s footprint within the Paddington Heritage Zone.

“While the house itself is not heritage listed, the house is in a heritage conservation area which means there is greater scrutiny on the amendments and changes to the homes that are proposed,” Humphry says.

“It was a tricky DA to get through council — first, it was being assessed during the early stages of COVID. In addition, as there was much heritage scrutiny, there were multiple site visits and hours of discussion and working through concerns with council that were required.

"Ultimately, we were successful in having our proposed scheme approved which we were thrilled about. Obviously it is a beautiful home to look at, but the amenity improvements for the owners were also significant.

“There were no additional bedrooms added but a gorgeous, light-filled new master ensuite was added to enhance the use of what was previously unusable space.

“A luxurious powder room was added to the ground floor. The lower ground was excavated to extend it from being a small, dark and unappealing storage space to being a wonderful laundry, entertaining, storage, cellar space as well as housing plant and equipment for the pool that would otherwise have been required to be in the rear yard.”

Humphry says the owners were after mostly aesthetic improvements to the house, but the greater functionality has been the real bonus.

“The new home is a beautiful, clean palate and has a lovely feeling of understated luxury. The owners also wanted to be able to use the space for entertaining, which they like to do. And the opening up and reimagining of spaces has certainly enabled far superior day-to-day enjoyment of the home, as well as providing much more opportunity to enjoy entertaining easily.

“Other improvements include windows and doors being new and double glazing to improve thermal quality, most significant being the large-scale glazing to the rear that faced west and had a heavy sun/heat load.”

Humphry says that while the build was tricky, the company is used to dealing with the challenges of inner-city renovations.

“The constraints of access into the site, particularly for the lower-ground excavation, as well as the pool works, were tricky. However, our teams are well versed in working in constrained sites given we do a large number of terrace and semi homes.”

The owners have thoroughly enjoyed their updated space, particularly being able to set foot in the backyard again.

“The owners are thrilled with it,” Humphry says. “On numerous occasions when we have been back to add furnishings and finishing touches the owners tell us that this new home has ‘changed their life’.

“It’s so satisfying and exactly the outcome we are looking for. It was a very positive collaboration between client and our team, which of course makes the whole journey fun, enjoyable, and you always get the most optimal results.”