It’s not easy to add a third bedroom, new bathroom, and open-plan living space to a 123 square metre site without eliminating outdoor space. Enamour Terrace, designed by Kitty Lee Architecture in Enmore, Sydney, shows how it’s done.

Kitty Lee Architecture were engaged to extend the home, originally focusing on bringing the bathroom indoors (it was previously in the backyard), and creating an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area. However, as Covid hit and the owners spent more time at home, the project evolved to include a small upper extension.

Kitty Lee, principal of Kitty Lee Architecture, explains, ‘The owners spent a lot of time working from their two-bedroom home and decided that they needed an additional study space. Following strict heritage controls, phase two included the extension of the rear of the existing roof to convert the attic into a habitable third bedroom/study.’

In renovating the home, the existing two bedrooms and hallway were retained, and the layout of the second bedroom modified to accommodate a new stair to the attic room. Period-style features were reinstated by replacing aluminium framed windows with timber framed windows, installing new floorboards, and laying tessellated tiles on the front porch. 

The interior palette of the ground floor addition visually separates the new and old parts of the house. Hardwood floorboards meet polished concrete floors (hand seeded a mix of pink and white pebbles when the slab was poured), deep blue kitchen joinery, and a timber island bench. 

‘I wanted the island bench to feel like a piece of furniture as it would function as the dining table,’ says Kitty. ‘The deep blue joinery allows the rest of the kitchen to be more recessive—a backdrop to the room.’

The new bathroom continues this blue theme, paired with more warm timber and cool grey terrazzo tiles that extend into the lightwell. ‘The glossy finish of the tiles creates a lively surface as the reflections on it change throughout the day,’ says Kitty.

In containing the size of the upper addition, the ground floor extension simultaneously prioritises volume, height and natural light. ‘Despite the small site, we didn’t try to maximise the internal floor area by building a full second-storey addition,’ says Kitty. ‘This gave us the opportunity to increase the height of the rear extension and lift the roof to the north to gain natural light into the new living areas.’

The completed house remains a modest size of 86 square metres that opens to a rear outdoor dining area. Kitty says, ‘It’s a great example of how you can achieve a functional and delightful home on a typical compact inner-city block that feels both open and private.’