Turns out it wasn’t such a straightforward decision.
We had no less than three architects known for their sustainable designs and one self proclaimed but not really sustainable architect (and there are certainly growing numbers of these around) traipse through our place. They gave their views on how we could improve our living and bedroom space and make the house more sustainable.
We’re all for mainstream architects proclaiming their interest and skill in sustainable housing. But did we want our place to be their practice ground?
The challenge was that for an 80 year old bungalow, the retrofit was incredibly fiddly and we know what that means – $$$$. Added to this was the revamped and slightly (only slightly) extended living and bedroom space – the costs were getting up to half a million dollars – without actually adding an extra room.
So principle no 2 of the three R‘s (reuse) goes out the window. Off we go to bid on a nearby house, a fantastically ugly brown brick place from untouched from the 1970s. Perfectly liveable for a number of years until we can afford to rebuild.
