Publications Archives - Michelle Walker Architects

Australian Home Beautiful Before & After Renovation Special: April 2017

May 12, 2017 Michelle Walker

Australian Home Beautiful Renovation Special

Australian Home Beautiful Before & After Renovation Special: MWa are delighted to be featured in the special edition of Home Beautiful Magazine’s Before and After Renovation Edition.

Set in bush fire prone land and backing onto bushland, this home is inspired by the materials of Australian rural buildings and its bushland setting.

The home is in a great location, backing on to the bush, in a bush fire zone, lovely northern aspect along its full length so it has great light and sunshine.

Robust materials, joyful outdoor spaces, lots of light, managing the hot sun and making the most of the existing modest home: these are the key considerations of this renovation.

The residential renovation included extensive exterior works with a new pool surround, covered rear deck, new carport, new front porch, new driveway and new landscaping.

The internal works included a new kitchen and a new bedroom – essential living for a family of five, with an in house au pair who makes up the household of six.

The renovations included:

relocated new kitchen
new covered deck enclosed with operable louvres – a true outdoor room
additional kid’s bedroom
some new doors and windows to create better connections with garden & bush & outdoor areas
complete pool renovation & pool surrounds including outdoor bbq space & outdoor storage
new roof, new carport, new outdoor storage areas
new front porch, driveway, landscaping

The materials were inspired by Australian rural homes and included:

new colourbond roof (which replaced existing older tiled roof), with the edge of the roofing material exposed
all external materials are non flammable because of bush fire zoning including
expressed australian hardwoods (spotted gum)
non flammable fibre cement weatherboards
fibre cement lining boards
sandstone blocks & sandstone pavers
textured washed back concrete with blue metal
bold new external colour scheme (monument & orange & white

The use of colours & materials continued inside & out –

– kitchen colours & materirals match external colours

(colourbond monument, dulux antique white & ironbark veneer)

– new fireplace is paved with same sandstone pavers as front porch, new bookshelves in external grade australian hardwood and back wall in monument.

The renovation took six months to complete, and was approved via NSW Complying Development.

Australian Home Beautiful Renovation Special

Outdoor kitchens – MWa in Home Beautiful

March 3, 2017 Michelle Walker

Michelle Walker Architects featured in an article about outdoor kitchens in Home Beautiful magazine.

Excerpt from article:

THE BARBECUE IS at the centre of any summer party, where the sizzle of snags forms an ambient background to repartee and good fun. But if you’re missing punchlines every time you have to duck inside for the olive oil, it might be worth expanding your basic barbecue into an outdoor kitchen. And it’s not as extravagant as you might think. More and more, we’re living, lounging and entertaining outside, so it makes sense to make those outdoor spaces as functional as possible.

“Having your barbecue in close proximity to the house means you may need fewer outdoor kitchen appliances” ~ Michelle Walker, MWa

Choosing appliances and fixtures requires you to get real about how you live. “A pizza oven is a great idea, but they are expensive and take up a lot of space,” says Josh. For most, the essentials include a barbecue, fridge, storage and bench space, while
a sink is another nice-to-have. If space isn’t an issue, there are many inclusions to play with. “A fireplace, wok burner, extractor fans, heating, speakers and rotisserie,” lists architect Michelle Walker of MWa. “We haven’t done a project with an outdoor TV, but clients joke about how good this would be!” Don’t just rely on a brisk breeze to clear away smoke and steam: if your kitchen is undercover – even if it has open sides – you’ll need to look into a rangehood. Crucially, all appliances must be designed for exterior use, even if they will be undercover.

Home Beautiful Magazine

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Coastal Architecture Outdoor Living

February 24, 2017 Tags: coastal style outdoor living Michelle Walker

Outdoor living - coastal style

Michelle Walker Architects feature on a promotional video and article on Coastal architecture and outdoor living on realestate.com.

Excepts from the article:

” For homes situated between beach and bush, maximising the indoor-outdoor flow is essential. We meet one renovator who has aced modern outdoor living.

When architect and mother of three boys Michelle Walker was looking to renovate her Manly Vale home, she wanted to create “a modern coastal home”, with living spaces that flowed easily between indoors and outdoors.

“We’re a family of surfers – my three boys and my husband all surf. For us it’s about all our living spaces opening up to the outdoors,” Walker says.

The Walkers are the third owners of this Manly Vale home located on Sydney’s northern beaches. Wear and tear over the years meant it was time to renovate, but there were a few key considerations when it came to the makeover as the home straddles both a coastal and bush setting.

The three key considerations for the new design included:

The composition of colours and materials had to fit in with the bush setting
Materials had to be non-flammable to comply with the bushfire rating
The house needed to have a good indoor-outdoor flow for the outdoorsy family.
Walker says she chose Scyon Linea weatherboards for the outdoor deck and extension as they met all the build criteria.

Traditional weatherboards are made from timber, but Linea weatherboards are made from a mix of sand, cement and wood pulp, making them bushfire resistant, as well as resistant todamage from termites and moisture.”

Click on the link below to find out more:

http://www.realestate.com.au/lifestyle/a-lesson-in-coastal-style-modern-outdoor-living/