Skylights

Far from the classic box-like addition, a series of unique spaces unfurl from the rear of the cottage, opening up to light and garden.

A series of expert moves brings in more light, improves livability and connects this terrace to its courtyard all without extending.

Bungalows are charming homes, but they tend to be dark. This addition finds a way to bring light into the depths of this bungalow.

The owners would have ripped this out-of-place fireplace out if they'd had their way, but it's become the centrepiece of this reno...

Creative ways to bring more light into the home, even when the backyard doesn't get much sun, makes this home light-filled and airy.

This Carlton terrace renovation updates ageing interiors to create the perfect home for a collector of colourful art and furniture.

It's not what you expect when you think of a modular home, but this tricky house continues the surprises continue inside...

Perfect for entertaining, this new living pavilion at the back of a 1910s home is light, airy and open to the backyard.

This home, inspired by a jewellery box, is perfect for your most treasured people and possessions: beautiful, safe and ordered.

Defying its narrow site, challenging east-west orientation and heritage restrictions, this skinny home manages to feel spacious.

The substantial renovation of this terrace transforms the home, but reminders of the past are woven in to create a rich tapestry.

With the option of renovating or selling, this family chose to renovate to stay in the area they, but that was easier said than done!

Internal courtyards are the answer to finding natural daylight and preventing overlooking issues in this inner-city renovation.

While older homes have character baked in, they're not built for modern living. But, you can have the best of both worlds; old and new!

Shop tops in Victorian-era buildings are often dark and often empty these days, talk about a wasted opportunity!

A long, thin addition on the southern boundary allows this home to maximise the amount of natural light and create an outdoor room.

Oftentimes when you feel like you need 'more house', the answer is actually to rethink the way your existing house functions...

Renovating is a messy art full of compromise but, if you roll with it, the result can be the perfect-imperfect home for your family.

With a block of just 117 square metres, this inner-city reno required some creative thinking to make the most of all available space...

With hints of those classic beach houses, but all the modern needs of a family home, living here would feel like an endless holiday.

Previously a general store, this South Melbourne terrace is now a light-filled family home while retaining its character and quirks.

For an artist who collects all things astonishing and strange, a renovation helps to show off her unique style and flair.

An incredible collaboration between the owners of a furniture company and the architects creates a light and bright coastal home.

You might be surprised how little extra space you need if you take the time to get the floor plan right...

By reimagining the way this existing addition functioned they were able to transform this home, adding only 15 square metres in total.

The clever addition has been sliced and diced to deal with all the constraints of the site, but it guarantees light, space and views.

Sadly lighting is an afterthought in many homes, but not here: a special lighting system demonstrates the potential of lighting design.

Like a tiny, irritating grain of sand creating a lustrous pearl, sometimes a projects' constraints lead to the most charming solutions.

Renovating a heritage house the right way means you can enjoy the benefits of a modern home while respecting the house's history.

When a couple who both have homes designed by the same architect get married, their new home together is bound to be adventurous!

With numerous facets to bounce light around the home, Cloud House feels like living in a cloud surrounded by beautiful, diffused light.

These owners didn't want a 'generic open-plan box'. Instead, a series of interconnected rooms are linked by a dramatic brick colonnade.

When you have to hike up and down stairs all day, they may as well be fun! A new stair brings light and novelty to this home.

Emulating the solidity of the original 150-year-old cottage, this concrete and brick addition is sure to be around in another 150 years!

In spite of a narrow block, this home expands its interior to the edge of the site, blurring the line between indoors and outdoors.

Trying to fit a home on a tight, triangular block with a busy street on one side and an easement on the other: crazy or brilliant?

After removing walls and opening up both the internal space and to the outdoors, this home is virtually unrecognisable.

A samurai's armour inspires the form and materials of this unique townhouse development, bringing a bit of Japan to the suburbs.

Materials are reused in new and unusual ways in this renovation, instilling the home with unique personality - even the new parts!

An efficiently-planned rear addition to this narrow house creates space and light to grow a family without losing the home's charm.

A surprising, angular addition pops out of the rear of this home, but it does more than just look dramatic...

The lace-like screen protecting the rear of this home is a way to tie old and new together while also dealing with practicalities.

Like an annexe attached to the side of this solid home, BENT Annexe is an open-plan living area that feels more like a garden room.

Previously cut off from the backyard by a hefty level change, this new addition flows effortlessly between inside and out.

By designing a new, open-plan addition to this heritage home, the owner has a light-filled space to inspire his creativity.

It's not the size of an addition that counts, it's the functionality it adds to your home. This micro addition achieves hefty results.

Extending heritage homes respectfully is a challenge. Allowing this addition to recede into the shadows was the sensitive approach.

The good qualities of both old and new are highlighted by creating an addition which is the binary opposite of the original.

The aperture-like addition to this heritage home carefully frames the best views and lets light into the new living spaces.

A new addition prioritises light and a connection to the garden, transforming this 1940s house into an uplifting and modern home.

This house had become a squat and burnt down during the design stage, but Dean and Lisa transformed it into a modern, sustainable home.

The new living area of this heritage home captures glimpses of the sky and opens seamlessly to the outdoors.

Sometimes, reevaluating and reconfiguring what you have proves that you already have enough. It did for this family of five...

Life can change a lot in 10 years, so what do you do if your home no longer fits in with your life? Move or renovate?

If you're noticing a bit of an underwater theme in this home, it's no accident. This is a home for a keen scuba diver!

Three sculptural walls create nooks and niches within a larger open-plan space, creating the opportunity to mingle or seek solitude.

And he said, 'Let there be light', and there was light. Thanks to a new double height space, this cottage is transformed.

We love to get out and enjoy the backyard, but too often our homes are disconnected from our outdoor spaces. Here's what you can do...

With open-plan living and shared sleeping areas all opening onto the outdoors, this is a home to connect with nature and each other.

Renovating an older, inner-city home comes with a peculiar set of challenges - how to make it seem bright and spacious when it's not.

An architect wrestles with the romance of renovating a historic home and the challenge of meeting planning and regulatory requirements.

Blessed with a large block in a good area, this family decided to downsize in the backyard, in spite of the constraints.

A double-height space. An internal courtyard. A huge skylight. All tricks to create a sense of space hidden behind a narrow terrace.

The rear of this home is redesigned to give an air of spaciousness, with an internal reconfiguration and the addition of two gables.

An architect, a builder, and a joiner walk into a dark and dingy terrace...

This home manages to be thoroughly modern while mimicking the classic gabled form of children's drawings and doll's houses.

Where a traditional terrace is dark and cellular this renovation finds light and open space, creating an addition of contrasts.

How does an architect update and extend a home that's been in the family for years? Without whitewashing the history and memories?

Like many un-renovated inner-city homes, the bathroom of this Melbourne workers cottage had the best light and views in the house!

A bold new living, dining and kitchen space grabs views of the trees and manages to fit a veggie garden in the most surprising place...

If fur-babies, travel, colour and fun are ticking some mental boxes for you, you'll love Casa de Gatos (or 'House of Cats' in Spanish).

Careful to leave much of this heritage building intact, the architects have created new spaces above and behind the existing home.

If your neighbours are too close for comfort, focus on natural light. Your home will feel spacious and you'll forget they're there...

In a suburb of houses three times its size this home makes the most of its narrow block and compact size by capturing views of the sky.

With low ceilings and only the rear of this living area above ground level, this terrace needed something big to feel like a home...

Black sheep. Odd one out. Dark horse. Whatever you want to call it, there's something different about this home - and we love it!

Combining rich, raw materials and plenty of natural light, this compact living area feels larger and more luxurious than its footprint.

Living in a barn is one thing, but living in a barn in the city? Well that sounds absurd, but it's a reality for this lucky family.

Every square metre counts when you don't have much space. You need to be smart and make every element do more than one thing...

This compact inner-city townhouse has been transformed from an unremarkable '70s era building into a timeless, light-filled home.

"Our clients now enjoy a home flexible enough to allow for their family to grow, without creating excessive rooms."

An extensive renovation of a Melbourne home gives the owners all the benefits of inner-city terrace living without the drawbacks.

We're familiar with rear additions but at Inbetween House a clever front addition reorients and reconnects the house and garden.

The entire ground floor of this house has become one continuous indoor/outdoor space thanks to a well conceived alteration and addition.

A dark semi-detached D House is now a bright and lively space with a wall of glass that opens to dissolve the end wall into the garden.

A compact weatherboard cottage explodes from the sides of a prefabricated shed to provide space for an illustrator to live and work.