Raise the roof

A once-poky semi is now bathed in natural light and enjoys a flexible design that will grow with its young family.

- Stephanie Hope

Having spent the past decade creating functional and inviting homes for her clients, architect Carla Middleton was ready to take on the redesign of her own home.

She and her husband Chris bought the semi in Sydney’s east in 2012, and spent their weekends doing small renovation projects to make it more liveable. Priorities shifted once they became parents to Anna, now four, and Toby, 18 months. “When Anna was a toddler, the disconnect between the backyard and living areas was evident and we decided a large-scale renovation was necessary,” Carla says. “By then, we’d been living in the house for six years, which was useful in understanding the orientation, the way we use certain areas and what we wanted to screen.”

The brief? Two storeys, five bedrooms and three bathrooms, with an abundance of natural light and lots of space for the family to grow into. Privacy was a major consideration too – nestled within a densely populated suburb, the home is overlooked on three sides. The solution was to forgo windows that might line up with those of the adjoining properties and instead install skylights for natural light.