Small Cottage for a Big Family: Example from Australia

Moving from Norway to Australia with two children is not an easy decision, but if you're supported by friends, everything becomes simpler. The couple bought a 600 sq. m plot in Shenton Park, a suburb of Perth in Western Australia, together with their friends.

A group of friends settled into a renovated 1950s house. Our heroes, Beck and James, built a new house on the plot. It was not possible to divide the territory into two addresses, so the additional structure had to meet the standards of auxiliary housing, like a guest house. In the end, our heroes received permission to build a single-story house no larger than 78 sq. m.

"We've always lived compactly, so the modest size of our future home didn't bother us. There was a time when we lived in Norway on the coast in an elling. Its size was only 55 sq. m, but we were comfortable,"— Beck tells.

They designed and decorated the house themselves. Beck is an architecture graduate, and her husband James is a costume designer, so they approached the interior with taste and knowledge.

Beck spent 11 months planning and coordinating the project, and the house was assembled in just eight months. On a small area, they had to plan space for comfortable living for all family members—parents, two children, and a cat. Right after moving in, the couple realized they were expecting another child. But the house was still convenient even for a family of five.

It was possible to accommodate all necessary rooms in the small house: two children's rooms, parents' bedroom, laundry room, and wardrobe. Yet the space doesn’t feel cramped: open layout, high vaulted ceilings, and glass doors to the garden visually expand it. The high ceiling allowed the parents' bedroom to be built inside the room, and the children’s beds were easy to raise.

The family didn't have a lot of money for construction, so the couple decided to save in many ways. For example, they finished the exterior with cypress panels. For interior finishing, they used bricks that remained from the old Perry Lakes stadium, built for the Commonwealth Games in 1962.

There is a lot of vintage furniture in the interior. For example, industrial General Electric lamps from the 1970s, which they found in a thrift store. Now they decorate the outdoor dining area.

One of the key accents in decoration was the yellow color. James and Beck, as true aesthetes, fell in love with it after watching the movie "The Child of Rosemary." In 2008, they chose a warm dark yellow for their wedding décor.

After many years, they brought their favorite color into the interior. The front door, staircase, dishes, cushions—even the bathroom mixer—all of these feature this color now. The texture is also not ignored: here you want to touch every detail. There is a lot of wood and textiles in the interior. Part of the kitchen wall was painted with blackboard paint—here children can draw.

"We didn't want our house to look like a spaceship with trendy uncomfortable furniture. We specifically looked for simple items with history that would align with our perception,"— Beck and James shared their main idea.