Kitchen and living room renovation, featuring Tasmanian oak flooring, solid stone benchtops, pendant lighting and other contemporary lighting. Our teams built to joinery standard Tasmanian oak screen and Tasmanian oak feature joinery. The result is very contemporary and light and bright and flows onto the deck extension at the front of the house. Credit: Jordan Davis.

Connection, communication, and a compelling view

Case study

Project
Home renovation and deck construction
Location
Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania
Year completed
Project partners
Starring materials
  • Tasmanian oak
  • Spotted gum (exterior)
  • Modwood (deck)

It was obvious from the start that Enhanced was prepared to take the time for us, and that they cared about the work they do and the people that they work with. It was a very easy relationship for us.

Steve Tochner

Inviting the view inside

An Italian coffee pot, wooden chopping board, Tasmanian wine, garlic, and a mortar and pestle are right at home in this light and bright, contemporary kitchen renovation featuring solid stone benchtops, pendant lighting and brushed chrome tapware. Credit: Jordan Davis.

Clear, honest, and transparent communication is one of Enhanced Homes Tasmania’s fundamental values. It’s central to our work culture and it’s especially important in our client relationships, which can extend for several months during a building project.

For this Sandy Bay home renovation, the productive working relationship we established with our clients, Steve and Lisa, enriched the project for all of us and created an outcome that exceeded our client’s expectations and generated a sense of pride for everyone involved.

Steve and Lisa had purchased their 1970s-era Sandy Bay home for a very obvious reason — its broad, beautiful views of Hobart’s River Derwent.

As Steve said, the house had ‘good bones’, but was in need of an upgrade. Steve and Lisa wanted to take the property to the next level with an extensive renovation that would refresh the look and feel of their home, create a light, open interior, and take better advantage of the water views. Steve was also passionate about creating an extensive outdoor deck, to enable his family to enjoy the view and feel the sea breeze and sun at the same time (and have lots of barbecues).

This light and bright, contemporary kitchen renovation has transformed this 1970s house and features solid stone benchtops, pendant lighting, contemporary lighting, brushed chrome tapware and an in bench sink. Credit: Jordan Davis.

The original property, like many buildings of the era, had a very enclosed feel. The view was framed by a bank of windows, but there was no convenient outside access to enjoy the property’s stunning location. This renovation involved opening the interior and replacing the existing windows with full-length glass doors that would lead onto a new, generous deck. We used durable, eco-friendly Modwood for the deck construction, ensuring a long life with minimal maintenance.

Kitchen and living room renovation, featuring Tasmanian oak flooring, solid stone benchtops, pendant lighting and other contemporary lighting. Our teams built to joinery standard Tasmanian oak screen and Tasmanian oak feature joinery. The exising fireplace was painted to make it a feature and highlight one of the existing features of this 1970s house renovation. Credit: Jordan Davis.
Bathroom renovation featuring white subway tiles and an Italian tile floor with a light, bright contemporary finish. Credit: Jordan Davis.

Inside, the home’s tired old carpets were stripped back to reveal beautiful, untouched Tasmanian oak floorboards. This stunning element deserved to be a feature of the interior design. So, in consultation with Steve and Lisa, we made a variation to the project plans, and matched the original timber with new Tasmanian oak flooring, to create a seamless flow of honey-coloured wood throughout the living, dining, and kitchen areas. The flooring was further accented by Tasmanian oak screens which added to the overall harmony of the room.

A lovely element of the lifestyle renovation of this 1970s house is the new window seat to take advantage of the water view and look out over the new deck extension. Credit: Jordan Davis.

This decision sparked a desire to create the same visual consistency overhead, and so a further variation was made to replace mismatched ceilings with a consistent new ceiling that would create a light, sleek aesthetic throughout the home. The flooring, new ceilings, extensive glass, and Steve and Lisa’s colour palette of crisp white, black and earthy neutrals completely transformed the interior of the home. The property is now light, open, airy, and modern — worlds away from its former 1970s identity.

The Enhanced Homes team consulting with our clients about the renovation of their 1970s home, standing on their new deck with view of the River Derwent. Credit: Jordan Davis.

The key to the success of this project was establishing an open and honest relationship with our clients. We use several processes on every project to make sure our clients are informed and involved in their project to the extent they feel comfortable. Steve and Lisa were very engaged in the project but needed to live offsite for a significant period of the renovation. We maintained close communication with regular phone contact, weekly site meetings and a robust use of our project management software and online client portal. These tools centralise all communication and documentation for a project — from plans and paperwork to emails, images, and videos. In this way, everyone involved in the project is kept informed and aware of progress. This transparency fosters efficiency, saves time, and importantly, builds the trust that is essential to any successful professional relationship.

Our relationship with Steven and Lisa enabled us to work together to create a higher quality outcome for their build that exceeded the project’s original vision. It is a result we all feel extremely proud of.

We knew exactly what was happening at any given time, and the online client portal created a great communication record for everything we agreed on, what we planned, and the timing of the project.

Kitchen and living room renovation, featuring Tasmanian oak flooring, solid stone benchtops, pendant lighting and other contemporary lighting. Our teams built to joinery standard Tasmanian oak screen and tasmanian oak feature joinery. The exising fireplace was painted to make it a feature and highlight one of the existing features of this 1970s house renovation. The result is very contemporary and light and bright and flows onto the deck extension at the front of the house. Credit: Jordan Davis.
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