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Grand Designs Transformations S02E08
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00:00While building a dream house is for some...
00:08This is brilliant!
00:09This is where we're up to.
00:11...many others are transforming existing homes.
00:14Got it!
00:15Got it!
00:17Smashing down walls, ripping out kitchens, and digging up gardens...
00:23Oh, there you go!
00:25...as they reimagine their homes as places to live, work and thrive.
00:30It's gonna be a bathhouse.
00:32Why not, eh?
00:33Bathrooms are the hardest thing to renovate.
00:35I'll go turn that off.
00:37No, Mum.
00:39I'm gonna die before we move into this house.
00:42I'm Anthony Burke, a professor of architecture.
00:46And I'm interior designer Yasmeen Janine.
00:50And in each episode of this new series of Grand Designs Transformations...
00:54Every single person has kind of said, you're crazy.
00:57We follow the makeover masterminds behind two very different projects.
01:02I do question the stupidity of doing something like this.
01:06Okay, this is good.
01:10What have you got here?
01:12In this episode, in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave...
01:15I can't help but feel I'm in a dollhouse.
01:18A mid-century makeover...
01:20With a Spanish external, a Japanese interior is rather jarring, don't you think?
01:24...puts a novice DIYer through his paces.
01:27That does look a bit wide, doesn't it?
01:29Half the time I don't really know what I'm doing, so hopefully it all works out.
01:33But will their eastern transformation...
01:35How come the gap is wider here than it is there?
01:37...end up going south?
01:39Slow me down.
01:41Domestics.
01:42Everything takes time, everything takes money.
01:45And they're things that we're slowly running out of.
01:48And I'm in Tassie.
01:50What a great spread you've got here.
01:51It's so picturesque.
01:52Where a pair of hopeless romantics...
01:54I just fell in love with it from the get-go.
01:57...pour their passion into transforming a crumbling old glasshouse.
02:01The Da Vinci Code of Architecture for Tasmania.
02:03We just have to figure it out.
02:05Chasing parts around the world...
02:08We might have some left over.
02:10Fingers crossed.
02:11...to see it sparkle again.
02:13Building it back up, a little sign of a screw hole gives us the clue of how to stitch it all back together.
02:19But will it be the fairytale ending they imagined?
02:23This is nowhere near sitting in any groove.
02:26No.
02:27Slightly terrifying.
02:31TASMANIA'S SOUTHARM PENINSULA, A TREASURE BOX OF NATURAL BEAUTY.
02:5125 MINUTES SOUTHEAST OF HOBART.
02:54Lily's coming to say hello.
02:57It's here that recently married architect Richard and medical researcher Alice are in their happy place.
03:04Living on Alice's gorgeous sheep and alpaca family farm in Sandford.
03:11Paca, paca.
03:12Paca, paca, paca, paca, paca.
03:14We tend to spend most of our time together, I would say.
03:17Yeah, we do.
03:18You know, always doing something outside.
03:20You do.
03:21Good connection to nature.
03:22Look at this.
03:24A couple of peas in a pod, living the good life.
03:28That one is definitely ready.
03:30Sure.
03:31I think through our passions for gardening, we've always gone for walks in botanical gardens.
03:36We had just fallen in love with so many glasshouses.
03:39It's been blown away by the practicality and their functionalities are just so impressive for the time.
03:48For Victorian gentry, owning a glasshouse was a real flex to show off exotic species like pineapple plants and peach trees.
03:58I thought, I know where there's a building like this in a state of decay.
04:03Decay?
04:04It's downright decrepit.
04:07This 140-year-old faded gem on a prominent farming family estate in the northern Midlands had 10-year-old Richard spellbound.
04:17I can remember the building as a child, you know, running around in the garden.
04:20You could barely see the structure.
04:22It was covered in a ball of ivy.
04:24I do remember that moment of, you know, pushing open the door.
04:28Abandoned pots, dead plants scattered around.
04:30It was something that always had that secret garden vibe.
04:33Really intrigued me.
04:35I just fell in love with it from the get-go.
04:37The charmer and what it could be.
04:40We thought, this could be a mad idea, but how about we make contact and see if we can restore it?
04:45And, what do you know, happy for history to live on, it was gifted to them.
04:51Already heritage listed, permission to move it was granted in 2022.
04:57Our glasshouse is originally from the UK, built in the late 1800s by a company, Thomas Messenger & Co.
05:04and then shipped to Australia.
05:06As a kit.
05:07The original flat pack without the original instructions.
05:11Which sounds like a disaster.
05:13And only two thirds of the pieces.
05:18Sounds like the ultimate flat pack hell.
05:22Once catalogued...
05:23I have some mind map trying to get through.
05:25They loaded everything, bar the bricks, into a couple of utes ready for the nerve-wracking two-hour journey home.
05:33It was a very hairy trip down the Midland Highway.
05:37Halfway down I heard two screws fall out of something, so it was a quick pullover to see where those pieces were.
05:42But I think that's all we lost.
05:43It's very much a passion project.
05:47My brother said it only takes one madman to pull off something like this.
05:51I think two mad people.
05:53Part mad, part old fashioned romantics.
05:58Forensically piecing the fragile Meccano set-cum giant jigsaw puzzle back together is going to be a real mind-bender.
06:10Richard, Alice, what a great spread you've got here.
06:13It's so picturesque.
06:14A lovely farmhouse and all that's missing is a glasshouse.
06:17Well, here's the spot.
06:18This is it.
06:19Right.
06:20You know, the glasshouse, of course, I think vegetables, growing your own food.
06:24Absolutely.
06:25Also, you know, we sort of thought of it as being a nice dining space or...
06:29Oh, that's interesting.
06:30So it's not a dirty space as such.
06:31It's actually you're going to have to make it clean enough that you can set the table.
06:35We're hoping it can be as flexible.
06:37Yes.
06:38It's going to change things quite a bit.
06:39It's a real addition.
06:40So what am I imagining?
06:41Great Gatsby meets Victoriana?
06:43I think that's the plan.
06:44Something like that?
06:45Yeah.
06:47First, the old red sandstock brick base, measuring 6x6 and around 800mm high, will rise once again.
06:57Next, the delicate and detailed timber framework will be pieced back together,
07:02complete with cast iron brackets, hinges and winders supporting a beautiful ventilation system opening like a butterfly.
07:11And the cast iron hydronic heating system to create a tropical climate will be overhauled.
07:17Finally, with the original glass missing, 500 replacement panes will be hand cut and installed.
07:25At a dining table for 12, chandelier and, of course, plenty of pots for growing.
07:31And the magic is complete, hopefully sitting light and in harmony with its already picture-perfect surrounds.
07:40When we pulled it apart, each piece had to be in a certain spot so we could be able to reassemble it back together.
07:47I can imagine it's going to be quite challenging to put back together.
07:49It's a kit.
07:50Yes.
07:51There's a system involved here.
07:53We just have to figure it out.
07:54Yeah.
07:55Like what started as a little humble little glass house is suddenly becoming the da Vinci code of architecture for Tasmania.
08:00You know, sort of getting this whole...
08:01It does feel like the da Vinci code, actually.
08:02How much of it was in this condition?
08:04I would say about 50% is probably unsalvageable or lost.
08:10I mean, it is a folly, so you don't have to do this, but how long is it going to take you to put the whole thing back together again?
08:16We're aiming for between six to eight months.
08:19See, I actually thought you were going to say the whole thing's done and dusted in a month because it's a kit, we've got all the bits, we've got to do a little bit of cleaning up.
08:26I suppose you're giving yourself a lot of latitude here for things to go wrong.
08:29We definitely are.
08:30How much are you going to spend?
08:32$25,000.
08:33A lot of evenings in the shed.
08:35And what could go wrong, right?
08:36It's going to just snap right back together again.
08:39That's what we hope, yeah.
08:41There's a reason the glass house has sat abandoned, derelict and in a million pieces on a far-flung farm for the last 50 years, and that's because it's at the point of no return.
08:57Or is it?
08:59The old ruin captured Richard's imagination as a little boy.
09:03Let's hope that he and Alice have the skills, the patience and the finances to give it a fairytale finish.
09:10Eight months on, the only action on site is a shy platypus nosing around in the shallows.
09:25Work and the endless cleaning of the brick foundations for the glass house, still back on the old farm, is taking forever.
09:32We're using cancels as per heritage requirements.
09:36We have actually said to the family that we're having Christmas in the glass house this year.
09:40So we definitely need to have it finished by then.
09:45Christmas dinner in the glass house.
09:48That's another eight months away.
09:50At least today's a push in the right direction.
09:54Oh, this is a bit exciting.
09:56I know, so exciting.
09:57To make sure the structure's on solid ground, the footings are being dug for the concrete pour in a few hours.
10:03It's always a risk of what we'll find.
10:06It could be like the time we dug up Granny's calf.
10:09Oh, it's terrible.
10:10Whoops.
10:12We've looked at this spot for so long.
10:14That was a big concern as if we'd actually put it in the right place.
10:18Yeah.
10:19And the relationship with the house and the water.
10:21Hey.
10:22Oh, wow.
10:23How big's your truck?
10:25Whoa.
10:26Do you think you can back it in under that casuarina?
10:31Not sure.
10:32It's looking pretty hairy.
10:33That was so close.
10:34Oh, it's straight into the trench.
10:35It's definitely here now.
10:36We're not moving it.
10:53Matt Whitehouse gives it two thumbs up.
10:58It's going to fit into their block and existing house really well.
11:03So it'd be nice to see it sitting on the landscape, overlooking the water and, yeah,
11:06see the building in its former glory.
11:08It'd be a bit of a timeless piece, really.
11:12It's all nice and solid for the brick foundation to go on.
11:16But, yeah, no, everything going well, going to plan.
11:19Well, not quite.
11:21Getting those brick foundations to site is proving quite tricky.
11:26The five pallets, hoping to get them delivered from Launceston to Hobart.
11:30And so far, Richard's been hitting walls.
11:33How much are you thinking?
11:34What's the estimate?
11:36A little bit higher than what we were expecting.
11:41And let me go and have a look at the budget.
11:44But it's not really what we're after, to be honest.
11:47With quotes coming in around two and a half grand for the 150 kilometre trip, it's bad news for their tiny 25k budget.
11:56Yeah, a little bit stressed after that one.
11:58You know, we were hoping to get the bricks here in the next week or so, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.
12:04We're sort of stuck.
12:05You know, we need those bricks for the bricklayer to start.
12:08Yes.
12:09The footings are being poured.
12:10Another hill to climb.
12:11Across the strait in Melbourne, another architect, Lewis Sorrentino, is also taking on his own project.
12:26Why don't you get back to it?
12:28Lewis might have Italian roots, but he certainly gets a kick out of the Orient.
12:34I've always had a fondness for Japan.
12:41It's always fascinated me.
12:43I started karate when I was very young.
12:46When I met Laura, I finally had the chance to visit the country for the first time, and it did not disappoint.
12:51The food, the lifestyle, the architecture, it was all an inspiration.
12:55It's presented so well, I don't want to disrupt anything.
12:58We stayed in a Japanese inn, a ryokan, and we just loved the idea of having it be all timber and so warm and big sliding doors and you open up into a nice Japanese garden.
13:12I had never stayed in a ryokan before, so when I saw that I was like, wow, I would love to have something similar.
13:17But their plans to build their own Japanese-inspired home took a huge hit just weeks before their wedding in 2022.
13:26I had gone in for surgery, and they had to remove my thymus, and so when they came back and tested it, it had come back with Hodgkin's lymphoma,
13:36and it sort of put a pause on our life.
13:39I couldn't work, I'd be home, and Laura would have to basically look after me for that whole entire time.
13:46It was hard to see Lewis going through that, but I just tried to make him, you know, be positive and, you know, that we would, you know, we'd get through it together.
13:57Yeah, at this level of the greenery, it's so nice over here.
14:00After months of treatment, rest, and finally remission, Lewis was well.
14:05That's true, come on, come on.
14:07And they were back on track, buying their first home together.
14:11This three-bedroom Spanish-inspired duerupper on 670 square metres for $937,000 in Mulgrave, in Melbourne's south-east.
14:22Oh, maybe don't look at that.
14:24Um, and don't really look at that either.
14:28The home is a combination of, sort of, Spanish architecture with the arches.
14:33Also, mid-century, it is a 70s home.
14:36It's a bit of a mish-mash of styles, so I think it's a nice creative challenge for us.
14:42Creative challenge?
14:44It's a lot more than that.
14:46So, what's the tile that you've been doing?
14:47Yeah, it's taken a good four or five weeks so far.
14:50I think it's going to be a great experience to, you know, roll up my sleeves, get a little bit dirty,
14:54and hopefully learn a few, you know, new skills by the end of it, and definitely have a different perspective of, you know, architecture.
15:03Now that's brave.
15:05It's one thing to come up with the design, another thing altogether to jump on the tools.
15:12Lewis and Laura!
15:14And let's face it, giving this little hacienda a Japanese makeover...
15:19Um, it's quite a bit of work.
15:20Yes.
15:21Yep.
15:22And once you come in, you'll see there's a lot more work to do.
15:24..is not the easiest or most obvious of projects.
15:28Just watch your step.
15:30I can't help but feel I'm in a dollhouse.
15:33Yeah, I haven't been in an original 70s home in so long, and I forget the proportions are really quite different from today.
15:38They are.
15:39So much smaller and narrower and...
15:41Yeah.
15:42Typically, a block like this, you'd see it knock down, start again, maximise the site, because you've got so much land actually around quite a small dwelling.
15:50What are your plans?
15:51I think in terms of proportions, we are sort of keeping that scale.
15:55We want to encourage, you know, that intimate, warm, cosy feeling, but just make it a little bit more contemporary.
16:03Contemporary, but with a Japanese edge.
16:06The Spanish facade will stay, but a terrazzo veranda will pave the way inside to the rich, textured minimalism of Japan, with a liberal dose of the earthy tones of the 1970s.
16:18Think a blend of terracotta, red pressed brick tiles, and black butt timber on the floors, with beautiful spotted gum plywood panels on feature walls and the ceiling.
16:30The main living area will get a size injection with a large sliding door, bringing light and connection to the garden, while the kitchen will feature marble and timber for an earthy, but high-end and timeless look.
16:43Bathrooms will be covered in moss green and white Japanese mosaic tiles.
16:48Like much of the work in the house to be done by rookie Tradie Lewis and various family members, with the help of his trusty friend, the internet.
16:57For a relatively modest home, it's a unique and ambitious fusion of Mediterranean and Oriental design.
17:07With a Spanish mission external, a Japanese interior is rather jarring, don't you think?
17:13Being a mid-century home, we're trying to sort of retain that 70s palette, rather than the Spanish or Japanese philosophy.
17:22We're just taking elements from both and kind of having a medley of both.
17:27Right.
17:28And do you have a time that you're trying to get in and have it finished?
17:32I think, well, sooner the better, because once we finish everything, we feel like we're not living in a construction site, we're living in our home.
17:40So I'd say around six months.
17:43And this is you guys doing the work for six months?
17:46Yep.
17:47Yep.
17:48Do you think that's realistic?
17:50It's going to be a challenge, for sure.
17:53A lot of YouTube videos, a lot of how-to learning as I go.
17:57So how's the budget looking?
17:59What are you working with to get this all done?
18:01We're looking at around $100,000.
18:04That's very, very small.
18:07We are keeping track of the budget.
18:10Are you taking care of that?
18:11Yes.
18:12I love a good spreadsheet, so I am all over that.
18:15But, you know, there's so many things that we don't want to compromise on, like the timber, the tiles.
18:19We want to make sure that we're getting good quality materials.
18:22I like it, the quality versus the quantity.
18:25You're keeping it small, you're selecting really good finishes, and, well, you're doing a lot of it yourself.
18:31That's why it's helping the budget, isn't it?
18:33Yeah.
18:34But, um, I can't wait to see the outcome.
18:36Yeah.
18:37I think us too.
18:38Yeah.
18:39The plan is for Lewis and Laura, a full-time contract manager, to live in the house and tackle the reno after hours and on weekends.
18:48They're nothing if not ambitious.
18:51Well, they're having a go.
18:54Mid-century, Spanish mission, Japanese, and all for a tiny 100K.
19:01They're mad.
19:03I'm rooting for them, but they're mad.
19:09Alright.
19:10You guys ready to work?
19:13Roll it.
19:14The plan might be for a Spanish-Japanese fusion, but the muscle is all Italian.
19:19Just pull it all the way out.
19:21Lewis' brother, Alex, brother-in-law, Michael, and dad, Tony.
19:27But the problem with a mid-century house...
19:30New flooring, Lewis.
19:31..is the mid-century flooring.
19:34Oh, no.
19:35It's got vinyl underneath the whole floor.
19:36Yeah, look, it's got another vinyl flooring underneath this.
19:42It's definitely glued to the concrete.
19:45Sticky.
19:47Mmm.
19:48You can feel it under your feet.
19:50To make the floor level with the new tiles planned for the kitchen and dining room, the lino has to go.
19:57This is the equivalent of the sledgehammer approach,
20:00but with a spade.
20:03It's going to take ages.
20:15Down in Tasmania, six months off the Christmas deadline,
20:18it's also slow going, restoring the 140-year-old glasshouse come dining space.
20:25But they have had a breakthrough in how to put it all back together.
20:31Turns out they're not the only glasshouse geeks.
20:34It's been an absolute game-changer finding this original 1880s Messenger & Co brochure.
20:41It's shown us so many elements of the glasshouse that are missing or have been missing for quite a long time.
20:47So I'm trying to piece together, based off images in that brochure and remnant pieces of timber,
20:55trying to crack the original 140-year-old code and then interpret that into something we can use throughout this process of putting it back together.
21:02This is one of the corner posts that sits on top of the brickwork, looking at average measurements of that profile and then converting those through to drawings,
21:14which can then go to the joiner and he can accurately copy and replicate them.
21:19It's quite a surreal process going into this much detail on a building that I first saw when I would have been 10 years old.
21:27It's kind of brought another level of understanding and joy to that 10-year-old dream.
21:32The building has sat there quietly for so long, you really don't want to rush in and lose part of that detail or that magic in its restoration.
21:42Finding the original brochure is a vital tool to draft the glasshouse back into reality.
21:49Now it's over to joiner Scott Merritt to hopefully bring it to life.
21:54These two rafters, are we able to do anything with those?
21:58Yeah, so we can actually rip that back through there and take all that off and glue them back on so it's all in one piece.
22:04Oh, wow.
22:05All of the rafters are salvageable, that's fantastic.
22:07From there up is totally salvageable.
22:09It's always salvageable.
22:10In fact, 45% of the roof can be saved by patching old with new.
22:16Yeah, that's great.
22:18But below the roof, none of the timber can be preserved and needs to be recreated.
22:23We're working through it and...
22:25Yeah, a little sign of a screw hole gives us the clue of how to stitch it all back together.
22:30Yes. Yeah.
22:32You've created a modern-day system of what they had originally.
22:35It's highly skilled work, so far costing close to 8K of their 25K budget.
22:42But money's not their biggest worry.
22:45I'm still concerned, I think, have we been thorough enough with the detective work, but you can't rush these projects because you might miss one key tell-tale detail.
22:55There's always an element of human error. I hope that it can be ironed out on site if there is.
23:01Back on the farm, two months after the concrete pour, the original bricks have finally been transported for just $400.
23:10Now, they can get this very fragile, very complex little structure off the ground.
23:17Hello, hello.
23:18But that won't happen in a hurry.
23:19That's good to see you.
23:20First, they need a lime render lesson in the shed from expert Michael Power.
23:25The cement is too strong for the brick. The brick is a soft brick, so we need something sensitive.
23:30Let's do it.
23:31Three parts sand for one part quicklime.
23:38And then we add the water.
23:39Yeah.
23:40You can keep going, Alice.
23:45Just leave it mixed, and when it's cool, we'll take it out of the mixer.
23:49But not until it's slow cooked for around four hours.
23:53For the type of wall you have, you're going to need a fair bit.
23:56Sounds like they'll need more than just a couple of batches for the brickie in two days.
24:02I think we've got a big weekend of cooking lime mortar ahead.
24:13Brickie Matt Rosendell is helping Richard get down to business on site.
24:18Another mortar delivery.
24:19Oh, thank you.
24:21Coming out of the ground, it's great.
24:22Yeah.
24:23Originally it was built on a flat site, so we're doubling the height in this corner of brickwork.
24:29Yeah.
24:30We cooked up this idea over three years ago.
24:33And finally seeing it coming out of the ground, seeing these old reds being relayed, it's just fantastic.
24:41It really gives us a good idea of how it's going to look in the end.
24:45In terms of timeline, we're sort of, you know, we're taking about a week now to lay the bricks.
24:53And then they'll need four weeks to cure before we can put any of the timber work on top of them.
24:59So working it all out, that's five weeks.
25:02Five weeks.
25:04But it will all be for naught if Jack Frost has his way.
25:08We had our first frost of the winter last night.
25:13So we need to stop the water in the mortar from freezing.
25:16If the water freezes, the mortar expands and then blows the brickwork apart.
25:21Bit of stress there.
25:23Until tomorrow.
25:25Fingers crossed they can breathe a sigh of relief in the morning.
25:34And speaking of relief, there's none of it on site up north in Victoria.
25:40Now two months into their six month, $100,000 transformation,
25:45Lewis and Laura are taking upskilling to a whole new level.
25:51How's it going in here?
25:52Well, I'm hoping we can start in the corner here and just get full tiles right through.
25:58Otherwise there's going to be a lot of cut tiles.
26:01Yep.
26:02That's going to take me forever.
26:04A small mosaic tile is a great choice to add interest for a bathroom this size.
26:10But they'll only be as good as the tiler who lays them.
26:14How come the gap is wider here than it is there?
26:17Yeah, I've just realised that the angle from the wall is not even on both sides.
26:22Oh.
26:23I'll leave these tiles off and then take the angle out, bring it forward a little bit.
26:30Which is a little bit annoying.
26:31Yeah.
26:32Because I don't have to waterproof this part again.
26:33Yeah.
26:35That's right.
26:36You're not happy.
26:38Yeah, he's not happy.
26:39Do it again.
26:40It's not just the bathroom that's getting the DIY treatment.
26:46So yeah, this is the spotted gum timber.
26:48We profile it to whatever finished size that you guys need out of it.
26:52Cool.
26:53This is taking on the daunting task of designing and building the kitchen.
26:56You got some plans there?
26:57Yeah, I've got some plans.
26:58I can show you what it's going to look like.
27:00Starting with ordering the timber trim that will surround the kitchen cabinets.
27:04This is the first time building an actual kitchen, feeling a little bit nervous about it.
27:12If I get it wrong, I'll be losing money and also a lot of time.
27:16Wow, they look so good.
27:19Yeah, the colour looks really nice.
27:21Just hope I've calculated the lengths correctly.
27:25To make sure, Lewis has roped in carpenter brother Alex for a trial assembly of the kitchen cupboards.
27:33I told him to get a cabinet maker.
27:36He doesn't want to listen to me.
27:39He wants to try and do it himself.
27:42It's just going to be a challenge, so we'll see how he goes.
27:45Who knows?
27:46Um...
27:47No, we've got small cupboard, oven, small cupboard.
27:52450 cupboard.
27:53This one?
27:54Yeah, but that might be overhead.
27:57No one doesn't have legs on either.
28:00That does look a bit wide, doesn't it?
28:03It's sort of coming together very slowly.
28:07Because at the moment it's all just on paper.
28:10To be honest, half the time I don't really know what I'm doing, so...
28:13Yeah, hopefully it all works out.
28:20What isn't working out for Laura...
28:24..is living on a building site.
28:27It's so dusty in here.
28:30There's mess everywhere.
28:31Like, tripping over our cells, tripping over all of our stuff.
28:34We had to move things from one room to the other,
28:37then use that room, then put everything back in there.
28:39So we're just getting a bit much, and we're like,
28:41it would probably be easier if we just moved out.
28:42Down in Tassie, good news first.
28:49The frost didn't freeze the mortar, so the bricks haven't cracked.
28:55Come on, Charles.
28:56Gosh, Matt's done a good job with the bricks.
29:00The bad news?
29:02After 38 batches of mortar and a week of laying,
29:06the brickie had to stop.
29:08Unfortunately, we were 50 bricks short.
29:10Yeah, two and a half thousand, 50 short.
29:12The two courses here in the bottom of the heating trench.
29:15So we'll have to source those.
29:17Yet another delay three months from Christmas.
29:21At least the timber's back from the joiner.
29:24But what the glasshouse gods giveth, they also taketh away.
29:29We've got a bit of a problem here,
29:31because we're missing a whole lot of hinges.
29:34We won't be able to hinge these windows unless this is sorted.
29:37And being, you know, we want it to be a functional space as well, so...
29:41Yeah, so we need this to work.
29:43There are people that restore these, these brands.
29:47So we might need to reach out here.
29:49So it's a call from the apple aisle to the emerald aisle.
29:54Hi. Oh, we're on.
29:56To Alexander Downes, director of an Irish company
29:59specialising in glasshouse restoration.
30:02So they're messenger hinges, obviously.
30:05Yeah.
30:07And we're working on a bunch of them here in Dublin.
30:10Oh, wow.
30:12Still extremely expensive.
30:14Yeah.
30:16We didn't have them at all.
30:18We had a number of things cast in the UK.
30:20So we have them now, but we got a few extra.
30:23Yeah, of course.
30:24So I am hopeful that we might have some left over for you guys.
30:28Oh, fantastic. Fingers crossed.
30:30We'll be in touch. Thank you. Bye.
30:32Bye.
30:34What are the chances?
30:35What a little Christmas turkey in the glasshouse.
30:36He is hoping the luck of the Irish comes through.
30:46Up in Mulgrave, the dust and chaos have forced Lewis and Laura to move out of their Spanish-Japanese work in progress.
30:55And Ian with Lewis' brother, Alex, who's full of practical solutions.
31:02You know, when you're talking about feng shui, you're talking about the energy flow.
31:06Everyone knows that you shouldn't face the door with your feet, so it's directly in line with the bed.
31:10So I'm hoping to just move it from here to here.
31:15Which side of the bed do you sleep on?
31:17This is Laura's side.
31:19So you don't really care?
31:20No, no. We're going to miss her feet.
31:21You sure?
31:22Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:23I just think that it's a lot of work for not a whole lot.
31:31The fact of the matter is, if they want to be in there in three months, they've got bigger fish to fry than energy flow.
31:38And I'm keen to see where they're at.
31:40So the last time I was here, we were in a fully intact kitchen and now we're down to the bare bones.
31:46So does that mean you've like fully moved out now?
31:48Yeah, we did have to move out. There's no ceiling and there's insulation dust everywhere.
31:53So definitely did not want to be living here during this period.
31:56But there is a bigger reason that we can't live here.
31:59Look, Laura is pregnant.
32:01Whoa! How exciting. Congratulations.
32:04Thank you so much. It is very exciting.
32:06So that has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works in terms of timelines and budget and yeah.
32:13Yeah, just more pressure on me. That's fine. Just to get it all done in time.
32:16Well, I also am pregnant as well.
32:20Oh my gosh. Congratulations.
32:22Congrats. Thank you. Thank you.
32:24Exciting and terrifying.
32:26Yes. I know the feeling.
32:28So are we still thinking the same timeframes now?
32:30Things need to speed up a little bit more. So the timeline has sort of shrunk down a little bit.
32:35We do want to move back in into a liveable state. We're looking at about another two months.
32:39Whoa. Okay. So that's eight weekends for you.
32:43Not a lot of time.
32:44And Laura's out of the picture. Maybe eating some cupcakes.
32:48Yeah. I'll still be doing work on the weekend.
32:50But we've got some trades coming in through the week, which will have an impact on the budget.
32:54But yeah, I think we can get it done in time and have the baby arrive in a nice, beautiful home.
33:01Wishful thinking.
33:02It is a little bit.
33:03It has to be done.
33:04It sort of has to be done now.
33:05Yeah.
33:07These two are seemingly undaunted by whatever challenges come their way.
33:12Kitchens, bathrooms, babies.
33:15And that's all in one piece?
33:16All in one piece, yeah.
33:17But with just eight weeks till they want to move in, everything, and I mean everything, needs to go to plan, including fitting this giant sliding door into their lounge room.
33:30Builder Kai is not making any promises.
33:32It's going to be a little bit too tight.
33:33So what we're thinking of doing is coming through, just coming through the garage door.
33:38We've just taken, taken this door frame here.
33:41Ideally.
33:42Yeah, it should fit.
33:43Well, hopefully.
33:44Because it's not coming through the front door either.
33:45So it's either that or we're going over the neighbour's fence.
33:47Oh, no.
33:48It's going to be tight.
33:59I'm nervous.
34:00I hope they fit through the garage door.
34:04I can't watch.
34:06We've got like three mil.
34:09It's going to be bloody tight.
34:19We'll just move that roller.
34:24F***.
34:30Yay.
34:31It fits.
34:32I'm happy.
34:34I was like, not breathing, and then it went through and I was like, I can now, I'm leaving.
34:39Oh!
34:45Despite some breakthroughs on sight, having a baby is a game changer.
34:51And time and money are growing tighter by the day.
34:56I feel like everything's going a little bit slower and probably not progressing as well as we would hope.
35:02So, a little bit stressful at the moment.
35:05There's still quite a bit to do.
35:07That's cute.
35:08I feel like having a baby and also getting additional help to get completed in time is really sort of blowing the budget out at the moment.
35:19So, that's another thing that's sort of putting a lot of pressure on us.
35:23So many things to wash.
35:25While the scale and the nature of these projects are poles apart, both Lewis and Richard are architects tackling unexpected reinventions, preserving the past with a modern twist.
35:47So, we're revisiting a great project where a mishmash of errors and ideas came together the hard way.
35:55Think Miami meets St Kilda.
35:58It's St Kilda.
35:59Oh, I can't wait to see this.
36:01The last time I was here, a couple of years back...
36:07Now, of course, there will be a door here, Yaz. A mint door, actually.
36:11Architect Henry and wife Gemma's dream to transform a drab 1930s apartment block into a Miami oasis was barely more than a building site.
36:21Yaz, welcome to our living area.
36:23Sorry to say the pool's not much to look at.
36:26But how it's changed.
36:29Oh, I'm so chuffed to see it finished.
36:31What an entry, huh?
36:33This is very mid-century, right?
36:35Why?
36:36Coming in across a little bridge and meeting some green.
36:39And I can see the palm out the back.
36:41So, already getting a lot of sort of Miami vibes.
36:44It is gorgeous.
36:46Now, this was a nod to the Art Deco period where the house originated.
36:51We're back in the 30s.
36:52We are.
36:53And instead of being moulded in plaster, it's in concrete.
36:56And it's really come up a tree.
36:57It's really committed.
36:58It really is.
36:59Yeah.
37:00It makes a big statement.
37:02And I'm interested to see how he delivered the bathroom.
37:05And where are we now? Far East?
37:06Yes.
37:07Yeah?
37:08I mean, Henry loves to travel.
37:09Yeah.
37:10So a lot of his inspiration came from all over the globe, including Far East Asia.
37:14So that's three styles already.
37:15Yeah.
37:16We're in danger here of getting, like, a little bit unbalanced, don't you think?
37:19Are you worried about that?
37:20Well, we're going to even it out here.
37:21Okay.
37:22With a fourth.
37:23Welcome to the 70s.
37:25Oh!
37:26As we walk through the corridor, what he's done really well is the colours have deepened.
37:31So the baby blues have turned navy.
37:33Yeah.
37:34The pinks and peaches have turned rust.
37:35Yeah.
37:36But then you look over here.
37:37Yeah.
37:38And the materiality takes you back to that Asian reference.
37:41Mm-hmm.
37:42The side detail here with the tiered marble face.
37:44Yeah.
37:45Again, looking back at the deco period.
37:47That's right.
37:48Yeah.
37:49There's definitely a lot of thought gone into everything here.
37:51Nothing is unintentional.
37:52Everything is balanced.
37:53So all these little connections are being made.
37:55The blue carpet here links us directly to the pool.
37:58Yeah.
37:59So now that inside-outside thing comes back again and suddenly we're back in the 50s.
38:02And I just have to say...
38:03Let's go out the back.
38:06Let's go out the back.
38:08This is like a pool party waiting to happen, isn't it?
38:11The palm, the big green, the nice blue.
38:13But then I look back here and I see blacks and whites.
38:16And this has sort of a vague Japanese feel about it to me.
38:20So I suppose this is one of those examples where all those influences from around the world,
38:24all those travels and things, become a kind of a memory book or something.
38:28And you want them around you, you want them in your life.
38:30So you bring them into the architecture.
38:32Lewis is an architect.
38:33Yeah.
38:34And I worry that in his project, he's going to get bunkered down in all the little details
38:39and just not get to that finish line.
38:41Well, Richard's an architect also trying to recreate the glass house to the letter.
38:47It's dripping in intricate details.
38:49And I'm concerned if he doesn't let go of some of them, it could remain a pile on the ground.
38:54Mmm.
38:55I love this place and I think the outcome's amazing.
38:57Yeah.
38:58But I know the struggles to get here.
39:00I'm so nervous Lewis is going to fall into the same trap.
39:03Will he get to this stage?
39:05Back in Mulgrave, despite being desperate to start nesting, they've missed their eight-week deadline.
39:19And now the only timeframe that matters is six weeks till the baby's born.
39:25Slowing me down, the mystics.
39:29It's all hands on deck at the moment.
39:32It's a little bit of pressure to get everything done and move in soon.
39:37Despite the stress, all the pieces of Lewis's vision are starting to take shape.
39:43It's the best part, seeing all the finishes being put together.
39:47Yep.
39:48Come up.
39:49It's a natural spotted gum that's rolled like a ply.
39:52So you get this really nice wide grain.
39:58Japanese architecture is always using timber inside.
40:01So all the panels just bring so much warmth to the spaces.
40:06It's looking good.
40:08While Lewis' flat chat on site, for Laura, it's all about getting ready for the baby.
40:17But that's not her only concern.
40:20Lewis was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
40:23I think we're both aware of just making sure that he's not pushing himself too hard and
40:30make sure that he's taking breaks when he needs to.
40:32But then also on the other side, I'm constantly pressuring him to get things done before the
40:37baby comes.
40:38So it's a difficult balance.
40:40I'm trying not to let that stress me out too much.
40:51There's a race to the finish in Tassie as well.
40:54Alice and Richard are just two weeks off their Christmas deadline for their glass jewel box.
41:00The base, complete with the last 50 bricks, now begging to resemble its former self.
41:07But first, there's 500 secondhand panes of glass to wash and cut.
41:16Luckily, Richard's a dab hand at it after being taught by his grandfather as a boy.
41:22Which is really paying off now.
41:24All of the ridge panes, or the panes on the roof, have what is called a beaver tail,
41:30which when they're all overlapped, it funnels the water to run down the centre of each line
41:35of panes away from the timber mullions to stop them from getting weathered.
41:40One big concern is we have to do a lot of the glazing in stages because of the low tolerance
41:46of the pan widths.
41:48The main glass cutting will need to wait until the glass house is erected before we know those tolerances
41:53and we can cut all the panes.
41:55I don't want to think about how long this is all going to take.
41:58But he's about to find out.
42:06Finally, after two years of planning and with the initial framework up...
42:11Hopefully, the mesh of the new and the old timber can pull it all together and it will all work.
42:16Well, this was the moment.
42:18They're ready to tackle the 750-piece structural jigsaw puzzle with Alice's dad, John, and brother William.
42:25Yeah, so we've got to get these in the right spot and they really do need to be millimetre perfect.
42:30They're the glazing bars that hold all the panes in place.
42:33We need to get one of these rafters on to hold all of these in place.
42:36Look, that goes in there.
42:40And you've just got to try and line them up a little bit.
42:43I don't think that's that... that's not that piece.
42:50That angle is going the wrong direction when you're trying to line it up.
42:55Do you think that means the pieces are out of order?
42:59This is nowhere near sitting in any groove.
43:01No, I'm just looking at that.
43:03Slightly terrifying.
43:05Yep.
43:06The 140-year-old glasshouse seems to be holding on to a few secrets.
43:13This doesn't fit either, Richard.
43:16Far out.
43:17It really doesn't, does it?
43:19This one's got about a 10mm gap in it as well.
43:22I'm wondering if the new glazing bars, they're slightly too long.
43:27We had it all remade in sections and they were never dry fitted together,
43:31all as one building.
43:32And that's new.
43:33That's new.
43:34We think we might have taken a perfect average for the new timber,
43:38but it could be 5-10mm out.
43:42This is everything they'd feared.
43:45And if they do crack it,
43:47there's still a mountain of glass to cut and fit into the frames,
43:51with Christmas just 12 sleeps away.
43:55Until this is all fixed and all screwed together,
43:59we're not glazing.
44:00Yeah.
44:02It'll be a very fine line if we make it in there for Christmas.
44:07We're going to be down to the wire, I think.
44:09Three years ago, Richard and Alice, full of wonder,
44:26disappeared down the rabbit hole.
44:28Slavishly taking on perhaps the greatest folly of all time.
44:33Here we are.
44:35The anticipation is killing me.
44:38The risk has always been that the glass house will be singing out of tune
44:43with its already harmonious surrounds.
44:47There it is, just up on the hill.
44:49It's looking like they've got the frame up.
44:51That's impressive.
44:55The little glass house lives again.
44:57Richard and Alice, congratulations.
45:09Welcome.
45:10I mean, what I really want to know is,
45:12did you make it in for Christmas?
45:14Almost.
45:15Unfortunately not.
45:17We were very close though.
45:18We were about two weeks off.
45:19Yeah.
45:20We had everything but the glass.
45:21We actually finished glazing last night.
45:23Sorry.
45:27It's a lovely little picture that you've painted here.
45:29It really does sit very nicely with things.
45:31I mean, at that last moment when you were putting it all together,
45:34some of those pieces just weren't fitting.
45:37There was a real kind of tussle going on.
45:39What was the solve?
45:40Shortening sections of timber.
45:42It was just tweaking.
45:44OK.
45:45I mean, these things are rare now.
45:46Even in the UK, there aren't that many left, right?
45:48No, about 90% have disappeared.
45:50Yeah.
45:51Yeah.
45:52And we now know why.
45:54Because they're so fragile or so complicated or both?
45:56Both.
45:57Yeah.
45:58And so many man hours going into it.
46:00Is it going to survive the weather here in Tassie?
46:03You know, Thomas Messenger is an English company.
46:05So, designed for snow, designed for hail.
46:07Yeah, I don't even want to think what a hail storm would be.
46:09OK, let's not talk about that.
46:10No, don't go there.
46:12Can we have a look?
46:13Oh, please.
46:14Please come and have a look.
46:17Welcome to our tropical paradise.
46:19Not a phrase you hear in Tasmania very often, right?
46:22No.
46:23Definitely not.
46:24I tell you what, the temperature difference straight off the bat.
46:26It must be 10 degrees warmer in here.
46:28Yeah.
46:29Don't you see?
46:30Yeah, so it's already working.
46:31It's doing its job.
46:32Yeah.
46:33So, pineapples in here?
46:34That's the challenge.
46:35Oh, that is a challenge.
46:36Yeah.
46:37We wanted to do a little bit of everything.
46:38Mm-hmm.
46:39We wanted to grow vegetables, use it as a functional dining space as well.
46:42So, functional but fun.
46:44Yeah.
46:45Yeah.
46:46A little glass house like this sort of showing off all this fabulous engineering, all these
46:49great cast iron rods in here.
46:51Things like the crank that opens the vents up here and the glass that should be up there
46:56that's not there.
46:57So, you haven't finished yet, have you?
46:59We're waiting on two awnings.
47:00OK.
47:01The two butterfly awnings on the top.
47:02And then the actual glass comes up?
47:04Yes.
47:05Yeah?
47:06Yeah.
47:07Did the hinges arrive from Ireland?
47:08They're in the post.
47:09So, no.
47:10No.
47:11They're on the way.
47:12They're on the way.
47:13On the way.
47:14Yeah.
47:15Until then, we're nailed shut.
47:16And the heating system?
47:17The heating system is almost in.
47:19Come autumn and winter, it plans to fire up the little boiler outside.
47:22Yeah.
47:23So, water just flows through the pipes and the heat radiates off the pipes and the glass house
47:27keeps the heat in.
47:28It's all basic physics doing the job.
47:31Yeah.
47:32Thermo-siphoning.
47:33Oh, thank you, architect.
47:34You were waiting for a moment to drop that word, weren't you?
47:37Yeah.
47:38It feels fantastic standing here, I've got to say.
47:39I think I want one.
47:40I don't have the space for it, but I think I have to make the space for it somehow.
47:43Yeah.
47:44Now, I'm under its spell, just as Richard was all those years ago.
47:50Richard, for you, it was a ten-year-old's memory of running around on a farm.
47:55And Alice, this is now part of your family's history.
47:58There's something very special about that.
48:00Bringing back something from my memory that was so far asleep, it's amazing that it's
48:04the same building.
48:05You've saved it from oblivion.
48:07That, in its own right, is a fabulous thing.
48:10Yeah, we're very happy.
48:11Yeah?
48:12Yeah.
48:13You started dismantling this about three years ago.
48:15Yeah.
48:16It did take significantly longer than we had first thought.
48:18But having that time, I think, has enabled us to find all these little details that we
48:22needed to get it to this state.
48:24Hmm.
48:25So let's then talk about how much it costs, because I think I recall you giving me a $25,000
48:30number.
48:31Well, we actually weren't too far off.
48:33Okay.
48:34Yeah, within Kui.
48:35I think a couple of...
48:36One or two thousand.
48:37Over.
48:38Over.
48:39Yeah.
48:40This is more or less the price of an agricultural shed.
48:41And it's so much more, though, in what it's offering you, the environment, history.
48:45I think it's a bargain.
48:46We do, too.
48:47Yeah.
48:48The one thing I would say is no cricket on the driveway.
48:52Definitely no cricket.
48:53Fingers crossed for no hailstorms, either.
48:56Definitely.
49:01Welcome.
49:02You're here.
49:03I'm so thrilled for these guys.
49:06What a fairytale ending.
49:08Oh, wow.
49:09It's even better than I thought.
49:12As far as labours of love go, this couldn't have been more painful or demand any more
49:18forensic dedication.
49:19Oh, definitely couldn't have put it up without you both.
49:22Oh, thank you.
49:24It's people like Richard and Alice, whose passion to preserve the past...
49:28See it will come alive.
49:29End of a journey.
49:30...illuminates what's possible for the rest of us.
49:33Yeah, it's really special.
49:42Back in Mulgrave, I'm almost nervous to see where Lewis and Laura have ended up, with
50:05their Spanish Mission Japanese ryokan mashup.
50:10In the years since they started building, there have been a few curveballs.
50:14One that weighed in six weeks back at 3.1 kilos.
50:19Ooh.
50:20Doesn't sound to me there was much time left over to finish the house.
50:24Okay.
50:25Well, the house itself is still presenting very much Spanish Mission, but those beautiful
50:32red terracotta tiles and the warmth that's exuding from that new timber front door makes
50:37me very excited about what's inside.
50:44Hello.
50:45Hi, Lewis and Laura.
50:47This is amazing.
50:48You must have heard me gushing about it before I entered.
50:51Come on in.
50:52Welcome.
50:53Good to see.
50:54Good to see.
50:56This is a completely different house.
50:59Are you absolutely loving it?
51:01Yes.
51:02Obsessed.
51:03We're very happy.
51:04Yeah.
51:05But more importantly, you had a baby.
51:06Yes.
51:07We had a baby.
51:08Well, I look forward to meeting him maybe later.
51:09Yes, absolutely.
51:10You get to meet him later.
51:11But let me get back to this, because if anybody knows me, I love a good entry, because
51:15it needs to speak about what the rest of the house is going to unveil as you walk through
51:19it, right?
51:20Was it always your intention to make this feel so, so warm when you walked in?
51:25Really warm.
51:26Really cozy.
51:27Having the connection to the outside and having those bricks sort of flow throughout the house.
51:32Just tying it all together.
51:33Yeah.
51:34It's working like a dream.
51:35Yeah.
51:36Well, we're really excited to show you, so come through.
51:38Let's see.
51:42From what was once a quirky little house, this place has had a massive injection of cool.
51:49This timber just draws you in, doesn't it?
51:51It's everywhere.
51:53This is such a far cry from where we were when you guys started.
51:57The ceiling's taller.
51:58You've got more light coming in through, more glazing.
52:01What a transformation.
52:03We love it.
52:04We love just sitting in here.
52:06I love feeding the baby in here.
52:08Each timber has its own sort of purpose.
52:10Of course.
52:11So you've got the spotted gun ply for the walls that lead you in.
52:14You've got the direction of the line board coming in to this living space.
52:18Mm.
52:19You've got the verticality of the timber battens.
52:21Yeah.
52:22They all speak a different language, but marry so beautifully together.
52:25Yeah.
52:26And all this beautiful natural light pouring in from those three big sliders, which were
52:31hell to get in here, but look how much they give back to this room.
52:35Incredible.
52:39What's most surprising is it all looks very finely crafted.
52:43An almost unbelievable result for a couple of novice tradies.
52:48I remember this kitchen pretty vividly.
52:52It was dark and dingy.
52:54Sorry.
52:55True.
52:56And it had some red Formica countertops maybe.
52:59Yeah.
53:00But what a far cry this is from that.
53:03Yeah, it feels so much warmer.
53:06Mm.
53:07It feels like we're back in Japan at a ryokan with all the timber.
53:10It's just a nicer space.
53:12And the red, it's still there.
53:14Mm.
53:15Just not as prominent.
53:16Yeah.
53:17I think that's the genius of this space.
53:21They're not rewriting the history of the house, just reworking the good bits.
53:27The arches, the earthy mid-century tones and materials, which all works very well with the Japanese minimalism.
53:40What a difference a year makes.
53:44Even Lewis's tiling looks on point.
53:47So you guys finally made it.
53:5012 months.
53:51You on site every day.
53:53We did have a lot of help, but we got there in the end and it all happened just before the baby.
53:59So.
54:00Yeah.
54:01I love the way that it came together and exactly how we kind of envisioned it really.
54:04Yeah.
54:05Money-wise, you had a relatively small budget.
54:09Did you stick to the 100,000?
54:12We didn't, of course.
54:14I think in the end we spent about 135.
54:17Like for the outcome, that's incredible.
54:20Yeah.
54:21How big is this house?
54:22100 square metres?
54:23So you're looking at just over $1,300 a square metre, which is roughly half of what I would normally spend for a project like this.
54:32Yeah.
54:33That's ridiculous.
54:34Yeah.
54:35It's crazy, but it could not have been done without all the help that we had.
54:39Especially from our family.
54:40Otherwise, it definitely would have been way too expensive for us.
54:43What do your hands look like?
54:45They're a little bit rough, but...
54:47There's always paint on his hands.
54:49Always something on his hands.
54:50Yeah.
54:51They're a bit of, you know, they're tradie hands now.
54:53Yeah.
54:54Cheers.
54:55Well done.
54:56Well done.
54:57Well done.
54:58Well done.
54:59Well done.
55:00Thanks to everyone for your help.
55:01Could not have done it without you.
55:02Thanks, Alex, Michael, Dad.
55:03It's been a long year, but we got there, so thank you very much.
55:19After all they've been through and all they've achieved, they really are miracle workers.
55:29Hello.
55:30Hello.
55:31Speaking as someone who's pulled off a bit of a miracle themselves this year...
55:35This is my little addition.
55:36..I'm impressed.
55:37This is our baby.
55:38Oh, hello.
55:39Oh, my God, so cute.
55:41Hopefully he gets a little bit more hair.
55:43But mine didn't come with a house.
55:46So you guys gonna try for number two, maybe?
55:48Or...
55:49No.
55:50No.
55:51No.
55:52Oh!
55:53Ooh!
55:54Yeah!
55:55Well, Lewis and Laura had a vision.
56:00Not only could they see past this dated facade, they imagined a beautiful blended Japanese-Spanish
56:07hacienda and made it happen.
56:10Add to that a baby and they've created the perfect family unit in a perfect family home.
56:17Now that is an epic transformation.
56:21Oops.
56:22Almost forgot the baby.
56:26Almost forgot the baby.
56:27Almost forgot the baby.
56:28So...
56:29Oh!
56:30Yeah!
56:31Sure.
56:32Oh!
56:33Yeah!
56:34Thank you!
56:35Oh!
56:36Yeah!
56:37Oh!
56:38Yeah!
56:39Mm-hmm!
56:41Yeah!
56:42Oh!
56:45Yeah!
56:47Yeah!
56:48Oh!
56:49Yeah!
56:50Yeah!
56:52Yeah!
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