00:08The Milkman's Cottage is located in Barrack Street in Hobart.
00:14It was first built in the 1870s, it was one of three originally.
00:18Two of those unfortunately burnt down and this one was left standing.
00:27We called it the Milkman's Cottage due to a milkman once upon a time living in the property.
00:33We really wanted to try and make it feel a little bit larger than what it was, so being
00:37able to draw some light deep into the heart of the building was really important to increase
00:41the value of the safe value of the home.
00:52Hobart's famous for its fresh produce, clean air and the art scene.
00:58I lived overseas for four years. On arriving back to Hobart, I was determined to buy a place in the
01:06city.
01:09This place was the smallest and cheapest place that I could find.
01:13No one wanted it. I saw the potential in it straight away.
01:18I decided to put on Airbnb for two different reasons.
01:22Most of my work life was interstate, so it made it easy for me to come back
01:26and live in the cottage when I needed to, but also it just gives the opportunity to showcase Hobart.
01:35There's a lot of architects, junior architects that stay here and they draw inspiration and they love it.
01:45When I first bought the property, the property was dark, dingy, not very friendly to live in.
01:53The staircase was like a ladder basically. It was very steep and dangerous.
02:01The changes were really to try and create a new entry into the building.
02:04The actual entry was through a bathroom originally.
02:07The old stairs that used to go up through the floor of the bedroom broke the room up in two.
02:16We ended up relocating a new kitchen sort of space and put that against the street edge.
02:20It actually overlooked the new courtyard which we created.
02:24The new staircase is located adjacent to the bathroom.
02:29It provides good connection to the bedroom upstairs.
02:33The entry is set back from the front street edge, so there's a bit of privacy when someone comes
02:38into the building or comes out of the building.
02:43When you come into the building, to the left is the kitchen.
02:47The kitchen space has got a big raked ceiling, so that draws the light into the space very early in
02:52the day.
02:55Around the window there's some angles so that there's light and shade within the space,
02:59not just one wash of clean light.
03:03The kitchen and all of the joinery within the building is really simple.
03:07We've got a steel top on that which is going to patina and age over time.
03:12The kitchen here has a full oven, induction cooktop, a small fridge and single drawer dishwasher.
03:23The bench table is custom made by my father.
03:26The wood's tazzy oak as well, it's the same as the wood on the door and above the kitchen there.
03:36There's two pivot doors, the smaller one which is for day-to-day use to go in and out of
03:40the courtyard.
03:42One large room which will swing back.
03:44You can rack the big pivot door out so that the kitchen dining space becomes part of the courtyard as
03:50well.
03:56So the staircase which leads up to the loft, there's a concrete plinth at the base to sort of connect
04:01the bottom of the staircase with the actual concrete floor of the living part of the home.
04:05The corners of the staircase are quite often the parts of the stair that get touched and get damaged.
04:10So I've gone with the brass so that'll patina over time and age gracefully.
04:15And we've actually textured the material on the face of the stairs with some holes in the wall lining there.
04:21First thing in the morning we're picking up on some of the sunlight which is meant to go through those
04:24holes
04:25and create some patterning on the interior sort of edges of the walls.
04:30There's some cutouts between the stair, the study and also the bedroom.
04:35That can allow some light into the building but also so we get some views as well from
04:40the bedroom space out over the north parts of Hobart.
04:46The bedroom was kept to a simple design. The bed, open cupboards, a single workstation
04:53that overlooks the kitchen and dining area.
04:59We really want to keep the joinery looking as simple as possible.
05:02So the joinery is shaped like a triangle if you like but separated so that it's actually usable space as
05:07well.
05:16Coming in from the front entrance you turn to the right and go down a series of steps to
05:19the main living area.
05:23The living room is a bit more cosy. It's a darker space with a lower ceiling.
05:27There's original floorboards located in that space which provide that nice warm feel.
05:34Matt really wanted a cinema space so we sort of suggested that maybe the rear wall actually
05:38gets painted in the darker colour as well to provide more of that cinema type experience.
05:42There's additional joinery located on the side of the credenza.
05:45It's dark in colour as well so that it's not an extra element within the room.
05:51The laundry's I suppose the one part where we had a bit of fun.
05:55You open up those white panels, bang, it's bright yellow in colour.
06:02The bathroom's located off the entry from the building. It's behind a pivot door so you don't
06:07actually know that the bathroom is in behind that door. It's quite private and it's a very high
06:12ceiling in there with the skylight at the top to draw light down into the room.
06:18We use natural materials so there's some concrete render on the walls.
06:24Our philosophy of designing a small space would be storage is really important but also I think
06:29volume and light are really important as well because you can actually make a small space feel
06:33much larger through the incorporation of light and volume.
06:37The design was kept simple, like four elements, concrete, white, timber and black.
06:46It's made it very soft and very comfortable and it's not overpowering.
06:53There's been opportunities to give back to the community through hosting.
06:57Last year during COVID the cottage was given up to first responders
07:01so they can self-quarantine away from their families.
07:21So if you're looking at it, it's so important that you are the only one that you stay in the
07:21room.
07:21We're looking at it in the space there.
07:21But we're looking at the room because of the room,
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