A garden grows through it.

The original gingerbread cottage remains intact in spirit, but everything surrounding it has been carefully reconsidered. Walls stripped back to expose original brickwork. Reclaimed materials folded into the extension. Concrete, hardwood and steel introduced not to overpower the home’s history, but to sharpen it. “We wanted to create a home that respected the cottage’s original character while making it more liveable through light, proportion and flow,” Aoife says.

There’s a tactile honesty to the finished result. Exposed brick walls carry imperfections proudly. Polished concrete floors cool the lower level beneath warm timber joinery and blackbutt detailing. Full-height steel-framed glazing dissolves the rear boundary almost entirely, allowing the courtyard to become part of the architecture itself.

Nothing here feels excessive. Every intervention appears measured, intentional and deeply tied to the way the couple wanted to live.

“Working with a compact footprint means there’s no room for wasted space,” Hugo says. “Every square metre had to be considered.” With guidance from a close friend and architect, the home was stripped back to establish cleaner sightlines and stronger spatial connection. From the front door, the eye lands immediately on greenery beyond the living zone. Upstairs, the master suite unfolds almost like a retreat, where bathroom, bedroom and surrounding tree canopy exist in quiet dialogue.

The sense of generosity comes not from scale, but balance.

Vaulted ceilings lift overhead without feeling dramatic. Skylights pull daylight deep into the floorplan. Joinery disappears into walls. Storage is concealed almost everywhere. “We were deliberate with glazing placement, ceiling heights and custom joinery to create openness without adding bulk,” Aoife says.

Then there’s the garden - arguably the emotional centre of the home.

Hugo, who works within his family landscaping business Good Manors, approached the outdoor spaces with the same discipline as the architecture itself. Bluestone runs from front to back, creating continuity between the original cottage and the contemporary extension. Pleached trees introduce privacy and volume. Native violets soften the ground plane while layers of green foliage pull light through the interiors.

“A well-considered garden changes how a home is experienced,” Hugo says. “Especially in smaller inner-city homes, it becomes an extension of the living space rather than an afterthought.”

That philosophy is everywhere here. The courtyard doesn’t sit outside the house; it completes it. Glass doors remain open for most of the year. The reclaimed timber bench catches winter sun where ivy slowly climbs the walls.

The freestanding bath upstairs was a non-negotiable and the kitchen mattered just as much. “We love entertaining and cooking,” Aoife says. “We wanted the house to revolve around that.” The result is an effortless sequence between kitchen, dining, lounge and garden - intimate enough for daily life, generous enough for long afternoons with friends and wine drifting into evening.

Importantly, the materials were chosen both for aesthetics and endurance. “We wanted finishes that would age well and feel better over time,” Hugo says. “Not just look good on day one.” Terrazzo tiles, solid bluestone slabs, hardwood floors and steel-framed doors bring durability without hardness - robust, but deeply warm.

And perhaps that’s the real achievement of 34 Flora Street. Not that it has been transformed beyond recognition, but that it has been returned to itself - lighter, softer, more open to the life around it. A home where craftsmanship and comfort hold equal weight, where garden and architecture are inseparable, ensuring the pace of the outside world can stop at the gate.

“We hope it’s somewhere the next owners fall in love with,” Aoife says. “Somewhere they can come home to and immediately feel at ease.”

“A place for lazy Sunday mornings,” Hugo adds, “or a couple of wines with friends on a sunny afternoon.”

View the listing: 34 Flora Street, Erskineville