By definition, chaos is a state of total confusion with no order.
If you’ve got kids, that probably sums up your household most of the time.
But you can control chaos – or so I’m told.
That’s exactly what Rachel and Brett have done at their place.
Well, to a certain extent.
“Our home feels welcoming… with a slight hint of chaos,” Rachel tells Place Journal.
“The best part is, everything now has its place, I can whip around in 20 minutes and the house feels spotless.”
Before the six-month renovation, the 1960s ranch style home in Adelaide’s west would be lucky to feel clean for 20 minutes.
We’re not saying these are messy people, but the space just wasn’t working for a growing family of five.
And no one could hide.
“The state of our dining table would always make me feel stressed,” Rachel explains.
“It would house my handbag, childcare bags, Brett’s clothes, toiletries, makeup and anything we needed for the next day.
“It was also the first thing people would see when they walked in the front door.”
A paramedic, Brett would often work night shift and live on completely different hours.
“I couldn’t even use the coffee machine as it would echo down the hallway to our bedroom,” Rachel laughs.
Putting your partner’s sleep ahead of caffeine is a big call.
So, while the couple never intended to renovate fully when they bought the property, after five years, they knew they had to make changes to improve everyday life.
“We only had one living area, I was a little tired of watching kids’ cartoons when cooking or entertaining friends,” she adds.
Enter this story’s hero… the dining table.
Ironic, I know.
“Brett and I were sitting down for our joint birthday dinner in May 2020 when the discussion of the home builder grant came up,” Rachel recalls.
“We started discussing how we could utilise the grant and how we could possibly knock down the wall between our living room and our garage to make another living area.
“Our brother-in-law Dino, who also happens to be an architect, whipped out a pen and started drawing the floor plan on his napkin.
“Within an hour, he had moved to an A4 piece of paper and had come up with the idea to move our kitchen into the garage, extending out to a front deck, which happened to host the best sunlight of our property.
“Within a few months, he had drawn up the plans, and what ended up being built was nearly identical to the original napkin drawing from that night.”
Googles ‘Dino architect Adelaide’.
Ah, that Dino.
Rachel’s sister Sara, and her husband Dino, are the directors of Das Studio, a multi-disciplinary design firm based in Adelaide.
From the moment that napkin was picked up on that dining table, they played a big role in helping solve Rachel and Brett’s problems.
‘Make life better’ it says on their website, and that’s exactly what they did on this project.
“One piece of advice I would give to anyone looking to renovate is to sit down and write a list of how you use the house on an everyday basis,” Rachel says.
“We ran through this process with Das and it was really eye opening to what we needed.
“Where you park the car, which doors are used the most, where do you put your bags, shoes, laundry, which room do you always go to first, where do you spend the majority of your time, what frustrates you the most.
“Once it was all written down it became quite obvious that we needed to focus on creating a new place to control our chaos – a mudroom which also housed another toilet and a basin.”
On top of that, a new kitchen and dining area was added, and, yes, with all of that, let’s say, stuff tucked away neatly in the abundance of extra storage, a clutter-free dining table is a much more appealing sight.
But it takes a backseat to the new heroes of the kitchen.
It’s almost impossible to take your eye off the bluestone crazy paver and, if you do, it’s probably to look at the blue quartzite island bench, wrapped in terrazzo.
“The kitchen floor is our absolute favourite feature,” Rachel beams.
“I am discovering that it is an absolute nightmare to clean and was likely the attributing factor to blowing out our budget, but would I do it again? Absolutely!”
The works, all under the original roof, also included the addition of a study nook, fourth bedroom, a front deck and plenty of colour.
“Our favourite part of our home is the opportunity to separate into multiple different spaces without feeling too segregated from each other,” Rachel says.
“This provides us the opportunity to host for multiple different occasions, a lot of the time the adults will be enjoying the front deck with the kids taking full run of the back area of the house, all the while still feeling connected.”
See, controlled chaos.
“Our house brings us so much joy, the renovations have really transformed the way we live our lives,” Rachel adds.
“It was designed in such a meaningful way, with so much thought as to how we live as a family.
“Whilst many of my favourite aspects of our house are cosmetic, the functionality we now have has been by far the biggest gift.”
Thank you, dining table.
Words: Jordan Pinto
Photography: Anthony Basheer
Interior design and architecture: DAS studio
Builder: Steele building group
RACHEL AND BRETT'S PLACE
Built: 1967
Land: 654m2
Bed: 4
Bath: 3
WHAT THEIR PLACE TAUGHT THEM
Engage the professionals.
Even if it is just for advice, there is absolutely no way we couldn’t have thought up this renovation ourselves. This especially goes for selections, take risks and don’t be afraid of colour.
Scroll through to see what their place looked like before