Enjoy this renovation progress update with Zane and Louise, sharing how design decisions, staging, and the PAC Process support smooth construction.

Learn as these HOME Method members reflect on the transition from design into construction, and what it’s been like to see their home start to take shape on site.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 383, and in it, we’re getting an update from HOME Method members, Louise and Zane, about their renovation project. They’re currently under construction in their renovation and extension of a Californian Bungalow in Melbourne.

If you haven’t heard the earlier parts of Louise and Zane’s journey, head back to Episode 317 and Episode 318, and then their most recent updates in Episode 354 and Episode 355. 

You’ll hear how they approached choosing their team, what they wanted to create with their Californian Bungalow renovation and extension in Melbourne, and the early preparation they did to set themselves up well, as we first talked to them before they started choosing their team.

And then you’ll hear how they commenced the design process and moved through those important decisions about their floor plan and home’s layout.

In this conversation, Louise and Zane share where the project is at now, and the great news is that construction is moving along smoothly and they’re getting to enjoy that shift where the house starts to feel like a home. 

They also talk candidly about the early challenges of bank finance and timing, and how, once that was resolved, they’ve been able to find a really solid rhythm with the build.

We also dive into how they’ve used the PAC Process with their team, why their Design Brief (using the Brief Builder template from HOME Method) has been such an important anchor for decisions.

They also discuss how having their architect also act as their interior designer helped bring forward key selections and reduce pressure during construction. Not all architects work this way, so it’s super interesting to hear how this helped Louise and Zane in their project.

Plus, they share how and why they’ve staged parts of the project, including what they’ve done now to make stage two simpler when they’re ready.

It’s a fantastic update that shows how the preparation, learning and work they did in the earlier parts of their project is now supporting a streamlined, confident and collaborative construction process overall.

Now, let’s dive in!

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

Before we dive into the conversation, let me give you some context on timing. 

Louise + Zane joined HOME Method in July 2023, after living in their home for about 12 months.

The conversation that’s in Episode 317 and Episode 318 was recorded in February 2024.

Then, in July 2024, 5 months later, we jumped back on for the updates that are in Episode 354 and Episode 355. 

This latest update was recorded in early December, 2025. Zane and Louise’s construction project officially started in late June, 2025 and is due for completion in March of 2026.

I hope you find this project update super helpful. I think these conversations are amazing for hearing the personal experiences of people who are enjoying their projects, and creating fantastic outcomes, wherever they’re located and whoever they’re working with.

Listen out for their experience with staging parts of the project, as it is also such an important lesson. Making intentional choices about what to include now, what to defer, and how to do that without creating future complications requires good advice, clear approvals, and a collaborative team. 

Louise and Zane discuss how they have been able to navigate that because they were informed, upfront about their budget, and supported by a team working together through the PAC Process.

If you’re early in your project, or still in design, this is a really good reminder that clarity now creates calm later. Being honest about how you want to live, what truly matters most, and what you can afford or want to budget for will always put you in a stronger position as your project progresses.

Louise’s and Zane’s experience also highlights how powerful it can be to have a clear project brief to come back to when decisions feel complex. 

Their Design Brief is something they created using the Brief Builder inside HOME Method, and it’s been the anchor they’ve returned to again and again, and that their team has kept them accountable to as well. Not just when designing the home, but when weighing up costs, staging decisions, and trade offs during construction.

If you’d like support to create your own Brief Builder, and access the other tools that are available, as well as expert insight to help you navigate your design and building journey with more confidence and less second guessing, you can join Louise and Zane and our other members inside HOME Method. 

Let’s hear from Louise and Zane now.

This is the transcript of my conversation with Louise and Zane as they give a real renovation progress update about their Melbourne Californian Bungalow project.

Amelia Lee
Well, Louise and Zane, it is so awesome to have you back. I can’t believe it’s actually been such a long time since we’ve caught up. I know that when we reached out to you to see if we could have a conversation about where your project was at, we all did a bit of a double take to see how long it had been since we chatted to you and to see how far you’ve progressed. So I know it’s going to be an awesome update for those in the UA community. I’m wondering if, before we begin chatting about your project in detail, can you just actually share with us, where is your project at? How have things, in terms of the progress that you’ve made, what’s going on with your project right now?

Zane
Great. Thanks. Amelia, nice to catch up again. We have a site visit every Thursday. So it’s feeling fresh, because this morning we were out at the house, and we’re at internal lining stage. So lock up was a week and a half ago, and we had the frenzy of trades at our house with electricians and plumbers and security people. And we went there today, and the plaster boards’ all up, we’ve got this real sense of space within the house. And starting to look toward a week and a half, and we get the beginnings of the shell of cabinetry. So, it’s starting to move from feeling, I guess, the skeleton of a home, to starting to have a bit of a spatial feel to it, which is really exciting.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, that’s amazing. And I know that that point can be so exciting. It can still feel a little bit, I suppose, because the plaster boards isn’t white, some spaces can feel a little bit darker than they’ll be once they’ve got paint in them. And those can still be a little bit of sense of clutter, just because you can see all the joins, and it can feel a little bit, I suppose, untidy. But how are you feeling about the spaces? How is it, as you look around and see, is it as you anticipated, in terms of the light?

We’ll talk a bit more about the design choices that you went through, but I can imagine walking on site this morning, that would have been pretty mind blowing to finally get that sense of those three dimensional volumes that you’re going to be living in, and how it connects with the space around it and each other, and all of those kinds of things.

Zane
Yeah, for sure. I think what you do get is all of your views. So that’s really interesting. And site visits are in the morning, so we can see how the morning sun hits certain places. So we have a little bench seat outside a courtyard, like an internal courtyard within the house, and that just gets beautiful sun right at the time where you would want to sit there. So little moments like that, you can already start to see happening.

And naturally, you can look out and realise, “Okay, I’m glad we can still see that tree and we can still have this view line over a neighbour’s house.” So I think you’re right, it’s not a perfect white wall, and it’s patchy and it feels half-baked, which is what it is. But I think that it is really nice at the moment. We are living in a little apartment, and you just don’t get the amount of natural light that we were hoping for in the house. And the back of our house, it’s north facing rear, and we’ve got windows everywhere, and just the quality of the light compared to the apartment we’re currently living in is really noticeable. So good early signs.

Louise
Yeah, one thing the plaster board has allowed for is the reveal. So when we’ve got a long hallway, as you walk in the front door, there’s a hallway all the way down to where it really opens up into the kitchen and family living. And so, prior to having the plasterboard in, you could see the back from the front through all of the walls. But now that the plasterboard is in, you have to walk down the hallway, and then the big space with the backyard reveals itself. So that’s been a really lovely change, and has brought that feel into the house that we really wanted, that we were really hoping for.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, that’s so exciting. I’ve got goosebumps about it, because I think that getting that sense of all of the things and the intentions that you are setting up through the design phase, and seeing that come to fruition, yeah, the excitement, it’s palpable in terms of having that experience on site. And it never gets old. It really doesn’t.

And for that sense of transition into the home, and that sense of expansion, particularly with the renovation of a home where you do get to recreate those sense of open plan spaces that are not necessarily the experience of the existing home that you had. You get that lovely indoor-outdoor connection. And as you said, really making the most of the orientation and that north facing rear to see all of that come to fruition is really exciting. So now, when we caught up last time you were still in the design stage. And so, you’ve obviously moved through resolving design. You’ve been getting all your approvals. You’ve finalised all your documentation. You have selections, all of your contracts, all of those kinds of things. Can you just talk through a bit of a timeline about how that progressed from where you were last time we chatted to now being at an internal lining stage?

Zane
You want me to jump in?

Louise
Yeah.

Zane
I think, probably, as we look back, we started slow. And I feel like the pace then picked up, and we’ve had a really great cadence ever since. And what I mean by that is, I guess there are some parties you can’t control, and one of them would be the banks. And I think that was just something that, as much as it’s a bit of naivety, because we’ve been through it before, but you go through this pre-approval and conditional approval, and then you finally get to the point where you’ve got plans that are agreed upon. And that process itself was a really collaborative one, and actually a really enjoyable one, because we had our builder at the table with our architect, and it was about trade-offs, and it was about how do we want to live and actually feel like we got to that plan in a really organic way, but one that we’re really happy with.

I think you then turn to the bank and say, “Okay, we’re ready.” And they don’t necessarily jump when you say go. So that created some delay for us early on. And I guess that’s when you can start to feel a sense of panic, because you think, “Well, we’ve actually factored a rental and a build timeline and all of this on being able to proceed at a certain time.” We managed to get through that stage, as you do, you panic at the time, but it does pass. And once we had that, I think we’ve just hit a really nice rhythm. The communication is really transparent. We have a really strong sense of the schedule. And if anything, it’s a double-edged sword, because you love when you’ve got that pace and that momentum within your build. But the downside of that is, you fly through stage gates, and you receive bills for those stage gates.

The challenging part, we’ve been so happy with the way it’s progressed, and we haven’t had major delays beyond that first contract phase, is that just there’s a whole cash flow game that you need to play. Because you’ve got the contract, but then you’ve got owner to provide and we want to be a good teammate, so the moment we get that call to say, “Well, now’s the time that this item needs to be on site and available”, then you’ve got to pay for it. And it’s just that ability to try and manage nearly three mental wallets when you’re thinking about provisional sums and prime costs, and it’s not a world we deal in every day. So I think that just takes a mental load of saying, “Okay, well, how do we make sure we’ve got the cash flow to be able to deliver at the right times?” It all comes back to communication. But it’s been good.

I wouldn’t say we’ve hit, within the build team itself, any delays we couldn’t overcome.

Amelia Lee
What date was it that you signed the building contract? Do you remember roughly what month it was in terms of when construction start?

Louise
I think it was about end of May. Does that sound right, Zane?

Zane
It does, yeah.

Louise
End of May, and then we handed over the house to the builders end of June. So it was about a month in between. But before we signed the building contract, we were, well, we thought we were 90% there with the bank. Like, we’ve given them all of the documentation they’d asked for. And so, we thought that that was going to be a really quick and easy process, but ended up just having delays. And it was really due to the bank’s busyness and people going on leave and all of the things that were out of our control. So it’s just a frustrating time.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, and did you find that you had any challenges with approvals or finalising your documentation or anything like that? Did that all go quite smoothly in the lead up to all of the contract signing?

Louise
Yeah, and the major part of that was our architect just being amazing and on the ball. He was getting advice and keeping the communication really open with all of the various people that provided all of the, what are they called, the permits and all of those kinds of things. So that was an iterative process throughout those end month stages of finalising the design. So, no serious hold ups there. I guess the back and forth towards the end of the design phase was whether we build the entire thing. So the house and then the pool, we were tossing up on whether to take the pressure off ourselves and build the house first, and then, once the house was finished, go to stage two, which would be the pool and the garage. And initially, we decided no, we’re just going to build it all together. And then when we got the final sum for the contract, we’re like, “Actually, we might take a bit of pressure off ourselves.” Because we assumed that whatever that contract sum was going to say, that would increase through the build, and we had to make that assumption. And so we didn’t want to be completely stressed about money throughout the build stage.

We wanted to enjoy it and have a bit of flexibility with adding things on if we wanted to, or unexpected costs. So, we decided to take the pool out, take the garage out, and that’s now stage two. So we’re hoping that as we get closer to this finalising the house, that we’ll be able to either press go immediately on the pool and seek more funding from the bank, or wait 6 months or 12 months and go at that point. So, there was a bit of back and forth there, but that was really the only hold up or issue.

Amelia Lee
Are the pool and the garage included in your approvals? Like, how’s that worked in terms of the staging of your approvals and you’re getting completion certificates and all of those kinds of things?

How has that been handled in terms of that approval process?

Louise
Yeah, so, we officially applied for a two stage permit. So, yeah, so the pool is in stage two, but our understanding is it can be actioned at any time, up until, I think, is it 10 years? It’s at least 5 years that that permit will stay valid for, so that cost us a marginal amount of extra money for the permits. But we thought that was absolutely worth it for peace of mind.

Zane
Yeah, and I think because it was definitely not an if, but a when, we then could work with the builder to say, “Well, let’s do our best to try and ensure that we don’t trip ourselves up between phases. And what can we do from a pool provisioning point of view, to ensure that everything is in place, that the moment we do decide to trigger phase two, we’re not having to reverse or undo anything in the work?”

So actually, quite a good portion of the pool is actually delivered in phase one, because it’s about just ensuring that we’ve got provision to press go. But then there are other things that have a ripple effect. If we were to put the garage carport on, then we’d lose our access. So that needs to be phase two as well. And even things like there’s a natural stone retaining wall that we’re saying, “Well, let’s hold off on that. Because, again, we need to be able to get around the back at the right time.” So we’re just now working out what is complete in terms of phase one, and what are the elements that we can deliver versus what are the things that are smart to hold off on?

Louise
Yeah, the other thing I’d say about the process was our architect was also our interior designer. And can’t tell you how many times throughout this process where we’ve been just so glad that that’s the case. Because he was designing the house and thinking about the internals the entire way through, which actually meant that so were we, as a result. And so, by the time we had the finalised contract, we actually also had a reasonably complete set of selections as well. And before the contract was signed, we had already gone and chosen all of our floorboards, chosen our carpet. We had a good idea about the kind of stone we wanted. So it’s made the build just, still busy and still lots of decisions to make and fine tuning and all of that kind of stuff, but I can’t even imagine, if we hadn’t done all of those big decisions first, how stressful and busy it would have been during that build process.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, there’s a couple of things I want to touch on there. First, I mean, the magic of bringing forward all those decisions, which we talk a lot about inside HOME Method, and we’ve heard from other HOME Method members talk about how valuable that’s been, and that you can find it tricky because you’re making decisions a fair way ahead of time, and so there can be a, I suppose, a natural human tendency to think, “Oh, am I going to change my mind, or am I still going to like this in six months time?”, and all of that kind of stuff. But the value of that, because a custom construction project can require a lot of decision making throughout it, and so the more that you can free yourself up to make the decisions you can now so that you’re not maxed out, bandwidth-wise, and making everything from a place of stress and reactivity during construction. And that collaborative process has been facilitated by the fact that your architect has handled the interior design as well, and has then prompted you to make those decisions ahead of time and been able to document them all. So that’s absolutely brilliant. And then factors into how accurately the contract can be priced, and what does need to go into provisional sums and PC items and those kinds of things.

The other thing that I think you talked about quite briefly, but I imagine that lots of listeners will be going, “Oh, hang on, that actually sounds like a really interesting process”, is that staging that you talked about and the decision-making that was clearly driven by the power of having a collaborative team, and you being upfront about how you were going to navigate your finances, what you were going to potentially park for later, versus what to do now. And then the ability to access that advice from your team about, “Okay, well, if we’re going to back out the pool, we also do need to potentially back out the garage so that we maintain the access the retaining wall. But what are we bringing back into stage one so that we don’t have to do over…”, as you said, Zane, “… we don’t have to undo, redo anything?”

And so, oftentimes, when you do put a pool in at a later stage, you’ve got to think of then about are there any services in a location that that’s going to conflict with? What do we need to do for our metre board to be able to incorporate pool lighting, pool pumps, all of the filtration systems? How are we going to make sure that we can physically get access down? Because if we’re having to remove dirt in a very manual way, that’s going to cost a fortune. And all of those kinds of things become really important. And even just the simplicity of the design, making sure that the design works for the inclusion of the pool, knowing that you’re going to factor the pool in later. I’m curious whether, because that sounded like quite a dynamic decision in terms of where the prices were coming in for what you wanted the house, what you were going to split out versus what you were going to keep. How, potentially, you might need to delay it, whether this builder finishes this contract, walks away and then comes back in 6 months or 12 months time to do, or whether they can just continue once they’ve completed this contract.

And then also, what that’s meant from an approval point of view, because a lot of people will run out of money and go, “Oh, rubbish, I can’t actually afford, I’m going to slice this out.” But then they realise their approval is totally linked to the completion of that item. Then they can’t get their completion certificate. So they can’t actually physically move into the home, or they move in illegally, all of those things can become really problematic. So the fact that you were working so collaboratively, completely upfront, and what you could afford or wanted to not put pressure on yourself about what they needed to be done.

Like, how have you found that that whole process has gone in terms of the power of your collaborative team and the power of you being informed and being able to be really communicative about that? How’s that been for you, just as an exercise? Because I can imagine at the time, it was probably should we, shouldn’t we? And just really trying to make the right call for yourselves.

Zane
Yeah, I think, it actually comes down to the team you choose. So we put a lot of work into who will our builder be? And we met six or seven, and at the same time, every time we met a builder, we’d ask, “Tell us your favourite architects.” And vice versa, we made architects. And I think in the end, we had a combination. But even our architect and builder spent time on rapport, and I think it just pays off.

Because I think trust is everything, and trust comes down to us being really transparent about saying, “This isn’t a fake budget. This is the budget.” And I remember sitting with the builder saying, “I don’t have two wallets. I don’t have one here, and then a secret one. This is the budget.” And it was just great to be able to be frank about that. And in the early days, the three of us, the three entities would come together and just talk about it. And we would literally make decisions and trade offs and say, “Well, if I were to make this decision, what would it mean?” And the architect would say, “It mean this, this and this.” And naturally, he’s talking to Council and surveyors and permit holders, and then the builders like, “Well, it actually also means this, this and this.” And I think a really important ingredient is knowing what you’re good at and what you’re not.

And we don’t know the answer to a lot of these questions. So we could just put it to the team and say, “What are the unintended consequences of this decision?”, and have that out at the table. And literally, it would be our old dinner table that we would have that chat. And then make a measured call. So I think that once we then went into the genuine build, we meet with the builder weekly. But for example, this morning, there were certain decisions that were really important around now that we have that plasterboard and we can know the light, we’re trying to be a bit creative with colour. So we just said, “Okay, we’ve got this.” We’ve also got grout choices and just things of low confidence for us that we said, “Actually, the architect will come to this one.” And we’re back together. And we actually did that as a three-way conversation this morning. So I don’t know.

I think it went relatively well, but it all came down to trust and transparency on all parts. So yeah, I think it’s worked well.

Louise
The PAC Process too. The PAC Process of having the architect and the builder and us in the room at the same time at every meeting, just meant that the conversation always had every element of the conversation in the room at the same time. So if we had have been trying to make that pool decision with just the architect, before we engage the builder, there are a heap of things that we wouldn’t have understood. And the builder, when they were trying to quote stage one versus stage two, there’s a heap of information that they also wouldn’t have understood. So yeah, just having that PAC Process in place from the very beginning just meant that we had the conversation once, and there wasn’t any loss in translation between us, having to reiterate all of that to the builder and missing elements and not knowing what they need to know.

So yeah, the PAC Process was critical.

Amelia Lee
Can we talk a bit more about that? Because you were still resolving the design last time we caught up, and I remember you were weighing up inclusions of specific rooms and things like that. How did you find that PAC Process went with making informed decisions about the design outcomes, about the cost, about juggling your budget, about the selections you are making? Yeah, how did that play out for you in that pre-construction process?

Louise
Yeah, well, beautifully. All throughout that process, because architects like beautiful things, and so do we, but our budget doesn’t extend to all of the beautiful things. So, there were so many instances through that design phase that the architect would specify something or specify a particular design element, and the builder would say, “Yep, I can see what you’re trying to do. How about we do it in this way? That will be a lot cheaper. It’s easier in terms of buildability. And we like doing it this way for these reasons.” And so then the architect would either say “Yes, but…”, or, “Actually, yes, I’m happy with that.” And similarly, with tapware and all of those kinds of things throughout, the architect would usually specify a very expensive brand, and the builder would say, “That’s great. I have a contact that makes a brand that looks exactly the same, is equal in quality, and is half the price.” So there were so many of those instances where the conversation was just so organic in that way. Yeah, it was a game changer.

Amelia Lee
Do you think too, it helped the builder really get a handle on what was important to you design-wise, when there were things that you really wanted to make sure that you were incorporating and that were part of your priorities for the project?

Zane
Yeah, I was going to say, the builder’s brief was actually, as an artifact, something we spent a long time on. It was actually the way that we went and spoke with each of our different potential partners. But that has actually been the artifact that’s come forward every time we’ve had one of those fork in the road moments. And I think last time we spoke, we were debating whether we would build around a tree, and there’s a lot of cost and complexity in building around a tree that we loved. We actually spoke to an arborist and found out it was dying. So we could have potentially made a really expensive decision to build around a tree that didn’t have a very long lifespan.

So kicking off from the top with a brief that outlines the way we want to live, rather than prescribing the rooms we have to have, was really valuable. And because this is a home that we will be in for a long time, I think resale probably wasn’t a front of mind thought, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t part of the thinking. So we could even look at the area and say, “Okay, it would be a really wise thing if this, on paper, could look like a five bedroom house.” But we know we will never use a five bedroom house. So we’ve now got a lounge that has a really discrete study nook. We’ve got a bed four that actually is a really beautiful study in workspace. We can’t control whether everyone’s forced to go back to work five days a week, and if we did, we’ve got boldly-purposed rooms that we know we’ll get use out of. And if we’re told to entirely work from home again, then we know we can do that also, both at the same time.

Zane
So, I think, probably our teams kept us honest to that brief as well. Because when we get into the detail, they’ll say, “Well, didn’t you want to just live this way? And aren’t we trying to foster socialisation, or whatever the principle was we had in mind?” We can go, “Yeah, that’s right.” And we just didn’t really use that as our principled way to get out of the weeds and actually decide what is it that we value most. So it’s been really valuable.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, that’s fantastic. I mean, it’s what that brief builder is designed to do, is really help you elicit from your own thinking what’s going to be your biggest priorities and how you do really want to live in the future. 

And then through the 1000s and 1000s of decisions that you have to make, have a place to come back to that then, you can always make a different decision, but it’s important that you revisit where you this whole thing started, so that that decision then is intentional. It’s not just arbitrarily happening because you’ve disappeared down a fork in the road. So I love that you’d chosen a team that helped keep you accountable to it. I mean, I remember how much intention and effort you put into completing that brief builder, and also that it was done from a place of how you want to live, rather than it just being about a real estate checklist of rooms. And thinking about the home functionally, and particularly how it was going to feel for you. And really having that as your anchor was just absolutely amazing. So kudos to you that you’ve been able to keep pulling that out and keep looking at it. You’ve been able to work with that way with your team.

So, you just touched on a couple of the rooms that you have, can you just talk through what are you physically building? How’s the home ended up in terms of what’s in it and the overall size of it?

Zane
So we are retaining the front facade and the front three rooms of the house. So it’s an old, 103-year-old California bungalow. So those front areas are largely bedroom spaces. And I think the way that original bungalows were built, we had a kitchen right in the middle. So what we’ve been able to do is move that back, get that corridor, that hallway running front to back. We’ve stayed single level. We’ve got the land size, fortunately, to be able to go back and wider. And essentially, what we’ve brought in is one view of the world would be five bedrooms, but it’s actually three bedrooms.

We’ve got a lounge. That lounge is separate to the living, so the living intention would be light, bright, spacious. That’s where the family spends time. If you wanted to get away and listen to a record or watch a movie, there’s a more moody lounge that has a little study nook, so that’s multi-purpose. We didn’t want a television, so we’ll even just work with a projector in that space, because that’s the way we wanted it to feel. That actually joins on with the outside comes in, because we’ve got an internal courtyard that comes in. So one of our hallways turns into a bit of a garden, which is really nice. And off to the right, we’ll have our lounge, and the northern facing wall of that is all glass that leads on to that same courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard, we’ve got our study, that’s got an ensuite as part of that. And the reason we did that was because that is at the very back of the house, it would be a perfect place for travelling friends or grandparents or anyone to be able to stay, and that would be their room.

But equally, there is external access from that study, so that if you’re in the pool, you can run straight into that ensuite without running through the house. And so, a practical element to that as well. So, the way we will live in it, it will be three bedrooms. We actually extended out our bedroom to nearly be like a parent’s wing, which is nice. So we’ve got a retreat that comes off the back of our bedroom. That retreat leads into our master en suite. So as you look at the house, the right hand wing is ours, which is really nice. But I think a principle that we tried to pursue, back to the brief builder, was we wanted every room to be utilised. We don’t like the idea of wastage, and it shouldn’t be bigger than it needs to be. We want people to be able to have their space, particularly as the kids get older. It’s important that they can retreat and feel like they have space and privacy. But equally, we don’t want you to be able to hide in the home.

I think it’s important we can all actually connect with each other and getting that balance right. So all of that then, I guess, the back area of the house is living, kitchen, which then leads on to a scullery and laundry and a little mud room with a side entrance. We didn’t previously have a side entrance to the house, but we can now drive up the driveway, open the side, come in with your shopping and go straight into the pantry. So that’s the layout and the rooms we’ve got available as a little powder room for guests. For some reason, I really love powder rooms, so we’ve gone a bit fancier in there, and that feels like a nice place. Maybe that’s the spot you just go and hide when there’s a busy party for a bit. But yeah, that’s the basic layout of the home.

And rather than a really contrasted Cal bungalow into modern expression, it’s actually a pretty consistent style front to back, just with modern appliances.

Amelia Lee
Awesome. “Where’s Zane?’ “Oh, he’s just hanging out in his powder room.” I know there’s been other HOME Method members who’ve loved the powder room, just for the ability that it gives them to do something really fun that doesn’t feel like a big aesthetic stamp on the rest of the house. So, there’s been HOME Method members that have put this really wacky wallpaper in, or painted it a really different colour to the rest of the home, and almost used it like this little place of experiment and enjoyment to just go wild in, knowing that it’s just a small room that they can pop into every so often, and it’s not going to be this big aesthetic stamp over the rest of the house.

So the powder rooms do get quite a lot of love in lots of different ways, I think.

RESOURCES

Listen to Louise and Zane’s previous episodes on the podcast:

• Episode 317 ‘Where to Start When Renovating, with Louise + Zane’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-where-to-start-when-renovating-louise-zane/ 
• Episode 318 ‘Beginning a Californian Bungalow Renovation, with Louise + Zane’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-beginning-californian-bungalow-renovation-louise-zane/ 
• Episode 354 ‘Choosing the Right Team for Your Renovation, with Louise + Zane’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-choosing-the-right-team-renovation/ 
• Episode 355 ‘Early Design Phase: Budget, Plans, and Feedback, with Louise and Zane’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-early-design-phase-budget-plans-feedback/ 

Access the support and guidance you need (like Louise and Zane did) to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder 

My free ’44 Ways’ E-Book will simplify sustainability for you, and help you create a healthy, low tox and sustainable home – whatever your dreams, your location or your budget. Access your copy here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/ways