How Three Birds Renovations gave this heritage home a new lease on life

Two bedrooms, a quaint bathroom and a cute but tired courtyard. That was the promising starting point for the latest project from Three Birds Renovations, Character Semi, a heritage semi-detached home in inner-city Sydney with no scope to extend up, out or sideways, but plenty of scope for creativity. 

Most renovation stories lead with what got added. This one is about what got kept, and the potential that gets unlocked when artful restraint is the design language being spoken by the team. Not a wall came down, not a bedroom was added, and not an inch of ground was gained beyond the original footprint. Instead, the team made insightful choices to optimise the existing space. And from entrance to courtyar, our doors playing a key role in tying the whole piece together. 

Let’s walk through it. 

Heritage brick facades don’t always play nicely with a fresh renovation. They can end up either fighting the new work or getting smothered by it. Here, the Peninsula PPEN 3G in reeded glass threads the needle: it catches light and colour without giving up any privacy behind that facade, and feels as though it’s always belonged there rather than being dropped in. 

Finished in Oyster Linen (Weathershield Low Sheen by Dulux) and fitted with a Momo Belgravia Lined Solid Brass Door Pull Handle in Bronze, the door sits under the home’s original leadlight transom, which throws amber and green light across the hallway floorboards later in the day. Between the glass, the finish and the handle, this one door sets the tone for the whole home before you’ve even stepped inside. 

Push through, and the same instinct of understated timeless design carries on. Further into the home, the Moda Primed PMOD 20 anchors one of the loveliest corners in the house. Framed by a soft curved archway and finished in Berkshire White (Aquanamel Semi Gloss by Dulux), its three lower panels and single square upper panel give it a confident presence, which is exactly what this transition spot needs as an anchor between spaces. Beside it, an oak console and a large print do the styling, with the door quietly holding the whole scene together. 

In a compact home, the right internal doors are key to creating flow, and here it’s the quiet backbone of the vignette. With a Momo Belgravia Solid Brass Lined Lever Entrance Set in Bronze picking up the same warm metal tone as the entrance door, it’s a smart way to help the renovation settle.  

Keep going and you’ll land in the quaint bathroom. Terracotta floor tiles, terracotta accents set on the diagonal and a scalloped pendant echo the brick out front as one of the clearest signs that restraint can actually play a bigger role in creating a look than square metre coverage. You just needs the right materials in the right spot. 

The kitchen is narrow, a galley run of burgundy cabinetry, but it’s a large clear skylight the team has optimised overhead that opens up this space. Light drops straight down the run and leads the eye toward the rear of the home, where the Peninsula PPEN 2G opens things out to the alfresco area in a double door configuration.  

The rear doors are finished in the same Oyster Linen as the front entrance, with matching Momo Belgravia Solid Brass Lined Lever Entrance Set hardware in Bronze. Outside, the charming al fresco area caps off the understated feel of the home while still letting plenty of light through from the PPEN 2G’s glass panels. 

Character Semi is proof that a heritage renovation doesn’t need extra square metres to transform it into a comfortable, stunning new home. Restore what’s worth restoring, open up sightlines wherever the floor plan allows, and let considered joinery and the right doors echo your design language. Add plenty of natural light, and the rest follows.