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Castlemaine Real Estate Castlemaine
Classic Californian Bungalow
for Private Sale in Castlemaine
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 This classic Californian Bungalow was built in the early part of the twentieth century and for most of its life was the home of the Cowling family. After Mrs. Cowling moved to Bendigo, Frank and Robyn Lewis purchased the home and set about the task of modernizing it but without losing the feel of the original quality and detail. The spacious rooms and timber trims were all original and the home had all the decorative glass intact.
 Eric Zehrung from Green Point Design in Daylesford set out to create an addition which provided modern convenience and living with authentic attention to space and detail. We wanted to show that modern and traditional could blend and not look like an add-on. Ceiling heights, timber detailing and room features were all sympathetically matched. The back yard is where most time is spent so it should be as attractive architecturally as the front. "The Californian Bungalow in Australia" by Graeme Butler and Peter Cuffly's "Australian Houses of the Twenties and Thirties" proved invaluable as reference.
 The kitchen and bathroom were relocated to be more functional and the central bedroom was divided to become two bathrooms as current regulations dictate a bedroom must have an external window. Any altered windows or doors were used elsewhere in the house. The rusted front gate, the kitchen cooker and the marble slab take pride of place in the back garden. Even the garden bench has been given a new life on the front verandah.
 The newly created family area comprises in-built furniture typical of the era and the kitchen has the latest appliances – Miele induction and gas cooktop, exhaust fan in a 'chimney' and electric oven. This area maximizes natural light from the north-facing extension.
 An interesting feature is the underground drip irrigation watering system fed by the storage tanks. The kikuyu lawn was sourced from Echuca and has the water lines buried about 25 cm apart below the soil – this should allow for a lawn to be drip watered where most needed and the kikuyu maintains health and colour very well under infrequent watering conditions. The drip lines are also under the garden beds which have 'felted underlay' and are then mulched.
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