A character Queenslander home with beautiful bones and a patchwork past, waiting on a leafy Brisbane street for someone to see its potential. For this couple returning to the city, it was exactly what they had been searching for, and renovating it would take a builder with patience, precision and a real love of the craft.
For Oliver and Brock of Olbroc Projects, building was a friendship before it was a business. The pair first worked together on Oliver’s own home renovation, a project that saw them shortlisted for The Block in 2014 and sparked the idea for a building company of their own: a boutique renovation firm built around a shared passion for architectural projects and exceptional detail.
More than a decade on, that creative freedom has found its natural place in unique, custom-designed residential renovations, where exceptional craftsmanship, genuine collaboration and considered design come together to create homes of enduring quality. “We thrive on completing architectural homes, because we both love the problem-solving when it comes to renovations and the high level of detail required to bring a project to completion.”
The Miss Jones residence in Auchenflower, a full character home renovation completed by Olbroc Projects in April 2024 in collaboration with DAH Architecture, captures everything the pair love about the work.
A FOREVER HOME BRIEF: RENOVATING A BRISBANE QUEENSLANDER
There was never any question of what kind of home this couple wanted. Returning to Brisbane from interstate, they were drawn to the character of a Queenslander, and their renovation brief carried a clear thread: embrace what was already there, restore earlier alterations that had drifted from the home’s original detailing, and ensure every new addition sat sympathetically alongside the old.
There was a longer horizon in the brief as well. This was to be their forever home, with accessibility and liveability woven in from the start so the house could adapt to their needs over time. For Olbroc Projects, that meant the small details mattered even more, because they’re what make daily life seamless.
“Our approach was highly considered from the beginning,” the pair explain. “We understood the forward planning required to create an outcome that looked like it had always been there.” Working closely with DAH Architecture from the earliest stages, the team identified the critical junctions between old and new well before construction began. “If these details are left unconsidered, they are hard to rectify later in the project without compromises.”
WORKING WITH THE SLOPE: THE STRUCTURAL BUILD BEHIND THE QUEENSLANDER RENOVATION
The steeply falling site set the tone for the entire build. With no plans to raise the existing house, every new space had to step down the block without feeling subterranean or losing its connection to the rear yard. The pool’s pad level became the key, allowing the home to step down the slope gradually while protecting natural light and the link to the garden.
Beneath the considered result lay serious structural building work by Olbroc Projects. “We had to prop the back of the house while we excavated beneath it, and then rest the home on new footings and blockwork,” Oliver and Brock recall. “Civil drainage and completing that to a high level was hugely important.”
The roofline brought its own complexity, changing direction and plane across the rear of the home. Ensuring it met the architect’s design while also providing a long-lasting performance solution was, as the pair put it, “a challenge resolved through forethought rather than compromise”.
THE DETAILS THAT DISAPPEAR: CRAFTSMANSHIP IN A SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER HOME RENOVATION
The most considered moments in this home renovation are the ones that go unnoticed. Flush thresholds flow between internal and external spaces, an accessibility requirement from the clients’ brief that demanded precise coordination of the crazy pave finish, brick set-out and minimum falls.
The outdoor entertaining room works just as quietly. A change in the roof plane captures light while protecting the space from sun and rain, and a datum-line pergola with an exposed structure invites the landscape to soften the form over time.
Throughout, the material palette plays with texture rather than colour. Off-white brick sits alongside crazy pave flooring, creating a subtle backdrop that lets the integrated landscape zones stand out boldly. Inside, the palette is refined and minimal, with a hero natural stone elevating the kitchen and bathrooms through restraint, allowing the material to sit proud without distraction. Nowhere does the finished renovation draw a hard line between old and new. The old has been elevated, the new is sympathetic, and the result is harmonious and timeless.
THE DAILY RETREAT: A QUEENSLANDER BLENDING CLASSIC CHARM WITH MODERN COMFORT
Day to day, the renovated Queenslander home by Olbroc Projects now moves with an ease it never had. Repurposed rooms have created intentional zoning between private and public spaces, offering privacy without compromising the seamless connection between inside and out.
Among the quieter transformations is the front sunroom, once held back by a low ceiling and poorly placed windows. With the ceiling raised and the windows reconfigured to frame the suburban views, the room now has a new focal point: the large pink frangipani tree in the front yard, which fills the outlook each time it flowers.
Related article: Light Restored: A Brisbane Queenslander Reimagined through considered architecture
“The clients have shared that they feel like their home is a retreat,” the pair reflect. “Rather than needing to escape for a holiday, their home facilitates a lifestyle that is relaxed and calming.” Intentionally compact, focused on function and purpose rather than surplus, the renovated house strikes the balance every forever home aims for: more living, less upkeep, and time to enjoy both.
For a Queenslander renovation defined by forward planning and craft, it is a fitting result. A home that looks and feels as though it was always meant to be this way.
