Name: NEVER TOO SMALL: Architect’s Blue Mountains Cabin, Sydney 28sqm/310sqft
Uploaded: 2025-05-26T09:17:32.000Z
Duration: 8 min 58 s
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This episode of Never Too Small is sponsored by the LG Cinebeam 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector.

The original building was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Basic passive voice

It was a worker's cottage that had a few extensions that were built onto it.

We found this site and this house about three or four years ago and fell in love with it immediately.

What we decided to do in our approach was actually take the cottage back to the original size which is about 28 square meters and convert it to a cabin.

My partner MJ and I use the cabin as a retreat.

We get away from the city, we come to the mountains to climb.

The house is located in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains which is about two hours drive west of Sydney.

Blue Mountains are known as one of the best climbing places in Australia.

Blackheath has an eclectic mix of people from artists and climbers and long-term locals and that mix creates a really vibrant hub.

When we found the existing cottage it was in quite a dilapidated condition.

We spent quite a lot of time with the existing structure trying to save what we could and that happened to be the original late 1800s component of the building.

The two bedrooms that were separated by the hallway was the original component of the cottage.

On the back of the two bedrooms there was also a veranda with a bullnose roof.

We converted the lounge room into a deck.

One of the bedrooms and the hall were combined to create a kitchen and a sitting space.

The other bedroom was converted into a bedroom, a bathroom and a laundry.

For this project I was the client, the architect and the builder.

Some of the things that were important for us is to design in a sustainable way, to respond directly to the specific site.

Designing a small space then uses less material.

Financially it's more sustainable as well and we're able to invest then into the finer details and the craft in the building.

What we focused on is trying to make the space as comfortable as possible, feeling luxurious, feeling warm, getting access to light and the beautiful view.

We chose very simple materials and simple tones that would connect to the bush.

We recycled all of the bricks that were on the site, spent many hours cleaning them, preparing them to be relayed.

The arrival is from the street down a terrace garden.

You enter the cabin through a custom black butt door, stepping onto a black tiled doormat which forms part of the fireplace hearth.

The black tiles separate the living room from the bedroom.

We have custom storage as you enter the house on the left.

As you move from the entry into the living space, the view opens up in front of you.

The large clear glass window is positioned to frame different views as you move around the sitting space.

The small window to the front allows a connection with the street but affords some privacy in the space.

Another high level window in the north roof space provides much needed light and warmth into the cabin.

Any of the movable panels which provide ventilation have security screens behind them to satisfy the bushfire attack level requirements.

We've got a really comfortable two and a half seater couch that sits opposite a freestanding compact wood-burning fireplace which provides enough heat for the whole cabin.

Our little cabins are a treat for us and we decided that a TV would be too imposing in the space.

We're using an LG ultra short throw projector that provides a great cinema experience in our little cabin.

We keep the projector only a hand span away from the wall and it creates a really large screen for us.

The living room and the kitchen share the same space.

The kitchen is a single deep tiled bench with a hob to house a toaster and a kettle.

It's a compact kitchen but it provides multiple food prep areas along the length with a fisher and pike or fridge drawer, two burner cooktop and a microwave oven combination.

We've integrated all of the appliances, the drawers and the cupboards together to fit like a jigsaw puzzle.

Some of the drawers are long and skinny some are wide and flat to fit around those appliances.

The sleeping room is separated from the living space with a large cavity sliding door.

The bed is surrounded on three sides by walls and it's nestled into the room.

Small ledges are provided to leave books and charge phones.

We have storage under the bed along with a set of three drawers under the leading edge.

The glaze component of the window is located to provide a light source and to provide a view of the mountain from bed.

The custom black butt robe is compact but it houses lots of drawers and plenty of storage for our personal items.

We've made the small space feel bigger by allowing floor to run underneath the robe.

We've got a floating shelf which we can use to work at at a computer but also have hanging storage underneath and a window behind it to allow cross ventilation through the bedroom.

The bathroom's accessed through the sleeping space and another cavity sliding door.

There is a floating basin with a mirror cabinet with lots of storage above it.

We love how even in a small cabin we managed to fit what feels like an opulent shower.

The fully tiled wall protects the toilet and basin from getting wet and there's an underfloor heating system that provides warmth to the space but also provides some ambient warmth that comes into the sleeping room.

The laundry is hidden through a heavy external door under the front veranda.

We separated the laundry from the internal spaces in the cabin to reduce noise.

When you're designing small spaces and when we're designing small spaces in the future our focus will be on understanding the use of that space and understanding how people will experience the space and what they value in those spaces.

You know, creating and building small spaces provides a really good opportunity to be sustainable.

For example, we had to clean and restore 2,500 bricks.

If we had to restore 10,000 or 15,000 bricks that probably would have become cost prohibitive.

By reusing this building and restoring the existing building it meant we weren't using new materials to rebuild it.

That's fundamental in a sustainability approach.

It is nice to have a big screen or projector in small spaces but sometimes it is hard to achieve with a conventional projector especially when you live in a small apartment like I do.

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You can enjoy the LG Cinebeam booth in the dark rooms and in the ambient space with the room curtains.

Additionally, the LG Cinebeam delivers up to 2,500 ANSI Lumens.

The LG Cinebeam ultra-short throw projector blends back into your environment when you are not watching it.

It is a fantastic option for smaller spaces and well worth your consideration.