Rebecca Ovenden, Sherwood

“With four teenagers, we approached Skyring Architects with a brief to ‘please give us more space’!

Our house was boxed in and dark, and while we had little idea what to do, Stephanie nailed it from the start. Our house now flows freely out to the garden and our kitchen and living room open to a beautiful side deck, where we have a wonderful day bed overlooking our new vegie patch. Stephanie has integrated banks of louvers and sliding doors, creating a lovely, light, airy feel to our home.

The whole process, rather than being difficult, was actually enjoyable! Stephanie is a great operator and extremely efficient. If she says she’s going to be there on Wednesday at 10, she’ll be there. If she says the plans will be ready by the following Monday, you’ll receive them that day. When you’re ready to build, Stephanie has all the builders, engineers and soil testers lined up. There were no delays, everyone worked well together and we all knew what was going on at every stage.

Stephanie is also very budget conscious and helps you select quality products that won’t blow your budget. I truly believe we saved money going through Stephanie – usually it’s the opposite and your original budget doubles. She’s very skilled at using your current features and finding building materials that are not only cost effective, but sustainable.

Our meetings were always fun, it was never stressful. We had a big party on the week-end for one of our daughters, and the whole area worked beautifully. That’s the mark of a great Architect – someone whose designs are not only beautiful, but practical and functional as well. “

Rebecca Ovenden