Case study: Forde home the perfect fit for Bathurst couple

When Margaret and John Cook decided to retire to Canberra from Bathurst, they had very firm ideas about what they needed in a new home.

Or, rather, it was what they didn’t need. Too much space.

“We wanted a home that was small, but smart,” Margaret says.

The couple rented in Canberra while they looked around, but struggled to find a home that met their needs.

“There were plenty of big houses. The small ones we found weren’t very nice,” she says.

“Then we decided to build and get exactly what we wanted.”

Margaret and John managed to buy a 359 square metre block in Forde, one of the last available.

And their search for a designer with experience in smaller footprint homes led them to Jigsaw Housing, now Light House Architecture and Science.

The result is a light-filled two-bedroom, energy-efficient home that occupies just 113 square metres.

“It’s small, but it’s certainly not enclosed. It’s full of light and there’s a strong, visual connection to the gardens,” Margaret says.

A clever innovation is a sliding wall that offers extra living space, but can be closed off to provide a guest bedroom.