Author // Shannon Edwards for Place Bulimba
Having lived in the area since 1990 with his wife, raising their children, John Walvin is a true Bulimba local.
Combining his expertise in building design and thorough knowledge of the local area, John and his team at Walvin Constructions & Developments are your go-to guys when it comes to making-over your home.
“We’re in our 25th year of business and we’ve completed over 250 projects, more than 200 of them were local to Bulimba,” says John.
We caught up with John where he showed us through the plans of some of his past projects, one in particular being 103 Bulimba street, which was completed earlier this year.
Tell us about Walvin Constructions & Developments?
What makes us a little different is we’re not only the builders but we’re also the designers.
It’s really handy for clients as we can offer all the services for their construction from feasibility, designs, gaining all necessary approvals, do the construction itself and assist with interior decorating and fit-outs, pool installation and landscaping.
I’ve always had an interest in Queenslander style homes and back when I started the businesses I did majority of work on smaller scale Queenslander cottages, and then progressed with bigger projects in time.
What I love about Queenslander cottages is that they are a very unique style of architecture that doesn’t need reinventing- they’re timeless and well suited to our environment and climate. However, they often aren’t suited to growing families.
I grew up here myself and since raising our family in Bulimba we have developed knowledge, first hand, for what sorts of needs growing families have for their home.
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - BEFORE
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - AFTER
A big part of what we do here at Walvin Constructions is developments and renovations for young growing families.
We turn houses into family homes which have the perfect space for them to grow, as their families grow.
We customise each project to suit the individual’s needs. Everyone has their point of difference so we want the construction to represent that because that’s what makes the home theirs.
Tell us a little bit about your recent projects at 103 Bulimba Street?
This home started off as a very basic cottage.
From what I understand it was the cottage that housed the original dairy farmers here in Bulimba- so the property has a bit of history behind it.
The cottage itself is protected by character housing
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - BEFORE
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - BEFORE
The brief here from the client was to turn it into a family home where the traditional cottage was not too elevated at the street front.
The family I was building for had two young boys so they wanted to ensure that there was sufficient yard space for them to kick a ball around, and lounge space where they could relax and have their own space.
What we did was bring the house forward a little, sat it about two metres above the ground and build a split, two-storey level to the rear of the property and a simplified car-port to the front of the house.
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - BEFORE
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - AFTER
being protected as character housing, the cottage itself is fully retained the verandas were just reinstated and opened back up.
We ended up with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, three powder rooms, a media room, pantry, laundry, masses of storage areas and a great outdoor alfresco, which looks out onto the backyard where you can watch the kids in the pool.
I think it creates a real sense of understated elegance. The house sits on the block so perfectly like it was meant to be there.
What I like about the home is it is slightly understated from the street – people don’t realise how big it is so when you walk in there’s always a pleasant surprise.
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - BEFORE
103 Bulimba Street, Bulimba - AFTER