"They talk to each other and it's lovely," Suzanne says. Ditto the neighbourhood round here with houses of a similar 1930s vintage. The Burns' original bungalow, with its pop-up top, has grown up and filled out to suit this family of seven.
Their first renovation was done two years after they moved in. The second, in 1996, included the addition of a teenagers' games room that is near enough to the new kitchen, with its statement benches for supplies, but far enough away to give that important sense of adult/teenage separation.
It's a big space overlooking the grounds that has tipped the function of this house in everyone's favour.
The family's bedrooms upstairs, the fifth/guest bedroom downstairs plus the double study, laundry, bathrooms and multiple ground-floor living areas are key elements that have created a cohesive unit. They got the formula right because they know this place well.
"I guess when you've been here so long you get to know which way the wind comes from, where the sun is shining," says Suzanne. "When we're entertaining we can open up all the doors from the courtyard into the dining room and the lounge, and across the back from the family room and dining area out to the back - and everything flows through from there."
Throughout, key architectural features such as exterior pillars, leadlight glass and bay windows have been renovated, resited or replicated in the context of a modern aesthetic.
Leadlight in the glass of their new front door matches that of the original front lounge window. The handcrafted timber fireplace harks from a time when part of this room was the original front porch.
Numerous practical features, including the single garage door at the end of the double garage so a trailer or small car can be parked unseen, is conveniently near the laundry and the outdoor tub where the boys cleaned up after rugby.
The exterior redesign by landscape architect Robin Shafer four years ago is a series of courtyards with paved and paved/planted surfaces within swathes of lawn. At the back, the rear poolside fireplace and barbecue have a built-in fridge and drawers plus a polished aggregate concrete bench and fireside hearth and seating.
Near the kitchen, the courtyard is flanked by citrus trees, under-planted with rosemary, a handy complement to the produce yielded by Suzanne's 15m-long vegetable garden.
"A flat property is a bonus with children because it is so safe and easy to keep an eye on them," she adds.
Sadly, the noise of children that has filled this home has dissipated. "This house needs family noise," she says of their decision to downsize.
