With its narrow, leafy streets and rows of Victorian terraces, Paddington remains one of Sydney’s most iconic and tightly held suburbs. If you’re upgrading instead of relocating, how do you add luxury, space, and functionality to a home built over a century ago?
In 2025, high-end renovations in Paddington are pushing creative and technical boundaries. Homeowners are investing in architectural solutions that preserve heritage while introducing the kind of design, comfort, and innovation expected in a modern luxury home. Here’s what our clients are doing and why it’s working.
Restoring, Not Replacing: Honouring the Heritage Aesthetic
In Paddington, character is currency. While some suburbs welcome modern façades and new builds, Paddington’s charm lies in its architectural continuity. The aim? Restore and enhance.
Our clients in 2025 are restoring key features such as:
- Decorative plaster cornices and ceiling roses
- Sandstone walls
- Federation-style fireplaces
- Timber floorboards, balustrades and staircases
- Wrought iron fencing
- Refurbishing original windows and doors.
Behind the classic façade, walls are insulated, subfloors levelled, and services upgraded to modern specs. This “best of both worlds” approach has allowed our clients to maintain visual authenticity while gaining the efficiency and reliability of a newly built structure.
Subterranean Additions: Basements, Garages & Wine Cellars
One of the most transformative trends in 2025 is building down, not up.
Tight blocks and height limits mean building underground is a game-changer. Our clients are excavating beneath their homes to create:
- Sub-ground garages
- Wine cellars and tasting rooms
- Home cinemas, gyms, and wellness retreats
- Guest suites and private studies
In Paddington, where street parking is scarce and off-street parking is prized, underground garages offer huge functional value. Car accommodation below the house allows clients to preserve prime real-estate for living areas, gardens or pools and maximise lifestyle without compromising function.
Planning to build down? Be aware, Paddington’s geology poses unique challenges. Most homes sit on sandy soil, which lacks the natural strength to support major structural loads. As a result, specialist engineering solutions are needed. This often includes bored piers, underpinning, shotcrete walls, subsoil drainage, and pump-out pits.. Keep these in mind when planning your project and more importantly, when considering your construction budget.
While this type of work adds complexity to any project, the value it delivers both in real estate terms and lifestyle return is considerable.
Connected Living: Unlocking Outdoor Potential in Tight Blocks
Paddington blocks are tight, often just 5–7 metres wide and with limited depth. With smart design, luxury Builders and Architects are creating indoor-outdoor flow, even on narrow lots.
Our clients are adding features like:
- Steel-framed bi-fold or sliding doors that fully open rear walls
- Continuous flooring materials from kitchen to courtyard (e.g. travertine or polished concrete)
- Outdoor kitchens, plunge pools, and shaded courtyards
- Skylights and light wells to bring in natural light where boundary walls limit windows
Rear-lane access is also used to tuck in discreet garages or studio spaces, while landscaping is kept low-maintenance and architectural; think vertical gardens, built-in bench seating, and bluestone paving.
These transitions aren’t just aesthetic, they’re purposeful. With good design, a compact rear yard becomes a second living area, ideal for entertaining, quiet mornings, or unwinding after work.
Refined Interiors: Integrated Technology and Natural Finishes
Luxury today isn’t about opulence, it’s about restraint. Simplicity that conceals complexity.
This year, design choices favoured by our clients include:
- Flush-mounted powerpoints and switches that blend into wall surfaces
- Flush set slot diffusers for ducted air, eliminating bulky vents
- Recessed lighting that disappear into shadow lines
Materials reflect natural texture and tone:
- Engineered European oak flooring in wide boards
- Microcement or lime plaster wall finishes
- Brushed brass or matte black tapware
- Fluted or battened timber cabinetry for warmth and texture
In bathrooms and kitchens, automation is on-trend. Heated floors, motion-sensor lighting, and app-controlled water temperature systems are now a standard practice for high-end homes.
Elevated Living: Rooftop Terraces and Adapted Attic Spaces
Our clients are looking up as well as down. More homeowners are converting attics and adding rooftop terraces, gaining space without changing the streetscape.
Typical applications include:
- Converting pitched roof space into guest bedrooms or home offices
- Adding large skylights, operable windows, and built-in desks or storage
- Creating rooftop terraces above rear extensions with built-in lounges, vertical gardens, and barbecue areas
These spaces reclaim valuable potential in the home and can create an escape from the bustle of the street or even the rest of the household.
As with basements, structural upgrades are often required, especially where the roof cavity was never designed for occupancy. But with council controls increasingly favouring adaptive reuse over additions, these conversions are a clever solution to increase your home’s liveable areas.
Our Final Thoughts: The Smart Way to Renovate in Paddington
Luxury renovations in Paddington aren’t about size, they’re about sophistication. Every square metre must work hard. Every material must serve a purpose. Every decision, must respect the history of the home while embracing the needs of modern life. Unlock your property’s full potential by working closely with your design team and a builder who understands complex renovations like these. That collaboration will save you time, stress, and unexpected costs.
