For two former bandmates, $448K AUD was enough to make a modest house sing. You could say Melbourne designer David Noordhoff had already established a rhythm with clients James and Zara McGuffie long before he designed their home. Noordhoff and James had been the drummer and guitarist in a successful indie rock band, Kilns, before Noordhoff went off to architecture school. So, when the couple purchased a small piece of land outside Melbourne, they knew they wanted Noordhoff on their team. “We just had a connection,” recalls James, who first met Noordhoff over 12 years ago. Together, the trio realized that James’s idea for an L-shaped plan might just be perfect for the site—and their budget. To stay within their budget of $450,000 Australian dollars (about $290,000 USD), the couple opted to keep the home quite compact rather than compromise on the quality of its thermal envelope. They were also strategic about where they did spend their money, minimizing the use of floor-to-ceiling glas...