Family matters: how one home brought three generations together

A family home, reimagined

Lana Hallowes’ plan wasn’t to raise her kids in the family home she grew up in. For the mother-of-two and her husband, Chris, their apartment on Sydney’s Northern Beaches was meant to be a “for now” home for their growing family, perhaps providing a stepping stone to eventually buying a bigger house on the Central Coast.

“Then my health took a major turn,” says Lana, who lives with a genetic condition called Von Hippel-Lindau disease, which causes tumours to grow in various parts of her body. “About 10 years ago, I got very sick, very quickly. I had some brain tumours but two of them grew cysts and the symptoms escalated fast.”

One afternoon, while speaking to her mother, Gay, on the phone, Lana started slurring her words. “She said, ‘I’m coming to get you. Don’t even pack, I’m going to look after you.’ She arrived 10 minutes later,” says Lana. Not long after, Lana rang Chris. “I said, ‘Don’t bother going home – we’ve moved in with Mum and Dad.’”

When home needed to change

Over the following year, which included major brain surgery that required Lana to learn how to walk again, Gay and Lana’s dad, Paul, relished having their daughter home with Chris and the kids. “I was lucky I had so much extra support with my recovery,” says Lana, whose boys were only one and three at the time. “My parents’ house is on a huge double block in Mona Vale [in Sydney’s Northern Beaches]. Dad made a tree swing and the kids loved having their grandparents on tap.”

Eventually, Lana felt well enough to move the four of them back into their nearby apartment. “We lasted four hours. I got home, realised I wasn’t as well as I’d thought and called Mum. I told her, ‘I can’t do this.’ She just told me to come home.”

Designing a home around care

As life continued with all six members of the family “squished” into Lana’s childhood home, the conversation turned to a more permanent solution. “The reality of my condition is that we never know which part of my body might be affected next,” she says. “Our plan to move to the Central Coast wasn’t going to work. I needed to be close to my specialists and hospitals and have the support of my parents.” They needed a solution that gave everyone enough space, while keeping support close by.

So the family came up with a plan. Lana’s parents had been wanting to downsize so they could take off for lengthy holidays in their caravan without worrying about the house.

“We decided to build a granny flat on the block,” says Lana. “My mum is an incredible artist and she designed the entire thing with the help of a draftsperson. It’s only 65 square metres but it has a huge deck. It’s the nicest granny flat I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Gay, who knew exactly how she’d create her dream space, created the perfect amount of storage, high-vaulted ceilings and a spacious living area. “She can’t believe she lives in such a gorgeous house,” says Lana.

Making the finances work

Paul, a retired carpenter, loved helping with the construction. “Every morning he prepared the building site for the workers, sweeping it and keeping it neat. My kids perched themselves on little toddler chairs behind the safety fence, watching the diggers while eating their cereal.”  The build became a way to support the family day to day, while making the most of the property they already had.

After finishing the job in 2018, with the help of the builder who lived just across the road, Gay and Paul moved into the flat and the extended family spread out to live together, separately. “We were planning to sell our apartment to put the money into the granny flat build but in the end we didn’t have to,” says Lana.  The family took out a small loan to build the granny flat, allowing Lana and Chris to keep their apartment as a nest egg.

“Economically, it’s been a win,” Lana continues. “We needed to stay in Sydney but couldn’t afford a house and have received some pretty heavy family support over the years.” The decision also meant that Gay and Paul could downsize without selling their home, leaving that asset in the family.

Living together, separately

Over the years, building a granny flat has proven to be a hugely positive decision for the family, especially through the harder times. “I’m now legally blind, severely hearing impaired and I have balance issues that impact my mobility,” says Lana, who has gone through multiple surgeries over the past decade. “And heartbreakingly, we lost my dad last year, to the same disease I have.”

Despite the challenges, Lana says the experience has been filled with love and it feels like “the way things are supposed to be. And now that we’ve lost Dad, Chris and I are able to care for Mum as she ages, too. Every morning I go over to check on her. We’re there to help each other heal. The kids have had so much great time with their grandparents. Dad used to take them to the beach all the time. My mum still gives them a cuddle every day.”

Lana says every time she looks at the granny flat, she can’t help but feel her father’s presence. “In a way, it feels like our living situation was a gift from my dad,” she says. “He was always helping everyone… there’s a peace and happiness that Mum and I feel when we think about us living together, because we know he would have wanted this: his family looking after and loving each other.”

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Published: 29 June 2026