Oxley Park
Address: Oxley Park, NSW
List Price: Offers over $365,000
Sale price: $360,000
Makeover budget: $10,000
Story Synopsis
John and Karen are the quintessential Aussie battlers. They bought their Oxley Park home in Sydney’s west 30 years ago, and with 4 kids the family barely squeezed itself into the tiny house. Desperate for space they renovated, adding an extra living area, bedroom and bathroom but money was so tight, the renovations were never finished. But that’s not the only problem, the couple are hoarders to the extreme! How can you sell a house with 30 years of memories crammed into every available space?
Inside, Karen has held on to every material reminder of the past, while John’s ‘market garden’ overflows with odds and ends, including a kitchen sink! The problem is so bad it’s seriously affected their ability to sell the house – a year on the market and not a single offer. They’re desperate to sell and have bought the perfect seaside apartment on the NSW south coast to retire to, but can Karen release her grip on the past and pave a clear, uncluttered path to the future?
The Interior:
In real estate, hoarding is one of the toughest problems you can get, and for Shaynna it was her number one obstacle. She needed to de-clutter the entire house – it was such a big job she called in the whole family to help with the tough decisions of what to keep, what to donate to charity, and what to throw away. Luckily, Shaynna’s ‘dot’ system helped Karen to focus and turn a potentially stressful decision making process into a fun one.
For a house in the lower end of the market, Shaynna’s aim wasn’t to make an ultra modern show home, but to create a clean and simple family home - an inviting space that prospective buyers could imagine themselves living in. One of the easiest ways to achieve that was by painting the walls a buttery neutral colour, Taubmans Endure Interior ‘Village Cream’. Shaynna could create a fresh clean look, but also compliment some of the dated décor and features that needed to be kept, like the kitchen, some carpets and furniture.
Once the place was decluttered, Shaynna could tackle the problem of the flooring. Over the years John and Karen had accumulated layer upon layer of various carpets, lino and floorboards in different areas of the house. So, to make the house feel more spacious, Shaynna tried to use a consistent floor colour. She also reduced the types of flooring, using Inovar’s ‘Premier Beach’ floating floor in the kitchen and laundry, and Carpet Call’s ‘Lipson’ carpet in the living and into the bedroom.
Amazingly, Shaynna also needed to declutter the ceilings! She ditched the dated and mis-matched collection of ceiling fans and pendant lights, and replaced all of them with a simple, uniform oyster light from Mica Lighting.
To show off all the space Shaynna had uncovered she brought in furniture from Valiant Hire that was small and in light neutral colours. Using furniture with legs rather than a solid base also increases that spacious feel. Not to undo all of Karen and Shaynna’s de-cluttering work, only a few well placed accessories from Spotlight were used. The last thing Shaynna wanted to do was fill the house up again!
Even at the lower end of the market it always helps to dress the windows up. Shaynna found a simple and stylish curtain to suit all rooms of the house from Spotlight. In the big impact areas like the master bedroom, living room and kitchen, Shaynna had blinds fitted from Blinds Online.
It was a tough job to bring the dated and under-utilised bathroom up to scratch with a limited budget. The main objective was to create a simple, modern and functioning space with just a little ‘wow’ factor, being right next to the entrance. Marbletrend supplied the desperately needed shower; and the basin and fittings were supplied by Caroma Dorf. Shaynna saved a little money by a using a budget plain white tile with a splash of ‘latte’ for colour from Beaumont Tiles. The overall look created was just what Shaynna was after – simple and functional.
The Exterior:
John and Karen were lucky enough to own a house on a massive block, but with John’s excessive hoarding it had turned into a jungle! Discarded washing machines and kitchen sinks aside, the main aim for Charlie was to turn an untidy and overgrown ‘market garden’ into a family friendly backyard. For such a big job, Charlie needed to rent a small earthmover from Kennards Hire. No licence is required and it saved hours and hours of backbreaking work.
Once the garden was cleared, Charlie had lots of space to play with but first he had to level the yard. Using some treated pine sleepers he created a retaining wall to reinforce the fence, and also partition the yard. It looks neat, tidy and creates well defined outdoor areas – a large open space for the kids to play, and an entertaining area that backs onto the house.
Almost every cent of Charlie’s budget went on clearing the yard and turf, which left no money at all for new plants. But, luckily John had enough well established plants that Charlie was able to recycle a lot of them. With some careful repositioning of hardy feature plants like strelitzia the garden was opened out to make the most of the home’s biggest drawcard, the pool.
With the jungle cleared out, the first thing you see from the back door is the pool, so it was important for Charlie to make it as inviting as possible. It was a quick fix, as John had made a good start on paving the area – Charlie just had to finish it off, making it one of the cheapest but most startling aspects of the renovation.
The last thing Charlie did to transform the backyard was to lay down turf from Millers Turf Sullpies. He used an affordable and fast growing kikuyu grass to completely finish off the garden – it’s inviting, simple and suitable for a family - just what the local market requires for a quick sale.
Taubmans Endure Colour Chart
Exterior trims, carport, windows - Exterior low sheen “Snowy White”
Exterior gutter, fascia, garden edging - Exterior low sheen "River Forest"
Interior walls Interior low sheen - Interior "Village Cream"
Interior trims Interior gloss - Interior "Milk Cloud"
Interior ceilings - Interior ceiling “Flat white"
I would like to engage a consultant/company to manage all work to get my home ready for sale. Do i engage an interior designer for this? will they manage everything for me? Who would you recommend?