An inner city Sydney terrace in a sought after suburb, should normally fly out the agent’s window, but not Nick place. He’s been trying to sell his four bed Redfern terrace for 10 months with no joy. Nick, 72, is finding the upkeep a bit much, and wants to move closer to his daughter Athena. But until the terrace sells he has little hope of moving on.
Nick first listed with an agent with no success. At the end of the three months he tried to sell the place himself with a hand painted sign, but that hasn’t worked either. Even if Nick could get a buyer through his door, his dreadful presentation and sky-high price tag would most likely scare them away.
The terrace hasn’t been touched for decades and Nick’s sparse furnishing are hardly inner city chic. The only solution is to restore this terrace back to its former glory, and make it a stylish abode; trendy urban dwellers will fight over.
Budget: $30,000 plus
Inside
There wasn’t much about this terrace that could be left untouched – the whole house was in desperate need of an update. Shaynna decided to work with an industrial theme, to reflect Redfern’s inner city position. The first task was to remove the partition wall between the hall and so called fourth bedroom, to make a new decent sized reception room.
Then Shaynna turned her attention to the tiny kitchen. Rather than your traditional fitted cabinets, Shaynna only used a couple of flat pack cupboards; the rest was free standing items. In keeping with the industrial theme, Shaynna used a dark workbench, lots of stainless steel in both appliances and a big storage trolley, and a stunning blue/green glass splash back. The room was dressed with rough, recycled wood shelving and bright accessories.
One of the biggest issues with Nick’s house was the dodgy, old breezeway leading to the bathroom. It wasn’t even a proper structure! Shaynna replaced the old plastic roof with a chunky aluminium frame and glass atrium. Not only did it flood light into the area, it also made the most of the view of the palm trees growing in the garden next door.
There was little money left for the bathroom, so the patterned tiles were re-sprayed white and new fittings added. All the flooring had to be replaced, so Shaynna used dark charcoal tiles and a matching floating wood floor downstairs and charcoal carpet upstairs. The house was then painted in grey and white to reflect the industrial theme, and the old lights replaced with metal light fittings. It was furnished with pieces from Valiant Hire with a few feature items from Stone Pony.
Exterior:
Thankfully, the front façade of the house was in good condition, so Charlie focussed all his energy on the tiny back courtyard. The trick to small garden design is to leave no surface untouched, so Charlie really had his work cut out.
His first task was to demolish the old laundry and move the tub into the structure occupied by the old loo. The old cracked concrete was covered with beautiful natural limestone pavers laid in a random pattern. Then he covered the entire back wall with a vertical garden filled with walking iris.
The ugly metal fence was painted black and clad with a custom made composite wood screen. Tall thin planters from Potsonline were planted out with bamboo to give the garden some privacy. The one plain wall was treated to shelves of recycled timber and decorated with Sharkskin Agave. To finish off, Charlie dressed the garden with a sofa and chairs from Inspired Exteriors.
Paint Used:
Interior walls in all rooms - Interior Walls Low Sheen “Windsor Haze”
Interior wall of stairwell going upstairs & in behind study desk - Interior Walls Low Sheen “Victorian Pewter”
Interior Doors & Trims in all rooms - Interior Doors & Trims Satin/ Semi Gloss “Crisp White”
Interior Ceilings in all rooms - Interior Ceilings Flat/ Matt “Ceiling White”
Exterior Colorbond fence - Exterior Low Sheen “Black Fox”
Exterior walls - Exterior Low Sheen “Moon Raker”
