An early 20th-century semi in Sydney’s eastern suburbs takes on an atmosphere that originated half the world away. In 1999, Bob and Annie bought a single-storey semi high above Tamarama, one of Sydney’s iconic beaches – popularly known as ‘Glama-rama’! Built in the 1920s, it stands on a corner with a laneway alongside and the previous owner had it for more than 50 years. “His sister lived next door,” Annie says, “so it was a family arrangement – in fact, our current neighbour is his niece.”
The worst came first – luckily
At that time, you stepped through the front door straight into the lounge room; then there were two bedrooms off the typical long hallway leading to the kitchen and dining room – which were separate – at the back. The original bathroom was there too, and wooden steps outside the backdoor led down to the yard, giving access to a laundry and workshop area below the kitchen. Apart from a bit of an update in the 1950s, hardly anything had been done to it, so it was a classic ‘renovator’s dream’, but there were some challenges to be addressed – one of which was the drop down to the garden. They decided to take advantage of this, however, and rebuild the one-car garage at the far end of it which was at road level into the lane as a double one, and replace the previous owner’s pigeon house below with a new laundry and workshop. “You could say we renovated ‘in parts’,” Annie smiles, “starting in about 2001 with the garage.” But before this could even begin, their first ‘challenge’ arose. They had a structural engineer inspect the retaining wall supporting the road and approve it, but a huge storm with torrential rain brought a freak flood – and it collapsed. “This held us up for nine months while the insurance claim went through and the wall and lane were rebuilt,” she goes on, “but as it turned out, it was sort of lucky because it gave us time to rethink things.” In fact, they practically redesigned it all and even collaborated with their neighbours to go up in the front as well and put another storey on top. “So it was a blessing in disguise,” she adds. “The whole thing stretched out to more than three years in the end as we’d had almost a year of design and planning initially, then the following one was a bit of a disaster.” But it allowed them to revamp the project and improve on it, so it all turned out for the best.
Out, down – and up
The back of the house was completely demolished and a concrete slab put in place that extended four metres out over what was the old laundry and workshop. Excavation through the sandstone was required to ensure sufficient headroom in what then became a spacious guestroom with sliding doors opening to the garden. The hallway was also widened to accommodate stairs down to it, as well as up to the bedrooms and bathroom on the new floor above. The two rooms off the hall became a study/guestroom and another bathroom, both now slightly narrower as a result. The expansive open-plan living space comprises the kitchen, dining area and lounge room, with glass doors out to a terrace linked to the garage. The couple designed the kitchen around the island bench which they brought from their previous home. “I found it through The Trading Post,” says Annie, “and Bob rebuilt it. We love the combination of the contemporary all-white decor and this old piece – it gives it character.” Bob is a musician and the front room became the studio where he teaches. Annie reports it boasts a grand piano now too (acquired since the photo shoot, sadly)! The other striking feature is the delightfully naive artwork. “We wanted to keep the charm of the old house, particularly at the front,” she explains, “and we felt that the mural was very much part of it. It’s a place called Bled in Slovenia which is in eastern Europe, where the old man spent his honeymoon. He was an amateur artist and painted that years later – and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to get rid of it,” she laughs, “so we reworked the room around it.”
Back to the old country
It serves its purpose admirably, however, as it establishes the distinct European flavour of the place as soon as you walk in. Annie is a lawyer with interests in art, architecture and food, and every year she leads a tour of like-minded participants to France and Spain to appreciate these ‘finer things in life’ (details on her Dandelion Touring website). “The tours I do tie in with my love of the Mediterranean – and the look of the house!” she beams. An important factor for this ‘European look’ they felt was the timber casements surrounded by white paint. The latter was easy – Dulux Off White everywhere, and reasonably cheap! The windows, though, were custom-made in cedar by Woodsense specialist joinery, complete with parliament hinges and external shutters. This allows them to be open inside and the shutters locked closed to control the flow of air and light into the rooms. But the pièce de résistance is undoubtedly what Annie calls “the key to the whole house” – the simple yet effective ‘circle-in-a-square’ windows she spotted in an architecture book. Again thanks to Woodsense, they give it the perfect ‘maritime’ finishing touch so appropriate in a house at the beach.
Story by Gabrielle Baxter Styling by Amy Frost