We were recently engaged for a really small project, really small compared to what we do. I've always wanted to have a dabble with some property styling and a 'Block' style renovation with a lot of thinking on our feet, but have never been asked. So here was our chance to make the most of this quality Victorian terrace that's frankly seen some better days. The owner wanted a quick turn around and a designer touch, which is why she decided to refer back to her architect (moi), saying 'she wanted a lux designer touch, and not just a stock standard builder + stylist look.

This is what gave her property the point of difference it needed. take a look at the impeccable conversion.

Stats:

$40,000 investment

3 week turn around

$150,000 capital growth.

the facade, as everyone knows, is the key feature that will attract viewers to select the property. we wanted to bring some of the garden in to the picture without making the space dark or crowded. the terra cotta planters also give the nod to the terra cotta tiles in the verandah. the subtle combination of greys and white give the facade not only a refreshed look a=but a spark that you struggle to find in Victorian era homes. all of that is topped off with the feature teal colour on the door. we decided not to be too aggressive in this selection.

the front garden bed needed some love. it was full of roots from the hedge, which previously had only served to darken and crowd the entry.

this is a photo of the 'before' of the master bedroom. the owner had told me she was in love with this room and, when she purchased the home, had dreams of making it a really special space. the features she adored but were left underwhelmingly bland were the bay window, the high ceiling and the fireplace.

we decided to be brave with a darker colour in the master suite. the ceiling is natural white, while the architraves, cornices and skirting are vivid white. this is to really emphasise the contrast between the rich washed teal and the other colours in the room. we removed the shutters and went with ornamental velvet curtains to LET IN SOME LIGHT. the selection of furniture either compliments or contrasts with the feature colour. i really love the rusty bed linen against this colour.

this is bedroom 2. the most urgent change we wanted to introduce was a new door. the 'front door' fitted in the room seemed irrelevant and, of course, out of character. the light in this room was difficult to enhance, so we opted to work in a muddy beige with a pink hue that didn't fight the dull natural light. it all looks comfortable. My favourite find, i think in the whole house, was the vintage doll's house.

the camera angle isn't the same here, but the new features in the room were screaming out at me for a photograph from 'this' angle. this is how i see bedrooms in old Victorian houses. the room's disposition and proportion encourage the bed to face the fire, not too close to the window or the robe, and, for Feng Shui lovers, not in the path of the door.

by far, the most problematic room in this house was the living room. it was so dark when i first visited that i needed to adjust the contrast even WITH the lights on. needless to say, the lean-to ceiling didn't help fight the feeling that the room was caving in on you.

although you can't see them, there are now two new skylights in the living room. the transformation was tremendous! these took all of 2 hours to install. over the overall cost of the project, they were a drop in the ocean and had a really big impact.

we mounted curtain cables across the room. it gave the room a really dramatic effect around the proportionally small window. suddenly, this balanced the room. but the real reason we did this was to hide the ugly heater when it wasn't in use. the cable system easily allowed users to swing the curtains across to use the heater when needed.

this is the new laundry ... LESS IS MORE

finally, the backyard. now ... this is where the blind notion of "more bedrooms = more money" just goes wrong. the previous owner decided to fill the back yard with a '3rd bedroom'. in addition, as if nature was not a valuable commodity, covered the little left of the yard with an acrylic roof. the space is completely claustrophobic. I can not tell you how satisfying it was to see light spill back into the house once we demolished the room and the roof.