When we first embarked on this, we thought we might need to jazz up the old sections of the house with paint and carpet, and address the tight-previous kitchen space…among other things!

We’d never imagined that the journey would take us to a complete refit of the old house – brought on by the unexpected ceiling flood during what can only be described as yet-another unplanned rainy Turramurra night, and the fact that crumbling electrics, and giprock gave us little choice. Not only was it never budgeted, it definitely wasn’t planned…nor desired!

We took a deep breath. How could you live in a house with new extension, next to an old area with crumbling walls? Not possible.

So the next few posts are about what makes this a 2020 modern house. Let’s start with the walls.

Every wall in the house is now fully insulated to the highest R rating, and put back together with brand new giprock, primer and professionally painted in lovely Dulux Lexicon Half.

Unlike some modern houses, this house never had cedar ceilings in the original section, so nothing has been created where it wasn’t before. This means, we haven’t covered any beams or timber elements with plaster walls, although this is a trend for some who wish to white-out the Sydney School character.

New skirting boards have been re-fitted the same way the originals were made, same shape and height, and same timber. The old ones were too brittle to re-use.

Yes this is really a restoration in the original areas.