Without stepping foot in the place, Simon bought an early-1900s Victorian-style worker’s cottage, complete with sagging ceilings and a bathroom that hadn’t been touched since 1960, because of…the character?
“I was looking in Adelaide’s city fringe suburbs for a while and character was a major condition,” he tells Place Journal.
Your future wife living a few doors down was just a coincidence?
They both laugh.
Yes, now-wife Carla is here, too – and she quickly corroborates the story.
“It was a house that Simon bought before we met… but it’s a family home now,” she says with a smile.
“It had great bones and street appeal but required a fair bit of work.”
The view of the house from the street was appealing? Or was it the view of the street from the house?
“As it happened, my parents actually found this house while I was away in Melbourne on a boys’ soccer weekend,” Simon explains.
“They sent me the link and I checked it out at the game we were going to and the auction was the next day.
“I thought it had potential and liked that it had three bedrooms, was not joined and had a driveway which is rare for these types of properties.
“I gave them the go-ahead to bid and they got it the next day. I saw it for the first time when I returned and I was very happy with the result.”
And we’re not talking Adelaide United’s away win over Melbourne Heart, either. Or are we?
Simon had landed the house – and soon enough the girl – of his dreams.
The dreaming didn’t stop there, though, as the couple set about bringing the magic back to the dated cottage.
First it was moving the bathroom into the old part of the house for practicality and to assist the flow of the floor plan, as well as the addition of a powder room and vanity.
Then came the extension, taking this place to a whole new level – not literally, though.
“We debated whether to go for two storeys at the rear for six months or so,” Carla says of the major planning decision given the size of the 310m2 block.
“But once we settled on a single storey extension, we then engaged our designers, armed them with a brief and left it in their hands.”
Space is tight, so that brief was specific, with the pair wanting to replicate what makes the original part of the house so special – high ceilings, high windows and a sense of space – in a modern way.
But, while the modern industrial extension needed to complement what was already there, the house was to be split in two parts.
“We didn’t want the back to match the architecture of the house frontage. We wanted there to be a clear distinction between the two areas,” Simons explains.
So, contrasting with the gorgeous charm of the front of house is a striking butterfly roof that takes your eye into the clouds.
There may not actually be a second level, but the addition lifts this place to new heights.
As you enter from the hallway, a 2.8 metre ceiling sits above the lounge area, before its raised to 3.3 metres in the kitchen.
But then it takes off, with the raised roofline allowing for a 4 metre ceiling above the dining and outdoor area.
“We love the open and spacious feel within the family room. I think the various changes in ceiling height is a big contributor to this feeling,” Carla explains.
“It allowed us to have the high, north-facing windows and take in a view of the sky and tree canopy, contributing to a sense of space.
“We wanted to maximise our north facing aspect hence the large and high windows. We also love the double glazed windows which help to insulate the room, making it more stable in temperature and minimising heating and cooling costs.”
If your eye isn’t going up, it’s going out to the garden.
The transition to a small, yet carefully planned and perfectly executed backyard, is seamless, allowing for not only an ideal entertaining area, but a focal point for those inside.
If you’re coming from out the front, tropical Birds of Paradise plants line the side of the house, alongside a bluestone stepper path that leads you into the garden.
It’s a space that also acts as a backdrop for family time – one that became more than they imagined.
"The window looking out onto the garden is dressed with linen sheer curtains and we spend a lot of time sitting on the rug playing with the children here,” Carla says.
“We really appreciate the outlook and feel of this space.”
There was stress, there was the brick dust that covered the entire house that had a 2-month-old baby in it at the time, and there was an argument over the man’s shed.
There always is.
“I feel like everything we stressed over mattered. You certainly need to be on the ball and be sure to catch any errors before they go too far,” Carla adds.
Are we back at the soccer at AAMI Park?
Everyone is certainly as happy with this result as Simon was that night.
Words: Jordan Pinto
Editorial styling/curation: Ashleigh Pinto
Photography: Shannon Wark for Place Journal
CARLA AND SIMON'S PLACE
Built: 1910
Land: 380m²
Bed: 3
Bath: 1
Builder: The Building Company
Landscaping: Ground Design Landscaping
WHAT THEIR PLACE TAUGHT THEM
Always remember to budget for landscaping.
It's often the last step and it can be overlooked in the budgeting phase, but we feel this is so vital for finishing the look and making the space livable.
Ask questions - and get what you want.
You shouldn’t be afraid to ask silly questions... remember who’s paying the bills! Make sure you get what you want, without blowing the budget - it’s a fine line though.
Don't take on too much.
It is a fine balance between how much you can do yourself and what you should pay others to do. Be prepared to do jobs several times over if your skills don’t match your finish expectation. Pick the unskilled jobs!
Scroll through to see what their place looked like before
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