Nov 12, 20234 min read

Sharon and Tony's place: A unique renovation of a Tuscan style home

One of a kind. A sanctuary in the suburbs. A hidden gem. Bursting with character.

You’ve heard the clichés before – hey, who doesn’t love one?

But we need something different for this one. Something to match the originality of Sharon and Tony’s place.

Because we’ve actually seen nothing like it – certainly not in Adelaide’s east, anyway.

It’s the secret house.

No, really, that's its name.

Casa Segreta.

And, yes, it has a name. Just like Sharon and Tony have given each of their projects, since the pair started renovating together in the 1980s.

An artisan built home by well-known Adelaide designer Angus Foulds originally, the house has always been unique.

But after Sharon and Tony were finished with it in 12 months, it became something else altogether.

“For me, the house is a big canvas, it’s like creating an art piece which we are living in,” Sharon tells Place Journal.

What lies behind the Indian fortress doors certainly is art.

And, now, you can live in it, with the three-bedroom home on the market through Ouwens Casserly Real Estate.

Indian fortress doors? Pretty much, yep.

“The house didn’t really have an entry door, it was a little strange,” Sharon recalls.

“The existing decoration was not to our taste and it wasn’t what we usually would have gone for, but we were under pressure to find something and the bones were good and it had large windows facing north and a very private, secure garden.

“It was a little hidden secret.”

Sharon had the doors shipped down from a shop in Byron Bay – speaking of very different and idyllic.

But, really, we could very well be in the Byron Hinterland right now.

Stand in that garden and tell me otherwise.

Because we’re probably not in Tuscany anymore, with the couple delivering on a Moroccan-inspired concept, moving away from the ‘Tuscan delight’ they found a year earlier.

Let’s face it, Casa Segreta is an international cultural experience on 564m2.

Bold, contemporary artwork from all over the world - including Peru, collected and sent home before walking the Inca Trail - hits you in the face around almost every corner, the mosaic table was handmade in the Middle East, the hanging men on the wall from Galle, Sri Lanka and designer furniture, of course, from Italy.

“I could walk around the house and tell where I bought this and that and the story attached to it,” Sharon says.

We’re listening.

“One story is a bit crazy,” she continues.

“We were in Jordan on our 12-month parental gap year and we were taken to a factory that gave opportunity to workers with learning difficulties.

“They made these amazing mosaic tables with tiny tiles. We met this guy who was so super proud of his work - the joy and pride was just wonderful.

“We bought it and had it shipped home and, you wouldn’t believe it, but it arrived perfectly, it’s beautiful.”

We concur. It really is.

"Another one ... we had a few days at the end of walking the camino of Machu Picchu to relax and just enjoy the fabulous and really interesting town of Cusco and came across and exhibition in an art space," Sharon vividly recalls.

"The artist is Maximo Laura a renowned generational weaver. His weaving spoke to us after spending some time on the Amazon River - it showed the river dying, the fish choking and the forest burning.

"We kept thinking about it. It was powerful and such a relevant subject that we decided to send it home."

Told you, different.

Good, different.

No wonder potential buyers have asked for not only the house, but everything inside it, after previous renovations.

“It’s a traveller’s home, a mix of things we have collected over the years,” Sharon answers when asked to describe their style.

The experienced renovators, again, took on the entire project themselves, starting with the garden before re-doing the bathrooms, adding a new kitchen and giving every room in the house a makeover.

Tony, of course, did all the painting, as the founder of one of the state’s longest-running, family-owned painting companies, AJ Blunt.

“This isn’t our first rodeo as renovators,” Sharon laughs.

Want to have a look yourself? Click for the listing

And, like this one, the rodeos have all been grand.

There was a three-storey Spanish villa on the beach, a bluestone home in Adelaide’s inner south and two properties in the hills, one which they added a conservatory and a 16m lap pool to.

“Tony and I have always been on the same page. We have been together for so long now since I was 16 years old and we’ve been living together for 42 years now.

“Sometimes just sitting in a space having a couple of glasses of creative wine helps see the vision.”

It always does.

And maybe a classic cliche does sum it all up, in the end.

"From the street, there is no indication of what’s going on behind the door," Sharon adds of their unique renovation of a Tuscan style home.

You definitely can't judge this book by its cover.

Sorry, not sorry.