Splash of colour

When the new owners of an 1894 Victorian terrace moved into their property on Hargrave St, they found themselves confronting a typical Paddington dilemma. They loved their new house but it felt tired, inside and out.

“The clients had moved into the area only recently before buying this terrace,” recalls Jen Humphry, whose Modify undertook its restoration. “It was run down, lacked soul and needed some renovation to make it both aesthetically lovely as well as functional and well thought through in terms of spaces.”

Like many terraces last restored in the 80s, this one looked as though it had succumbed to a certain gloom. Darkness lingered in corners courtesy of drab wooden kickboards, wooden French doors and depleted outdoor terracotta tiles. The colour palette tended to beige and brown and the look was worn and depleted.

The clients also wanted to better utilise a small but charming courtyard to ensure a greater interplay between the home’s outdoor and indoor areas, including introducing a petite pool for the use of their young children.

“We worked closely with the clients to understand how they wanted to live in the space,” Humphry says. “Light and ventilation were critical, as was a connection with the outdoor areas. While the rear courtyard is small, it is a gorgeous space that extends the feel of the general internal living areas.

“Similarly, an internal courtyard floods light into the space and allows the connectivity with the outdoors to extend right through the ground floor.”

To facilitate the sense of liveability in the rear of the house, Modify set about gaining a natural flow.

“Only minor reconfigurations were needed to improve the connection with the courtyards and get access to more natural light,” Humphry says. “Firstly, the existing ground floor powder room that was originally located adjacent to a central courtyard was removed and relocated behind a concealed door underneath the stairs.

“This allowed us to open up the family living area to a landscaped courtyard, enable the ability to cross ventilate and get an abundance of natural light into the floor plate. The kitchen, family dining and family living were reconfigured to better serve the growing family.”

Upstairs, other changes helped bring the upper floors back to life.

“A large upstairs bedroom was converted to a study which allowed us to get an ensuite for the master bedroom,” Humphry says.

“The clients decided they wanted to include a contemporary steel stair into the first floor leading up to the attic, which presented logistical problems. We solved this by taking in these stairs in multiple pieces and welding them on site.

“The end result is a sensational juxtaposition between old and new, similar to the rear of the ground floor where the steel frame door elements add a modern and clean feel to the home.”

To help the sense of freshness, the house was afforded contemporary finishes that felt sympathetic to the age and grace of the property.

“The material palette was quite refined — concrete floors, white joinery and walls with accents of oak allowed the perfect backdrop for the clients’ wonderful collection of artwork,” Humphry says.

“The aesthetic is clean and simple, with some little surprises along the way, like the colourful powder room behind a hidden joinery door in the ground floor space. This has a surprising pop of colour and fun when the door is opened. Splashes of colour were introduced through soft furnishings and little surprises such as the wallpapered powder room.”

Humphry says it was important to ensure the home’s heritage elements were incorporated into the restoration.

“The old Victorian terraces have such a lovely charm to them that it is important to keep all of the traditional trimmings such as architraves, traditional skirtings and decorative cornices,” she says.

“All the new joinery and other structures such as the stairs were conceived as contemporary insertions within the heritage fabric. Where appropriate, they weren’t built in, but merely treated like pieces of furniture that were placed in old space so that the original details could still flourish.”

The final piece of the puzzle was the introduction of the pool to the courtyard.

“The pool was great fun,” Humphry says. “It was a prefabricated concrete pool that was craned into the site and then the tiling and plumbing and so on were finished onsite. It was a great win for the family to utilise every square metre of the home and allow the kids that fun for the summer months.”

She says one final challenge was reducing the impact of a prominent rear garage.

“Given that the courtyard was so small and there was a large imposing garage structure behind it, it was a real challenge to make the garage as least imposing as possible. It was designed with slim steel blades and splayed concrete soffits to break down the height of the structure. The roof of the garage also contained a roof garden which now spills over the edge of the garage to soften the appearance.”

The end result is a contemporary home of elegance that is perfect for an active family.

“We worked closely with the clients throughout the design and construction and both our team and the clients are thrilled with the outcome,” Humphry says.

HARGRAVE ST HOUSE

Design, construction & interiors: Modify

Photography: Prue Ruscoe