Who lives here: Kristy, a public relations consultant; her husband Kieren, a solicitor; their children: Alex, 11, Eliza, seven, and Isaac, two; plus Edward, a Burmese cat.
Style of home: A traditional Victorian house in Sydney’s inner west that has been transformed with a substantial extension and first-floor parents’ retreat.
Timeline: The couple bought in 2010 and were ready to renovate by November 2017. Building work began in August 2019 and was completed eight months later.
Like many of the charming historic cottages of Balmain, in Sydney’s inner west, Kristy and Kieren’s home introduces itself as a traditional Victorian but then opens up to reveal a contemporary extension that’s perfect for the family of five that lives there.
The young couple who bought it had been living in London for five years when they decided to return to Australia in 2009 after the global financial crisis hit.
On the market
The beautiful 57 Evans Street, Balmain has since sold – before to its auction date. You can explore the prior listing on www.ch.com.au
Kitchen Statuario Maximus Caesarstone are paired with Polytec cabinetry in Natural Oak Ravine. Upper cupboards in Dulux White Exchange Quarter satin polyurethane. Handles, Kethy. Downlights, Urban Lighting. Taburet bar stools, Life Interiors.
“It wasn’t family that motivated us to come back to Australia,” says Kristy, “but we had started to think about having children, so it was a nice coincidence that I was pregnant with our first baby when we arrived home.”
At their first inspection of the property, Kristy and Kieren fell in love with its pretty frontage, high ceilings and ornate fireplaces and saw the potential for future expansion.
Dining nook All the home’s black steel framework is by Steel Door. The banquette is by architect Raymond Panetta. Leather upholstery, AAQT Upholstery. Dining table, eBay. Ton bentwood chairs, Huset. Green cushions, Target. Lambert & Fils ‘Waldorf’ double suspension light, Living Edge.
“We knew the house had scope,” says Kristy. “It was comfortable enough for us to live in for a while, but we knew we would renovate eventually and go out and up.”
By 2017, with their little family growing, the time had come to update the home.
The diligent first-time renovators engaged architect Raymond Panetta of Raymond Panetta Architects and the construction team from MATTBUILD to implement a modern extension at the back and a refresh of the front in keeping with local heritage conservation standards.
Living The family’s tan leather Lexington sofa from Matt Blatt can take lots of rough and tumble. Escea gas fire, The Heater Man. Orpheus pendant light, Urban Lighting. Weave ‘Makalu’ rug, Temple & Webster. Steps to the main bedroom, American oak.
Kristy and Kieren were focused on gaining as much storage as possible in the redesign. “Our big question was always ‘where can we store the kids’ sports stuff!’ laughs Kristy.
Squaring out the awkward L-shape of the back half would allow for a large open-plan kitchen, dining and living space that flowed onto a neatly landscaped yard and pool, and a second storey above the extension would give the busy parents a tucked-away suite.
Final flourish It took more than a decade for Sydney couple Kristy and Kieren to achieve their dream home – and a grand Escea gas fireplace in the lower living area was the final piece of their renovation puzzle. Now the humble Victorian cottage has become the perfect inner-city pad for their family of five to grow and thrive.
While the biggest changes were set to be made at the rear of the property, retaining the Victorian facade and street view of the original roofline would appease the local council.
“Although we had to do it, we really wanted to keep that charm and character,” says Kristy. A play of natural textures and a casual, inviting atmosphere rounded out the couple’s vision.
Exterior Kristy and Kieren with children Alex, Isaac and Eliza. The paint colours are Dulux Silkwort (walls), Lexicon Half (trims) and Caviar (front door).
“We wanted it to be a relaxed and approachable family home,” Kristy says. “We didn’t want a museum piece.”
“We knew we wanted the living, kitchen and dining spaces to be quite special,” says Raymond. “One focus was on making the dining area a gathering spot for the family, with oversized banquette seating framed by steel windows looking out to the pool.”
Extension The new back and sides of the home are clad in 180mm-wide James Hardie weatherboards painted in Dulux Silkwort. to match the front
The banquette design was inspired by an image of a chic restaurant in Helsinki, spotted by Kristy in a magazine. With her career in PR for luxury goods, Kristy has always loved magazines and had amassed quite a library of dream-home reference images.
“We had a real look that we were after and were able to give Raymond a clear brief,” she says.
Style inspiration soaked up during the couple’s stint in the UK also influenced the visual direction for each room and their choices in finishes and fixtures.
Backyard Designed by Spirit Level, the backyard is zoned with Balmain Sandstone from Sydney Tile Gallery. Timber step and bench, spotted-gum hardwood finished with Cutek oil.
“In London, there’s a lot more experimenting when it comes to interiors, and I feel like that opened up a lot of possibilities for us in terms of different materials and layering, and mixing old with new,” adds Kristy.
The all-important additional storage requirements were addressed in Raymond’s floor plans.
“We had to design clever joinery within otherwise unused spaces, such as under the stairs and via a walkway linking the new upper-level space to the original roof,” he says.
Pool Cronulla Pools installed the swimming pool and Screening Solutions provided the timber fencing. Plants in bed above pool, weeping lilly pilly. Cane chairs, Kmart.
Raymond’s comprehensive documentation combined with the efforts of the switched-on team from MATTBUILD led to a construction process Kristy describes as ‘seamless’ – despite a potential disaster. “Our outdoor pavers were in a car accident on the way to the dock in Egypt,” she says.
“The pavers had to be recut, which was a setback that could have thrown the schedule into chaos, but the perks of working with a good builder is that they were able to move everything around and reschedule the trades and it didn’t push our finish date back at all,” says Kristy.
Main bedroom “I don’t like headboards and wanted something different,” says Kristy of the custom ‘shelf’ in her room. The beadboard matches the ceiling and is painted Dulux Tamed Texan. Walls, Dulux Dieskau. Linen, Sheridan. Throw, Tara Dennis Store. Caravaggio Read wall lamp, Cult. Curtains, DIY Blinds.
Even the last-minute addition of a fireplace in the living room didn’t throw the timeline off course. “There were a lot of hard surfaces like concrete, painted brick and glass, and we were worried the space was going to be quite cold,” Kristy explains.
For the chimney breast, the couple chose new bricks to match the old brick wall that runs the length of the kitchen and dining area. “I love that we could keep the original brick wall,” she says.
Bathroom All the tiles are from Tile Cloud. Vanity top, Caesarstone Snow. Concrete basins, Nood Co. Timber veneer, Polytec Natural Oak Ravine. Showerhead, tapware and towel racks, Cass Bros.
Though the front four rooms remain the same size (one is now a bathroom), the reinvented back half of the property has given the family the space they were craving.
“The kids have their own rooms and their own spaces, and we love having different areas where people can move away from the chaos!” says Kristy. “We are all very happy here.”
Bathroom A strategically placed skylight helps to flood the bathroom with natural light.
Lessons Learnt
“There were so many but three main ones come to mind,” says Kristy.
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RIGHT PAINT “I had a Dulux colour consultant come out to help me navigate the world of whites. I was worried about choosing the right one. I learnt about the way light reflects off white, and just how many different whites there are.”
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WRONG SEALER “We definitely chose the wrong sealer for our concrete floor. We went with a water-based penetrative matt sealer and, not long after we moved in, marks were settling into the concrete and it was staining quite quickly. So after six months, we repolished the concrete floors and added a lithium-based hardener and a lithium-based sealer with a semi-gloss top-coat finish that’s a lot more stain-resistant and better suited to our home’s high-traffic areas.”
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CHOICE ITEMS “We learnt not to be too ambitious overall and picked a few elements as standout features. They were the steel doors and windows, and the banquette.”
Eliza’s room A Dancing pendant light from Huset gives the room movement and Dulux Natural White walls accentuate the artworks by Jody Soloshatz (mantel) and Amy Sullivan (wall). Quilt cover, Sheridan.
The Best Bits
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Steel frames “The steel windows and doors give a great sense of openness and scale to the house,” says Kristy.
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Booth seat “This is fantastic. It’s like a second living space for us. The kids can lie on it and read a book or just chill out there. It’s a really lovely breakout space.
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Pendant lights “We wiped out all the original downlights and added interesting pendants throughout, to create atmosphere. I especially love the Lambert & Fils lighting fixture over our dining table.”
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Family bathroom “It has a big skylight over the bath that funnels light down so it feels like a bit of a sanctuary.”
Find Raymond Panetta Architects at Raymond Panetta and @raymondpanetta_architects. MATTBUILD is at MATTBUILD.
