Change ,of scene

After two years of having just 40sqm of living space to occupy while working in Hong Kong, Natasha and Rob French were more than ready for a home they could inject with their flair and style when they arrived in Perth late last year.

Mrs French, who works in the real-estate advisory industry, and Mr French, a barrister, wanted a low-maintenance home which was either walking distance to their workplaces or public transport and close to their gym to help them have less reliance on a car.

The makeover of the interiors was completed within just one month.

“It took a little bit of time to find something that I believed was good value,” Mrs French said.

All their boxes were ticked when they came across a circa-1920s three-bedroom home in Subiaco.

They set about transforming it straight away and enlisted builder Colin Campbell, of Camstruct Design and Build, to complete the task in one month.

“He had a real can-do attitude to my requests and he also understood the time constraints and was able to schedule the trades in a very condensed period of time,” Mrs French said. “The inside of the house needed to be done within a month as all of the furniture shipments, and our container from Hong Kong was being unloaded. So we needed a completed (and clean house) before everything was unpacked.

The dining room of the Subiaco home.

“The landscaping was completed in a short timeframe as well, as planting needed to be in the ground and starting to establish itself before the summer heat started.”

Mr Campbell said the couple were keen to retain the features of the original cottage, including the ornate cornices, but wanted to tone them down in order to blend in with the modern feel they were aiming to create.

“The clients wanted to lighten the feel of the house and create a smooth transition between old and new,” he said.

The first task was overhauling the front garden by replacing “a motley crew of plant species” with drought-resistant, easy-care plants including Japanese box and jasmine.

Natasha spent a lot of time selecting the perfect furnishings.

The veranda’s dated terracotta tiling was replaced with a honed, polished, almost white travertine.

“In the end, we only painted the fencing white (from beige) to make the house brighter, but the travertine matched the house colours perfectly,” Mrs French said.

Inside, the couple got rid of the grey painted hallway and made the walls bare to allow their furniture and art to pop.

Off the home’s entrance stems the main suite and a home office/lounge room.

The couple both work long hours so they needed a space within their home where they could work but also wanted it to be a place they could unwind.

Natasha and Rob French wanted their art work to pop against white walls.

A desk sits at one end, while a Hay couch, rug, cushions and Campfire coffee table, all from Design Farm, complete the space.

Mrs French spent many hours searching for the perfect pieces of furniture as previous items from their former home in Melbourne did not fit.

“I like to buy things for a whole room or themes throughout,” she said.

To the rear of the home is an extension, which was added about three years ago. It houses an open-plan living zone comprising a kitchen, meals and lounge area.

Lasvit lights from Living Edge in Northbridge, which were made in the Czech Republic, are a striking focal point above the breakfast bar.

A David Bromley artwork takes pride of place in the kitchen and has special sentiment to the couple, as Bromley’s works were displayed in a bar where the couple first met in Melbourne.

A felt-look artwork, called Kvadrat Clouds from Mobilia in Claremont, helps absorb the echoes of the room and adorns a wall above a Walter Knoll Prime Time sofa from Living Edge in Northbridge.

The backyard, which was comprised of a cement floor, was covered with artificial turf and a fence was added to separate the alfresco area from the rear garage to create a feeling of cosiness.

Rob and Natasha French’s renovation tips

1. Think about your lifestyle and how much time you have to undertake renovation works. If you have time, then doing it slowly might be OK for you. But if you’re very busy, getting the works done in a condensed period of time, and all at once, might be a better choice — it’s no fun living in a half-finished house.

2. Hire a project manager. A project manager will be able to take care of quoting and organising all of the trades and managing their performance as well. There is nothing worse than having to co-ordinate numerous trades individually when you’re working full-time, as ultimately it will send you insane.

3. Think about the aesthetic of your whole house rather than just sections, and how to tie it together. For ours, the front is 1920s and the back extension is only a few years old, therefore we had to try to ensure the theme was consistent despite the very different construction styles.

4. With regard to furniture, try not to theme individual rooms with furniture of different styles — if you pick 1950s, continue that theme throughout the house. Don’t have one room as 1950s, another as classic, and then another as Scandinavian — the house as a whole will not feel cohesive.

5. Only buy furniture you feel passionate about. A number of people told us to just buy something cheap to live with for a few months but, more often than not, you’ll have that Ikea table for five- plus years, and everyday you’ll look at it, thinking you could have chosen better. If you love the Ikea table then great, but if not, hold out for something you do love.

Project manager: Camstruct Design & Build, 0422 450 279, camstruct.com.au

Landscaping: Origin Landscapes,

0439 095 247, originlandscapes.com.au

Dining table and chairs, TV unit, kitchen stools, bedside tables: Poliform, Melbourne, (02) 8339 7570, poliform.com.au

Surya Graf custom-made veranda table and chair sculpture, outdoor bench and table seating, selected artworks: TW Fine Art, Queensland, 0437 348 755, twfineart.com

Selected pendant lighting, outdoor furniture setting, Vitra study chair: District, Subiaco, 9388 1855, district.com.au

Selected study furnishings, Campfire coffee table in lounge: Design Farm, Perth, 9322 2200, designfarm.com.au