Lifting Street Appeal

Sunday Times, Home Magazine, 17th May 2009

This Mosman Park home seemed like a poor relation in the up-market suburb, but a complete revamp has put it on a par with the rest.  SET in an affluent Perth suburb, this Mosman Park home looked a little out of place until new owners gave it a complete facelift. Dale Alcock Home Improvements design consultant Steve Kemp says the previous owners had added a typical, but unattractive extension.  "When the new owners bought the house it already had the second storey addition," Steve says. "It was built well with neat construction work but it wasn't attractive and had no street appeal.  "It was quite a simple renovation for us, but our main goal was transforming an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.  "It had the potential to look nice but it was just lacking in detail."  No major changes were made to the home's interiors but the exterior was given a good revamp with a large amount of scaffolding used to change the look of the second storey.

"We got rid of all the planking and rendered the entire house," Steve says. "We undid a lot of the previous work to improve the look.  "We removed all the wall linings and installed new insulation in the walls because there was nothing there before.

"We put in new gables, awnings, a carport at the front they wanted a garage but council regulations only allowed for a carport and electric gates."  French doors were added at the back of the house, opening to a new raised alfresco deck area.  Steve says the owners were aiming for an elegant colonial style, so they added a lot of gable and awning detail to achieve that look.  "They wanted it to have appeal from the front and for it to be secure," Steve says.  "People have commented on how nice it is, so I think we met the owner's requirements."