'70s eyesore transformed

This home was part of a '70s terrace development: bare bricks, brown tiles and small boxy rooms. The owners have turned it into a simple, yet stylish home, completed on a shoe string budget by mobilising family and friends to help them get the work done.



The open fireplace, wide wooden floorboards and the stairs are the only things that survived the house reno.

You probably recognise a lot of Ikea purchases in this house, especially in this study, below. I think mixing cheap chain store items with more expensive, unique items indicates confidence and style.

After stripping the house down to its bare bones, they whitewashed the whole house. They warmed it up by using a slate colour in various places, such as the fireplace surround. I love the crisp white teamed with warmer, sludgier colours.

This house appeals to me for a number of reasons: big white squoodgy couches always win me over, as do lots of white teamed with neutral colours, simple wooden furniture and bold, statement making accessories.

The kitchen has a slight industrial feel to it, with its great big stainless steel exhaust and one of those stretchy restaurant style taps (unseen). Love the huge white vase, which has a handmade look to it.

In my opinion, no house is complete without at least one set of french doors. Here they have them in the bedroom, but if you look closely they appear to have some leading out from the kitchen too.

All images from Australian Handyman magazine. I don't know what possessed me to buy it, seeing I'm neither handy nor a man, but this house in it was a lucky find.