14 minute read
The Test of Time
Three homes from three different periods in Canberra’s development history. We bring you a rich montage of (almost) 100 years of architecture and design—proving the adage that good style never dates.
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The Journey Home
Reid
It's a classic 1930s Reid cottage— white render, gentle arches, set well back from the road.
But this Coranderrk Street example stands out from the suburban row with its vibrant red chairs and bold mix of red, green and black Kate Spade upholstery adorning its deep and wide front verandah.
And that’s just the way interior designer Nadine Neilson wants it.
The frontage of the stately original home—which was among the first erected by the Federal Capital Commission in the suburb—is a virtual business card.
And the bold pops of colour differentiate it from the other similarly classic homes dotted throughout the suburb. They all share the distinction of being built for the middle to upper-ranking bureaucrats moving to the new capital, while the lower-ranking government workers had to be content in the cheaper wooden houses going up over in Ainslie.
Mind you, when Nadine and her husband, Antolin Feria, purchased the property in 2011 it appeared more tethered to its 1970s double-brick extension than its rather lofty history as one of Canberra’s original—and now securely heritage-listed—homes.
But she saw beyond the lime green kitchen benches and highly patterned carpets.
“I have to admit like most home owners we purchased with emotion, we just fell in love with it. Though, sensibly speaking, Reid is the most convenient suburb in Canberra— not to mention beautiful.”
Now Nadine has brought it into a new era—as a platform for her interior design business, Journey Home, which consults to clients across the city, and often, interstate.
Nadine’s style is authentic Hamptons/ Ralph Lauren with a twist of Canberra Heritage thrown in for good measure. She has decorated the front half of the home in a carefully curated and high-end style—adding wall paneling, an impressive Austrian Swarovski crystal-encrusted chandelier and restoring the fireplace to its rightful place as the focal point for the room. She and Antolin have whiled away many a weekend winter afternoon, soaking up its glow and crackle.
It’s a multi-layered approach that illustrates Nadine’s mastery at mixing pattern, palette and texture. Don’t try this at (your) home without expert advice!
Nadine took about six months to renovate the front half of the house after designing it—calling on her secret trade sources for just the right fixtures and scouring her favourite haunts such as a Sydney salvage yard for the external front door light.
While the back half of the house still presents in all of its ‘70s makeover glory, Nadine has similarly drawn up its soon-tobegin metamorphosis. And with a beautiful stretch of back yard shaded by a massive Japanese Pagoda tree, there is plenty of room to move.
The journey has been a joy.
“Sometimes I will look at one of my rooms from a hallway, and if the light is coming through the window just right it is a picture-perfect vision. It makes me feel really good.”
Nadine also transformed the front yard— creating a formal garden complete with fountain—which hides a long garden bench just right for stretching out in the dappled sunlight.
“We love our front garden so much that we spend more time there than in the enormous back yard.”
Always competing for her attention are Nadine’s commissioned jobs, including a number of heritage homes around the city, the installation of her signature Hamptons style kitchens, and more recently a very modern Kingston apartment.
There’s no rush to complete the second half of the renovations, however, as the Reid home—which faces onto Glebe Park—is the couple’s forever home and will continue to be a gallery to showcase Nadine’s work to potential clients.
Some tips for those taking on restorations and renovations of stately and heritagestyle homes include, first and foremost, “run with the character”.
“Resist putting a contemporary box extension on the back—it is already dated before you start and the neighbors who thought they were buying into a tranquil heritage suburb will hate you! Trust me I’ve seen this,” says Nadine.
She also warns that double brick walls can be expensive to take out if you are looking to create modern and open-plan living with more light, while plot ratios can be restrictive for extensions, and renovations will cost more per square metre than building new.
One of the home’s most stunning rooms is a guest bedroom which shows Nadine’s flair with a British Colonial look. It combines masculine and feminine features in a dark and luxe mix of navy wall paint, natural cloth wall covering, rattan fans, velvet upholstery, custom soft furnishings and decadent upholstery material forming thick curtains.
But then there is the joy of a summer’s eve on the front verandah in a distinctly Canberra style— sipping a wine and watching their Golden Retriever, Bailey, sneak through a hole in the hedge to visit his friend Lily—the terrier next-door.
Reid continues to be a genteel suburb where the bold stylings of this Coranderrk Street home attract many a friendly comment from passers-by.
The Oliphant Home
Griffith
Creating a family home is, for any architect, a labour of both love and professional pride.
But for Steven Cetrtek, there was an added layer of complexity as he restored and remade an original Ken Oliphant-designed home—adding a modern wing to a classic and significant piece of the city’s heritage.
Oliphant (1896-1975) was a prodigious and influential architect conscripted from Melbourne in Canberra’s infancy. He also designed Calthorpe’s House on Mugga Way and some of the southside’s most distinctive abodes.
By 1953, Oliphant had set his sights on creating a modest but light-filled family home on Captain Cook Crescent, and it was kept in meticulous condition until it was put on the market in 2016.
Enter childhood sweethearts Steven and Lisa. Having recently sold their renovated Narrabundah duplex, they were literally itching to make over a substantial home to create a family oasis in which to raise Allessandra, 7, and Olivia, 4.
Of course, design principles have evolved somewhat since the '50s.
Steven recalls that while the house was in great condition, it contained some “unusual design features”. By that he means the bathroom was right opposite the front door, there was a clunky mission brown pergola, original ‘50s laundry, kitchen and bathrooms and the rather awkward bedroom extension done in the ‘60s.
But then there were the features that made it all worth it—high ceilings, generous rooms, a fireplace, wide hallways and that subtle 'Mad Men' vibe.
Most of all there were the windows— original steel-framed corner windows— which both Steven and Lisa fell completely in love with and which have subsequently informed other design elements in the home.
The couple secured the property after a few nervous days of negotiation and set about transforming it as owner-builders and project managers. Creating the Instagram account @salohouse to chronicle the renovation journey along the way, the project took around nine months— including three months of bone-shaking, dust-creating internal demolition of double-brick and load-bearing walls. Not for the faint-hearted.
While Steven was ready to put his nextgeneration architect’s stamp on the home, he also shared the process with Lisa, whose eye for interior design has provided some of the home’s most beautiful atmospheres.
The existing layout of the front rooms and entry was kept as original as possible to maintain the house’s street character. But beyond those rooms a huge transformation took place. All bedrooms were moved to the rear to take advantage of the private and verdant backyard and to minimise street noise.
Working to emphasise the beauty of the original windows, Steven’s design response was to complement them with similar grey-boxed frames in the living room and children’s bedrooms for relaxing and reading.
Lisa loves it when the family congregates to eat outdoors under a huge covered terrace that includes a neat outdoor kitchen directly connected with the main kitchen.
Together, they oversaw the selection of the home’s palette of white, greys and oak. The herringbone floor is carried through in a marble herringbone tile in bathrooms, while v-groove panelling is used in the kitchen joinery, on all the internal doors and dark grey externals.
Steven came up with the garden design which is enhanced by the massive elm tree, around which a deck is built, with a fish pond to one side.
The girls swing on their British Oak and Rope Company swing (Prince William has one too) while light filters through enormous rattan light fittings Lisa insisted on.
She said investing in high quality window treatments custom-made by Chadwick Designs was a wise decision. Deciding on a paint colour for the front room, however, was far less straight-forward.
Armada by Dulux was the winning shade—neither too green, nor too blue— after six hair-pulling attempts. It’s Steven’s favourite room and takes on a cozy feel in winter when the fire goes on and the drinks trolley comes to the fore. There is no television in this room, just artworks and the vista of the street to focus on—just as the couple want it.
Meanwhile, Lisa says she still pinches herself when she wakes in the morning and looks out onto the backyard.
There are still a few things left to tick off, including doubling the garage, and adding a sauna—which Steven says is a necessary luxury given the city’s long winters.
For Lisa, there is the thrill of adding layers of art and signature furniture pieces.
“It will probably never feel completely finished, and that’s the beauty of it,” she says.
For Steven, the compromises he had to make working within existing parameters of an old home were worth it.
He is delighted with the finished result, which takes cues from the old and transforms a modern addition into a beautiful and eye-catching homage to one of Canberra’s architectural forefathers.
You, Me and the Sea Home
Greenleigh
When you walk in the door of Tess Godkin’s home, it’s almost like a light and slightly opaque Instagram filter drops down over your eyes.
There’s a soft whiteness to all that you see: clean lines, high ceilings, and an enormous square window into the bluest of pools. Everything looks slightly bleached— brighter and larger than it ought to be. It is clear that the home has been created by someone with a strong aesthetic. That would be Tess, a professional photographer, whose Instagram account @you.me.and.the.sea demonstrates the very same lightness as her home—no filter required.
Tess, and her project-manager-by-dayand-DJ-by-night husband Sean Luca, have designed every aspect of the new build. They turned only to expert advice when it came to drafting the plans for Council approval.
Their bravery was certainly tested at the start of the project—when their chosen builder went bust, taking a sizeable deposit with him.
“It did set us back a bit, but we couldn’t change the outcome, so we moved on with things,” says Tess with trademark calmness.
Securing the services of Neeta Homes on the recommendation of a friend, Tess and Sean moved in with Tess’ parents and awaited the impending birth of their daughter, Siena, now 18 months.
Second time lucky, the build was smooth-sailing. “We had really good communication with the builder and it all went exactly to plan. Honestly, there were just no dramas at all. Luckily!”
The result is a bespoke design, encompassing everything Tess and Sean wanted from a forever home, with no compromise. That is due, in part, to their decision to buy an affordable five-acre plot at Greenleigh, just beyond Queanbeyan.
The couple purchased land more than two years ago after a city-wide search. The alternative was to buy a small fixer-upper in an established suburb.
“We looked at all options and could actually have gone either way, but in the end, we wanted to do it from scratch the way we wanted, rather than try and patch over someone else’s mistakes.”
Now the couple feel they have the best of both worlds—a house they dreamed of, in a location they absolutely adore.
Indeed, the views of gently rolling bushland that stretch beyond the pool suggest you could be in the Blue Mountains or a nearly-hidden retreat far from the city.
“It’s just a beautiful location and we feel like we are living in a resort, permanently on holiday.”
In fact, Tess works from home, with an enormous room down one end of the house acting as a beautifully-styled studio. In a separate room, Sean has his DJ equipment laid out, and one can only imagine how this sprawling home could accommodate fabulous parties.
The style of the home could be described as Scandi/coastal, with a Hamptons‐esque touch.
“What we wanted was to create a home that was not stock-standard. We didn’t want that generic new build feel.”
Tess said she chose a fit-out that, while contemporary, edged towards classic rather than being “completely on trend”.
“For instance, I did spend some time asking myself whether the black taps would date, but I think they will stay timely.”
A massive double-doored entry way with a vaulted ceiling and rustic chandelier sets the tone for the home. The oak floorboards surpass all expectations while the white wall panelling and recessed television help create even more clean space and light.
The feature window includes a bench seat where Siena can watch the world go by, while linen sofas, a rustic wooden coffee table and Tess’ grandfather’s old armchair all provide places to relax.
Warmth is added in artistic touches, everywhere—woven baskets, sheepskin throws, flowers and weather-beaten wood.
The kitchen, meanwhile, is pure Hamptons chic—all marble and shaker-style cabinetry in white.
Down one wing are the children’s bedrooms—yes, Siena is about to become a big sister—while an enormous parents’ retreat forms the other wing.
Storage and space abound, and clear light floods the home.
Having only moved in in January, all is not complete, of course. Landscaping is in its infancy, and the couple have big plans for the entertainment area and back garden. But at least the pizza oven and pool are fully functional.
“In the end we want a home to reflect our personalities and we are both really relaxed. We love family and we love entertaining, and it is so exciting to have people come around. We want to live casually, and we want a home that reflects this and is easy to maintain.”
And, in this case, there’s the added bonus of capturing endless Instagramable moments.
Sources – 100 Canberra Houses, A Century of Capital Architecture by Tim Reeves and Alan Roberts, Reid Residents Association, Canberrahouse.com.au
Words: Emma Macdonald | Photography: Tim Bean | Styling: Belinda Neame
