We’ve featured the work of Queensland based pianist turned builder Rachael Turner before and her latest renovation brings more of the same high quality. Located 10 minutes south of the Brisbane CBD, Rachael and her company Front Porch Properties purchased this 1930’s pre-war character home, renovated it and sold it within a year recently.
“There was no design brief as such as I was building for myself, with no client involved. However, the vision I had was to transform the run down home into a dreamy modern farmhouse that was contemporary but had storybook charm and would appeal to the general market,” says Rachael.
“The original home had some beautiful original features such as ornate ceilings and elaborate cornices that we worked hard to restore. We raised the home by two metres, built all new underneath, and meticulously renovated and restored the original part,” says Rachael of the expansive home that now boasts five bedrooms, three bathrooms, two living areas and a pool.
The hub of the home is a huge open plan kitchen, living and dining area that’s complemented by soaring 3.7 metre ceilings. “The modern farmhouse style kitchen has a cute butler’s pantry. We love the custom built produce drawers for potatoes and onions that were built from recycled oak,” says Rachael.
Special mention should be made of the many entertaining areas also. “There are four separate outdoor entertaining areas, including a huge back entertainers’ deck with a sunken fire pit, eating area and super cute front sun porch with a custom porch swing,” says Rachael.
The spacious theme continues upstairs where a very large staircase connects through to the bedrooms and upstairs sitting room that has views through to the city. “The staircase is very special as it has sisal carpet, shiplap wall cladding, matte black balustrading, a huge window seat and a seagrass pendant,” says Rachael.
The master bedroom now has a huge walk-in robe and spacious ensuite too. “The ensuite was originally a bedroom and now has a huge freestanding bath, custom wainscoting, restored 1930’s cornices and ceiling and and a ‘his and hers’ vanity,” says Rachael.
“The vision for the home was to create something that would be extremely comfortable, easy and relaxed to live in. I was really careful in trying to tick all the boxes in terms of what a potential buyer would want. I love that it has many different zones and places where you can go to retreat,” says Rachael.
And as for the learning process, it’s a continuous one. “I’ve learnt that renovations of this scale always cost more than you think or budget for. The amount of effort that goes into restoring old character homes is enormous – especially if you are passionate about doing it right and paying proper respect to the original home. It would be easier and cheaper to rip things out and start again, but I’m passionate about restoration and this often comes with a hefty price tag. The outcome is totally worth it though!”
I usually love a good before and after as much as the next person but I wouldn’t call this one inspirational…I cannot any qualities or details of the original home in there at all, it mentions restoring ornate ceilings and cornices but I’m not seeing any of them….this may as well be a new build which to me defeats the purpose of a great before and after. Love the chosen finishes and the finished product of course looks great but the original character has been completely wiped out.