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 COOREY ATKINSON HOUSE

8 Trivetts Lane Balmain 2041 

Dear Therese and Dave,

I so enjoyed meeting you and seeing your lovely house. You’ve done a great job with the renovations and I’d be honoured to be engaged to help bring out its full potential to be the home of your dreams.

The following is a summary of what we discussed which will be the foundation scope for the design process. Please read it through carefully and make any amendments you feel necessary - as I said, it is vitally important we are all on the same page!

Once you are comfortable that we have nailed the brief, you can pay my emailed invoice and I will begin the Creative Interior Plan. This takes a few weeks and I will be in contact during that time, if and when necessary, for further queries, photos or measurements. Of course you can call me at any point to add any further ideas or thoughts you may be keen to include.

Designing your spaces is about understanding your taste, your ideas, your vision. With my expertise to guide you and support you, together we achieve the best results. I felt a good connection with you both and I feel excited to be on the journey with you,

So let’s get started!

Henrietta x

The entrance:

The house is very attractive sitting here basking in the northern sun! However, we talked about making some subtle changes to how visitors read the entry point. Dave’s tiling is coming along nicely and will help with this aspect, but we also discussed the possibility of fencing off the top step of the balcony so that people are not confused about where the front door is.

We also spoke about sourcing new outdoor furniture for the balcony as this must be such a lovely spot to be.

Making more of the entrance serves also to expand the presence of the house at street level - we can make it look even more appealing by adding potted plants, removing the square white pots and restoring the original garden directly in front of the house by digging out the concrete and replacing the soil. Then we can plant with flowers or whatever you choose.

Inside the gate, the path is wide and spacious and so could do with some more potted colour. We talked about the importance of a cohesive approach to design, things like using the same type of pot in the same colour allows for that cohesiveness to begin before we’ve even stepped over the threshold! Of course the pots will be in different sizes and have different plants in them but the foundational style is what I’m emphasising.

A portico (or solid awning) is another great way to flag an entry. It would also be hugely practical when on a rainy day you arrive and can’t immediately get your hands on the front door key! I would suggest perhaps moving the front light from where it has been placed to the left wall so as to allow for a decent awning.

The courtyard:

Small courtyards can be a big challenge, but yours has great light and I think by elevating it to the level of the internal floor with a timber deck would greatly enhance the feeling of space. We spoke about the potential to fill out the notched rear by constructing a ‘garden shed’ in the narrowed space. At the same height as the fence and painted the same colour, it would give all the storage capacity you may need for what is currently stored down the side of the house, and for tools currently stored in Therese’s study,

I love what you’ve done with your green walling and I would encourage you to expand it. I also think that once you’ve rehoused the ‘stuff’ down the side, you could relocate the clothesline down there. In doing so, you could use the full back area and replace the furniture with a rectangular table and chairs with more seating capacity, or alternatively, add outdoor table and chairs meant for lounging rather than eating. We will explore all options.

Astro turf is great until it’s not!! It can get damp and dirty and can become harder to keep clean as it ages.

We could also look at lighting in this space, which we didn’t touch on, but we did discuss employing some wizzardry to detract from the buildings and aircon unit outside the property. We also talked about the possibility of adding trellis to help.

The entrance and living room:

You have done a great job in designing of the new extension, it is light and spacious and full of lovely elements. I loved hearing your open-mindedness when it came to the furniture!!! Everyone has a budget - you’ll have yours that may or may not run to replacing everything all at once. I view every house as a long term work in progress and I completely accept that sometimes, I have long finished the job before some purchases and replacements are made.

My intention is to provide you with a comprehensive vision for your home and if that needs to be staged for whatever reason, that is entirely a matter for you. I am always available further down the track when the right time does come for some of what I might suggest,

What you expressed to me was a desire for a dedicated ‘arrival’ area - somewhere to take off hats and coats, a place to leave car keys, dog lead etc. The image above is the point of first impressions, so it’s important we get this right. I have some strong ideas for a subtle approach - we don’t want anything too elaborate as it needs to be streamlined and not impede flow.

I would encourage you to visit Emma and Adam’s in Bondi Junction to see what can be done with joinery to demarcate seperate spaces and thereby increase the texture of a house. I would like then for us to speak with my joiners about constructing for you a clever and non-imposing joinery unit for you that would metaphorically hug your living room!!

I look forward to developing this idea further and drawing some sketches to illustrate my vision for this space.

Having reasonably recently bought the sofa, you may not be in a hurry to replace it - but like I said, if that is a further-down-the-track item, I will give you plenty of ideas for its eventual successor! I feel that this one is sucking energy from the room as it is very heavy and the colour isn’t helping.

Items to style up would be for the low sideboard either side of the tv, a thick and chunky rug, lamps, and art. I will include all in the CIP.

The dining/kitchen:

I didn’t see the dining area at its best!!!! The floor and cupboard damage is a big drag for you, but it will soon be fixed and order will be restored.

I love this wide space and its easy connection to the kitchen and to outside. I would strongly suggest new dining table and chairs and I have other ideas too, for adding warmth and texture; the possibility of sheer linen curtains hung high is one thought, and of course art is going to be a focus.

A butcher’s block solution to the lack of bench space is a priority and I will do plenty of research to either find the exact one, or have it made. We discussed how it could be stored against the wall to the left when not in use, and be wheeled over to the kitchen side when needed.

The kitchen is great and will really look even more fabulous when we are done with the colour scheme and furniture etc. You’ve done a great job already but finessing it through to find its true potential is my intention.

Master bedroom:

Loads of ideas for this lovely room! A complete make over; new furniture, art, curtains, perhaps wallpaper…. this will be a delight to transform and you’ll love your dreamy new room when complete!

I would suggest a move to more earthy, warm tones here and ditch the tallboy! It is a heavy weight on the room and it’s had its day. You need the storage, but we can achieve a far better, more slim-lined solution to that!

The bedhead, bedside tables and lamps are also a focus, nothing escapes my eagle eye.

The mirrored shoe bins may or may not survive, but I’d like to assess that in greater depth when working on the CIP. I think it is safe to say that nothing is entirely safe, except for the tall carved cupboard in the living area. Like I said, working with open minded people is always such a pleasure, but you do need to tell me if i ever overstep the line in my turfing out of your possessions!!

Therese’s study:

For a room used as a professional office, this one is wildly inefficient!! It has loads if potential though, especially as it opens on to a sunny verandah. Moving the wardrobe out is step number one in making the room look and feel 100% better.

My approach would be for a contemporary and sleek look that was sophisticated, yet relaxed. There is so much we could do to really make the room a beautiful space to work, but also making it a viable extension to the living spaces throughout the home, including a guest bedroom when the need arises.

A comprehensive plan for this room too, will yield a trove of ideas for furnishings that invite you in. Currently it is as though you’re working in someone’s bedroom, so the bed has to go along with the cupboard and the light fitting!!

Outdoor furniture will also work draw out the sense of space and will be a lovely addition to this area.

To conclude:

Therese and Dave, the above is start point for us to ensure that we all set expectations and feel confident that we are off to a flying start. Please don’t hesitate to add or subtract - or to question any of it. This is YOUR home and at every step of the way I will be checking in on how you’re feeling about the direction we take. See it as a collaboration - not a rigid concept to be stuck to!

I hope you feel as strongly as I do that we will make a fine team and I look forward to hearing from you once you’ve had a chance to digest.

Henrietta x