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 Greenwich House

Diane and David,

Thank you for inviting me to your home and for sharing with me the vision you have for its transformation. After so many years of uncertainty around the issue of circling developers, your decision to go ahead and renovate your home is going to be all the more exciting and invigorating for your persistence and belief.

This initial page is to play back to you, as I understand it, the scope of the project. Once you feel confident that our shared expectations are aligned, and once we have discussed your budget outline, then we can proceed to the next phase - the drawing up of a Creative Interior Plan - or CIP.

Please take your time reviewing the following and feel free to ask questions or add comments as you go.

This is a very charming cottage with a lovely sunny garden in a location that you love. I so look forward to helping you materialise those hopes and dreams for the house that you’ve been itching to do for so long and I would be honoured to be involved in the process.

Henrietta x

Outside

The exposed bricks of the house are such a lovely feature, but the gable above your bedroom window is not original and would be great to replace with a more period treatment. The painting of the exterior woodwork , replacing the front fence and the gate, removing the pine trees and planting a garden on the lawn are all proposed. Additionally, exploring the possibility of creating an access to the front balcony would give the added pleasure of easier access to the garden and therefore, increased usage of that space.

The entrance portico needs some love! The addition of federation mosaic tiling would really enhance this area, as well as new garden lighting and a new light fitting to light the portico.

The entrance to your home sets the tone for what flows inside, so careful consideration needs to be given to its design and the budget required to achieve this. Often, people neglect to include this in their budget, so I like to mention it early! A lovely entrance gives a warm welcome and so it needs to planned with care.

The back garden is filled with sunshine and blue sky and I can quite see how you love it! It is well tended and quite clearly, it is a treasured spot for you to relax. Once the paving has been addressed to accomodate changes to the back of the house, and possibly some raised garden beds added for structure, I am sure that with your continued expertise, the garden will continue to flourish and give you immense satisfaction.

However, I do have questions about the garage. Obviously, you intend painting it and perhaps you might consider training some bougainvillea over it, which would enlarge the sense of green space and add some fabulous colour. But inside the garage, I am wondering if there is a possibility of building floor to ceiling cupboards to house David’s prodigious files???!!! More on that to come.

The back of the house is going to look much more open once the new doors and window are in place, and so I would encourage you to think how else you could enhance the area with perhaps a pergola, some outdoor furniture, and as suggested, raised garden beds to delineate the area.

Outdoor lighting can be considered for here too, on the garage for practical reasons, and in the garden for mood. Gardens can look just as lovely at night as they do during the day.

Inside

The front door of your house looks tp be original, but the glass has been replaced at some point. Another consideration might be to replace it with a replica of what most likely was there when the house was built. We could look into the cost of this, as it would be a gesture well worth the effort and expense to restore the character at the point of entrance to the home.

Painting, carpeting and furnishing each of the rooms is the fun part and the CIP will detail all of that. But critical to that creative process is understanding budget parameters and working with those to avoid frustration.

Above are the existing and proposed floor plans. With little structural change, the renovation will focus on revamping and repairing the existing, including replacing the roof, repairing the damage caused by leaks to plaster and walls, remodelling the kitchen and bathroom/laundry, removing the doorway between the hall and the living room, replacing windows and doors in the kitchen and adding a high window on the the southern end of the kitchen. This list is not exhaustive as there are a number of other maintenance issues you will address with the builder.

Kitchen/dining room

Although fundamentally the layout of the kitchen is to remain, with new cabinetry and better design, the space in this area will be improved significantly, By replacing the back doors with potentially bi-folds or doors that open out instead of sliding, the connection to the garden will also be improved.

New kitchen cabinetry, new bench tops, updated lighting and improved design will really make this area, with its sunny outlook, take on quite a different vibe. Retaining the amenity of a raised breakfast bar to ‘hide’ the chaos is a good idea, as is adding better recycling/rubbish storage, increasing pantry space, better utility of corner cabinets and improving functionality - all are noted for inclusion in the CIP.

Focus will be on lightening the feel of the room with careful selection of furniture, furnishings, lighting - and that knock-out artwork we WILL find! The flooring will be an important piece of the design of this area, as will be the design of the window seat, storage beneath that, upholstery, window coverings and other new pieces of furniture. The dining chairs you have are very handsome, and will be even more so with re-upholstering!

Replacing the pine dresser and finding a couple of new chairs to place either side of a new sideboard is the intention, but there is an opportunity here to explore lots of options.

This area is the living heart of the house - as it is in any household, the kitchen and dining areas are where we gather and the casual nature of the way we live in these spaces needs to be reflected in the way we approach refurbishment. Not only does this room open to the garden with it’s sunny aspect, it is also filled with books and I want to take a cue from that important aspect of your lives to really enhance and build on the notion of a sunny, comfy, characterful nook where you can feel most relaxed, and where you can eat, entertain, or just curl up with a good book or gaze out at your lovely garden.

The living room

The living room is ripe for the picking! With its beautiful period features, fireplace and windows, it will be a pleasure to find the missing pieces you have identified, re-carpet, add window coverings, repaint and generally give it an overhaul. It is the room in which you spend your evenings either reading, watching tv or entertaining, so it needs to address all of the needs of those activities as well as make you feel proud to bring friends in to.

By removing the doorway into the hall, the room will be less challenging to arrange the furniture, increasing the options, the space and the general impact.

I so look forward to reinvigorating this room! I love that you are keen to highlight the original features and colours and I think we can really make this room the jewel in the crown!

If we searched the globe I don’t think we could find better light fittings that the ones that we already have in the hall and living room - they have all the grace and style of the era and will look even better once we have completed the room’s makeover.

The bedroom

The bedroom has been invaded not by flies, but by files - oh what a difference letter arrangement makes!! Bedrooms are no place for either flies or files, so the challenge is to evict the latter, and never admit the former!!

This room will respond brilliantly to some warming up of the colour scheme, replacing of the curtains, light fittings, the addition of art, painting of the cupboards, and even - maybe - some wallpaper. Lots of options to explore here, but the focus is on lightening, warming and adding a little more luxe.

I’m not suggesting cluttering the room - it is not spacious and with two beds to accomodate, we need to be judicious with including anything. But I do think we can improve the room enormously by for example, addressing the lighting, the bedside tables, the bed coverings etc.

The study

Wow. This is a serious challenge because the Tardis is already spoken for!! The storage capacity for files is just not available for you and the frustration of that must be difficult to deal with. We spoke on Thursday about potentially adding storage for files in the attic, but on reflection, I wonder if that is making a difficult situation worse. A retractable ladder is great when it leads to a place where you store things like suitcases required infrequently (particularly in this era!). But David if you’re needing to go up and down to files regularly, I question the wisdom of this option.

As I mentioned earlier, it occurs to me that perhaps the solution could be in the garage. Without pinching much space at all, a bank of file storage/cupboards could be constructed and the problem could well be solved. You’d have much easier access, the garage is presumably water proof, there is good light out there, etc. You could get all the files in one place, leaving only the files in current use in the study - and none under the bed!!

Well planned joinery that accommodates both of you is almost the most important aspect of this renovation because it will solve the congestion that is driving you nuts. The large cupboards, the desks, good lighting and updated decor will totally change your enjoyment of this room and its functionality.

With the cracks in the wall by the door resolved and access to the balcony and the garden beyond facilitated by the removal of those file elephants, the room will truly be transformed.

(I didn’t take enough photos of this room because I think there wasn’t enough room for another camera click!!)

Finding a workable solution to the storage deficiency is the critical action required here, I have faith in you!

Bathroom/laundry

In most houses, this is the room that dates the fastest and requires the most attention in a renovation - the combination of heat and water is not a happy match for tiles, mould issues and fixtures. So this will be a fun space to make good again.

We spoke about the different options available regarding the structural change and I think we should explore those in greater detail. A space efficient laundry is essential, a second loo preferred, and a lovely new sparkly bathroom sans bath is the objective and I have every confidence we will exceed expectations on all fronts!

Deciding the best use of the area is the challenge and I will want to discuss the options at length with you so that we arrive at the solution which delivers all the objectives as set out above.

Next steps:

After reviewing this document, if you would like to proceed with me as your interior designer, then I will come back and we will begin to plot the path to a beautiful new home!

I will need to take more photographs and measurements, and we will need to have a frank discussion about budget.

After that meeting, I will invoice you for the CIP and that will be the trigger point for the process to properly get underway.

You can text or email any time for updates, queries or additions, and I am reasonably available to chat on the phone or to drop by should either of us require that.

This is the beginning of a fun and challenging process and so it is important for all of us to be comfortable in knowing the expectations of each stage are transparent and free flowing.

So let’s get started!