Birkenhead: Takeaway inspiration

A couple reinvented their villa with some clever internal work and landscaping.

30 Roseberry Avenue, Birkenhead.

When photographer Alistair Guthrie and his wife Astrud moved into their Birkenhead villa 41/2 years ago, they celebrated by sitting on the floor and eating fish 'n' chips - then had a bit of fun tearing off the old wallpaper.

That pink wallpaper had to go, along with a lot of the other dated features as the couple opened up the house and modernised it.

"We worked within the existing walls but we shifted stuff around - we've just reinvented it," says Astrud.

The century-old villa now has white walls - apart from a feature wall here and there - and dark stained floorboards.

"When we had finished the walls and floors, it looked like an art gallery; we wanted to leave it like that," says Astrud, who has worked as an art director.

But resisting that urge, the couple made a very comfortable family home for their daughters Augustine, 8, and Aila, 5.

"With the trampoline, the swimming pool, the playhouse and all that backyard, the place is really self-contained," says Astrud.

And Alistair says the wide hallway that bisects the house has been a defacto racetrack for the kids' bikes.

To one side of that hallway are the living and dining areas, while the bedrooms and bathrooms are on the other.

Off the open plan kitchen and dining area are bifolds that lead to a deck on the southern side of the house. If you veer right you are on to the wide wrap around verandah that takes you to the back of the house and overlooks the pool. If you turn around, bifolds take you into the sitting room that shares a back-to-back fireplace with the dining room.

It wasn't just the house that came in for attention - landscaping the section was another major task. Alistair says that included ripping out bamboo, erecting a fence and putting in decking around the "classic North Shore kidney-shaped pool". The chicken coops under the house were removed and that area now provides a cool, shady spot overlooking the pool. And they even managed to score a playhouse for the kids that they have repainted in striking colours and sat at the bottom of the garden.

They refrained from tackling the downstairs, which they use for storage.

"There's another house underneath if someone wanted to do it," says Alistair. "It would take very little excavation work because there's a lot of room under there all the way back."

Now Alistair and Astrud have their eye on another old house in need of renovation on the Shore.

As Astrud explains, "We want to do it all again but with something smaller. We just don't need this much house. We've experienced the big house now but some of our happiest times have been in tiny little bachs."

It looks like more first night fish 'n' chips and spontaneous renovations could be in store for the family.

Vital Statistics

BEDROOMS: 4

BATHROOMS: 2

NO GARAGE BUT OFF-STREET PARKING FOR 2 CARS.

SIZE: Land 989sq m, house 200sq m (approx).

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected above $800,000. Auction February 23.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 3-3.40pm.

CONTACT: Fran & Phil Weinstein, Barfoot & Thompson Birkenhead, ph 480 9029 bus, 021 432 432 (Fran), 021 567 567 (Phil).

FEATURES: Stylishly modernised villa, elevated and sunny with wrap around verandah, landscaped gardens, children's playhouse and inground pool.