Shop 2, 14-20 Gardeners Road Kingsford, NSW, 2032
Irish lass, Molly met Aussie miner, Tom while backpacking around the country. They fell in love, started life in remote Mt Isa. Her family followed her to Australia, settling in Brisbane, but the distance and expense means she rarely sees them. Molly’s Dad has been diagnosed with cancer, so she’s desperate to move to Brisbane to spend more time with him and bring her hubby and two young children with her.
Molly and Tom paid top dollar for their 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom property seven years ago. That was amidst a mining boom where buying was cheaper than renting! Juggling two young children and a full time job, while hubby works long hours at the mines, Molly’s home has been understandably ravaged by family life.
They are asking a sale price of around $480,000 in a market that’s dipped, but is slowly picking up. Mt Isa is a rural area, so sales don't come as quickly as they do in the city, but their place has been languishing on the market for 12 months. Can a refresh entice a new buyer?
The most modern and tidy room of the house was the bathroom which Molly and Tom recently renovated. So, Shaynna took inspiration from it injecting the same modern contemporary look throughout the rest of the house.
The tired and worn kitchen was her first project. She showed by changing a few small things you can make it look like a brand new kitchen. She replaced a laminate splashback with white tiles in a herringbone pattern, almost making it a feature. Painting the brown panels of the cabinetry white worked a charm.
A delicately pattern fabric was chosen to dress the windows, replacing the dated wooden venetians. The headboxes were removed and Luxaflex® Roller Blinds put in, delivering a much tidier and sleeker look to all the rooms.
The house has a good floor plan so the only thing really needed was painting, dressing, and new carpets. Shaynna turned large, ugly, white wall in the living room into a feature by painting it a teal colour and carried that colour in the master – connecting the two spaces. This gave the space character and large art work also value added.
Mount Isa is a dusty place so carpets were a real turn off for buyers. Shaynna replaced the flooring with a vinyl, appropriately coloured to disguise the dirt and a hell of a lot easier to clean.
Other than the flooring and window coverings, the bedrooms were in a good state and did not require major updates. Some of the venetian blinds were falling apart and the owners were improvising in the nursery with a sheet of black fabric to act as curtains, so they were the first to be given a revamp. Similar to the kitchen, living and dining rooms, Luxaflex® Roller Blinds from the ‘Texee’ fabric range were installed, however in a Blockout opacity rather than the Translucent counterparts in the rest of the house. The bedrooms required room darkening solutions to shield out the sun, so these new blinds are perfect for maintaining privacy and keeping the kids asleep in the mornings!
Shaynna turned a liability in the hole in the wall in the granny flat, by adding doors and turning it into a bedroom instead of a store room for Molly’s work inventory. She also reused furniture and turned the space into a proper granny flat.
Charlie had his work cut out for him in the dusty baron backyard which he felt resembled a Baghdad wasteland. He transported in new turf from Townsville – quite the journey – but well worth it, which helped turn the big backyard into a green oasis. To keep it green, he added an irrigation system which was quite high tech, and can be operated on your phone via bluetooth. Buying soil for a big area isn’t cheap so he went to the local cattle yards instead and found some fresh manure.
The backyard perimeter had a multiple personality problem with three different types of fencing. Charlie ditched one of them, and painted the rear brick wall a dark grey to help it recede. In front of it, he added a line of desert-hardy Lillypillies.
To give the house some street appeal, Charlie painted the front façade more modern colours including grey, working with already existing colours to cut back on paint costs. He added a gravel to a patch of grass which had little purpose, creating a space for those with big toys like parking boats, jet skis, or caravans.
The gorgeous makeover was enough to get this rural property market moving. Molly and Tom sold their home for $420,000, leaving them free to make their next big move to Brisbane.
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The products in this episode were proudly supplied by Luxaflex® Window Fashions Gallery dealer Carpet One Toowoomba in Toowoomba, QLD.
