Our $35, 000 dream reno

Putting in a new kitchen was part of the overhaul of our old terrace house in Sydney’s inner west, which involved demolishing the outdoor bathroom, turning an original bedroom into a bathroom and building two new bedrooms.

 

One of the new bedrooms was to be constructed over the kitchen, so the whole area was almost completely demolished and rebuilt to allow for the lowering of the floor.

 

The builders, Jason and Nigel from Attic Constructions in inner Sydney, kept and cleaned as many of the original bricks as possible

while salvaging the old sandstone hearth that now forms new kitchen stairs and garden beds.

 

My partner Mark especially liked the original configuration of the kitchen but agreed we needed to add storage and bench space while updating the much loved but impractical old Kooka stove. We wanted enough space for both of us to cook.

 

To replace the wall that ran alongside the courtyard we wanted bifold doors that could be opened up to create a big summer room.

 

The architect suggested aluminium-framed doors but we wanted to keep the rustic feel of the original kitchen so opted for Stegbar

customised timber doors in a French window style.

 

A disaster came with the new French doors when we discovered they were a mirror image of what we’d ordered.

 

It turned out that a data entry error had seen them manufactured to exactly the opposite configuration to what we wanted.

 

Stegbar addressed the problem but the replacement doors had to be finished and installed, with the delay pushing back the pouring of the floor and consequently everything else.

A concrete floor had always appealed but because we had a fl oating floor we didn’t think it would be possible.

 

Then friends mentioned a new product called Pandomo, that looks like concrete but is softer underfoot and can be laid over timber in a layer as thin as 5mm. It’s used in restaurants and commercial premises so we went to see it in situ and were impressed.

 

We chose a neutral shade, laid by Concrete Artisans, to complement the benchtops. The result is ultra-modern and seamless, it feels great underfoot and is more forgiving of dropped glasses than standard concrete or tiles.