Renovation Complete: The Reveal
Well, the day has finally come. After years of planning, endless decisions and a huge amount of work, the renovation of YUGGAWAI is finally complete! Run down over time, but oozing with character, the renovation of this home has been a labour of love. Among the long list of repairs on this renovation, the house needed a new roof, a new double garage, which of course had to match the existing house’s façade, and functional access from the street via new outdoor stairs, both clad in sandstone, a feature already found on the original home. The new deck has been extended to allow for a new upstairs balcony, and the new timber floorboards have been stained in a rich dark timber stain (Johnstone's Professional 'Caboa') to add a contemporary contrast.
Due to the historic character of this home and its highly visible location, the external scheme of this house was always going to be important, even more so because this home was built by Mr. Taubman’s. The colour palette we chose starts with white (Taubmans 'Akimbo'), a logical choice to highlight the many architectural details such as the new timber balustrades and posts, and the repaired timber windows and window surrounds. The choice of white not only works due to this being a period home but is also the perfect choice for this coastal location.
For the main walls of the house we opted for a two-tone scheme to highlight the different finishes: a midtone grey (Taubmans 'Steeple Grey') for the brick wall of the ground floor and a lighter grey (Taubmans 'News Print') for those striking shingle walls on the upper level. We played with many colour combinations but ended up opting for these specific greys, which have a slight blue tinge, as it complements the orange of the sandstone so well.
One bold feature I loved right from the start was the original stained-glass front door, which also needed restoring, and to add more impact and create the grand entrance this home deserves, we chose a deep charcoal (Taubmans 'Canyon Black') which complements and frames the glass’ colours but also allows the door to stand out against the other colours of the façade.
