Kent House

Ascot Vale

A very tired, run-down and dark Edwardian that desperately needed fresh life brought into it. The renovation reached every corner — rooms opened to light, period detail restored, floors brought back to life — and then kept going, out the front door: new boundary walls and gates, bluestone underfoot, and a front garden that produces food where a tired lawn used to be.

Restored entry hall with fretwork arch, leadlight doors and polished baltic pine floors — Fig I.The entry — fretwork, leadlight and light again

Lounge with black fireplace wall, inbuilt wood fire and ornate plaster ceiling — Fig II.The lounge, warmed by a new fire in an old room

Main bedroom with black feature wall, curved bay of leadlight windows and timber floors — Fig III.The main bedroom — all walls replastered and restored

Front bedroom with restored floral-tile fireplace, checkerboard hearth and leadlight windows — Fig V.The front bedroom — floral tiles, leadlight and morning sun

Rear courtyard with breeze block wall, recycled brick seat and bluestone paving — Fig VI.The rear courtyard — breeze block, brick and bluestone

The garden

The landscape wasn't an afterthought. It was half the project.

New boundary walls, gates and paving reframed the block; raised beds in painted brick and timber turned the front garden over to food. Vegetables under the leadlight windows, herbs by the porch — a garden to be lived with, not looked at.

Raised black timber vegetable beds full of brassicas against a black fence with festoon lighting — Fig VII.The kitchen garden in full production

Finished front garden — vegetables in the black raised bed beneath the bay window, lawn and path complete — Fig VIII.Food growing under the bay window

Black rendered boundary wall with brass 159 numerals, letterbox and timber batten gate — Fig IX.The new street face — render, timber and brass

The transformation

Fresh life, room by room, fence line to back gate.

The deep restoration work happened over a year — which means the before images are honest and the distance travelled is real.

The front garden before — overgrown conifer columns hiding the facade

The front garden after — open facade with productive raised beds

The front garden: conifers out, food in.

The old white picket fence with the 159 house number

The new black rendered wall with brass 159 numerals

The same 159, two eras apart.

The lounge before — the original mantle and bare boards

The lounge after — the black fireplace wall with inbuilt wood fire

The lounge — the old mantle reborn as the black fireplace wall.

Planning something like this?

We design and manage renovations end to end — inside the walls and out — as one point of contact from first sketch to finished home.

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