GOOD BONES

A grand yet charismatic house on Sydney's North Shore called for colour, playfulness and some clever spatial planning.

- Hanna Marton

When the new custodians of this sixbedroom Federation home moved back to Sydney after living in Canberra for a few years, they coveted space.

As a couple with two young kids, they had become accustomed to stretching out. "We thought, 'How are we ever going to fit back into our teeny, tiny terrace?" says the owner, referring to her old inner-city Sydney abode. "So we looked at the North Shore and found this wonderful house."

Set on a quarter-acre block in a leafy neighbourhood with a sunny, north-facing backyard, 'Karinya' had good bones and heritage features, such as leadlight windows. It would be a heavenly place to raise children. But the owners soon realised that you can have too much of a good thing. The "enormous" house lacked function and warmth. Case in point: a cavernous 16-metre kitchen, living and dining zone that spanned the rear of the ground level. "It was like a great hall, with virtually no storage," recalls the owner. "It didn't feel cosy."

Initially, she engaged her old friend and interior architectural designer Mia Ward, director of Miwa Designs, just to address the lack of cosiness, redesign the kitchen and conjure up some much-needed joinery.

Her best-laid plans quickly snowballed.

Since the family wanted to stay in the house during the build, and the bathrooms and bedrooms were dated, it made sense to renovate the entire ground floor all at once. The lower and upper levels only required minor cosmetic tweaks.