Made With Love

ONE CLEVER PERTH COUPLE HAS CREATED A HOME THAT’S SUNNY, STYLISH AND SYMPATHETIC TO ITS ROOTS – PLUS, TAILOR-MADE JUST FOR THEM

- Kathryn Madden

When this quaint 1930s weatherboard was listed for sale in 2015, perhaps it should have come with an ‘endangered species’ tag. Set in a lovely, leafy suburb in inner-city Perth, the home had watched many of its long-time neighbours be knocked down and rebuilt. Lucky, then, for this little home that it was snapped up at auction by young couple Seve, a building designer, and Laila, a primary school teacher with a creative bent. “The house had a great front facade and sat on a nice flat block,” says Seve. “But it needed a lot of work.” With its broken floorboards, cracked tiles and unattractive rusty-brown shower, it would have been all too easy to demolish the crumbling yet characterful two-bedder, but the couple had other plans. “We wanted to show the value of retaining a character home in the area,” affirms Laila.