A MODERNIST mid-century home with all the characteristics of the popular architectural style has hit the market in Lake Macquarie.
The perfectly styled residence at 27 Greenwood Avenue, Belmont was purchased a decade ago by owners James Craft, a Newcastle-based residential architect, and his school teacher husband Matthew Perkins who instantly recognised the potential the home had to offer despite its shabby appearance.
"From my background in architecture, I knew what I was looking at and could see the potential," James said.
"In the state that it was in a lot of people couldn't see that but I knew straight away that with the full-length windows and all the detailing that was hiding behind the clutter we could do something with this home."
Typical of homes built in Australia during the 50s and 60s, the residence boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, easy interior flow and functional indoor-outdoor connections.
The 1962 four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has many original features throughout, including exposed Oregon timber beams and western red cedar feature walls in the living rooms.
"I love mid-century design. Personally, it is one of my favourite eras of architecture because of the principles behind it," James said.
"I like to try to adapt those core principles into new projects even if it's not mid-century-looking, you can readapt the original principles of connecting the outside and using natural materials and open spaces."
The project has been a labour of love for the couple who set to work on renovating the home shortly after moving in.
The house has been completely renovated inside and out, including the removal of a concrete backyard to transform it into a lush, green-filled space.
As for the kitchen and bathroom, both were in original condition when the owners moved in, with a retro colour scheme of brown, green and yellow.
"The kitchen was mission brown with yellow benchtops and we lived with that for about six months and then said 'We can't do this any more'," James said.
"We went with minimal details in the kitchen so that it didn't compete with all of the original features. We wanted it to be in keeping and sympathetic to the style."
They chose neutral tones in the kitchen and bathroom but ran with the original profile of the tiles.
"We kind of picked up on what was there existing because on the original floor were 100 x 100 mission brown tiles and lime green subway tiles on the walls, so we picked up that profile and we used subway tiles on the wall but did those in a matt white.
"On the floor, we again did the 100 x 100 tile instead of mission brown we did a charcoal colour.
"So we kept the same kind of profile and originality with the style but updates it to more contemporary colours.
"We wanted to be sympathetic to the house."
The kitchen includes Bosch appliances, a waterfall island bench, a concealed rangehood and a semi-integrated dishwasher while the bathrooms feature imported pressed metal basins and Phoenix tapware.
The windows are one of the stand-out features.
"The bedroom windows are amazing. They are all original and we wanted to keep those because it floods the house with light," he said.
"It was one of the first things we noticed in the home, these amazing big windows, and what you could see on the outside."
Other features include a covered outdoor entertaining area with a spa.
The property is listed for sale via auction with Sam Taylor and Beau Hedley at TaylorHedley Property.
A price guide will be available after the first open home inspection on Saturday at 12.30pm.
