The incredible two-week renovation project

Can you really renovate a house in two weeks? Yes, you can. See how.

Happy owners and TV co hosts.

A new TV show looks at renovating for sale in Australia’s high density areas. The property makeover show, Selling In The City, airs on Foxtel screens this month, the difference here being the series is about millennial sellers, in inner-city suburbs.

New faces to the genre are the delightful designer Rosie Morley and enthusiastic landscape artist Paddy Milne. The duo seek to maximise home owners’ assets by taking a deep dive into the urban culture of each of the chosen suburbs in order to secure buyers looking in the area.

Enter the lovely young family of Simon and Sam (Samantha) Auda from the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown. To say they had been struggling to get a buyer for their terrace house, is an understatement.

Homeowners Sam and Simon Auda.

“We had three failed auctions,” recalls Sam “and our agent at the time was approached by Foxtel, and he asked if we’d be interested in a renovation.”

It was perfect timing for the couple.

“We were ready to pull the trigger on our own renovation, because we figured we’d have to do some updating because even though we loved the old-style terrace, clearly no one else did! We jumped at it.”

Newtown dining room entry way before the show.

Dining room after the show.

WHERE TO START

Sam, a lawyer, and Simon, a stay at home Dad, have one toddler and are expecting another baby in December, so they didn’t want to drag out the timeline of fulfilling their dream of a tree change to Bowral in rural NSW. Their reno budget? $80,000.

The two-storey terrace, which they had bought in 2017, was not in dreadful shape, but nor was it Vogue Living material.

The couple, thanks to Simon’s handiwork, had already done some renovating on the property which had all the living on the ground floor, leading out to a courtyard rear garden.

But the big-ticket items, such as the bathroom, despite having good light, was cramped and featured, as show interior designer Rosie Morley says, some “faux” antique detail. A problem replicated in the kitchen, where country-style cabinetry was an awkward fit with the exposed, original brickwork. In essence, nothing suited the edgy Newtown vibe.

And while the family room had full length glass door access to the courtyard, well, the courtyard (despite Simon’s best efforts) was a tad undercooked.

Designer Rosie Morley and landscape artist Paddy Milne on set.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

They had been prepared to do months of renovating, but the offer from Selling in the City freed them of doing the work, losing months of time and mess, and added amazing value for money.

“It was going to be a much quicker process than us doing it ourselves and the benefit of having a lot of the contra stuff – it was double the value of what we put in. It was amazing.”

But still, you have to be brave to say yes with this new format; where the experts Rosie and Paddy take the keys and send you away. No rules, no hints, no peeking. Not an easy thing for a homeowner to do, despite the great opportunity.

“I did a bit of research, but I think we just threw caution to the wind a bit,” says Sam. “Like why not? The hardest part for me was letting go. Having done all of the work myself before. But letting some professional do it, you know you don’t get that opportunity often!”

And the result, thanks to Rosie and

Paddy was truly a transformation.

 They took the entry way from drab to wow, using bold colour and adding features that would absolutely knock over potential Newtown buyers.

The dark kitchen before the reno.

The sleek kitchen after the makeover.

MODERN APPROACH

The kitchen came next, and not wanting to give the game away, all we can say is bravo to Rosie who treated the original features as the stars of the story, while adding lashings of contemporary black and sleek finishes. Country kitchen? Long gone.

Moving through to the family room, and not much was touched at all – which was great news for the couple.

“What was really gratifying for Simon,” says Sam, “was that Rosie didn’t touch the living room at all, where Simon had designed that beautiful cabinetry”.

Which was lucky because the courtyard budget needed a boost in order to give it a serious facelift – starting with a complete strip-out. As is the case with these old terraces, the space is not big, and Paddy cleverly addressed that using a European gardener’s trick of doubling the apparent size, without moving the boundary one inch. Paddy then added lush plantings and stylish features to draw potential buyers out into a newly created living space.

The bathroom was heritage-style before.

And the modern transformation.

TRANSFORMED

Sam and Simon, banned from peeking (well, they did do one drive by but couldn’t see anything beyond the big skip out the front), were blown away by their ‘new’ house, the transformation timeline of which would make any regular home renovator weep.

“It was two weeks! They did it so fast,” says a still elated Sam. “It was so quick and they did such an amazing job.” As did the producers, managing to capture all the action in what was a madhouse of tradies.

And how about that bathroom – the one that Simon was going to redo? “This one was 10 times, a million times better” says Sam, with a laugh. Which pretty much also goes for how much more saleable, and relevant the house has become thanks to the show.

Selling In The City is on Foxtel.