This Sydney entrepreneur rejected minimalism for a home brimming with character
The Dinner Ladies co-founder Katherine Westwood began her meal delivery service in her home garage. Then, she and her husband transformed the space into a must-see maximalist haven.
Walking through Katherine Westwood’s 1880s home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, it’s hard to believe that she and her husband Perry were once fans of minimalism.
Spread over three storeys, the Waverley house is brimming with character, from the ornate carved timberwork in its central hallway to stunning artwork that sits alongside a stuffed peacock and mounted water buffalo head in the loungeroom.
The co-founder of the popular ready-to-eat meal delivery service The Dinner Ladies, which started in the property’s garage in 2007, Katherine laughs as she tells how the couple once owned another home in the same charming street.
When their plans to transform that house into an architect-designed uber-modern home were blocked, they sold the property.
Serendipitously, their current house came on the market a few days later, so the pair snapped it up.
Katherine says they quickly embraced a more eclectic style of decor as they fell in love with the run-down property, which had been a boarding house for many years.
“We decided our mission here was to restore the original 1880s house, which has the most beautiful features, like the stained glass at the front door and the wooden carvings in the hallway,” says Katherine, a local councillor.
“So many people are just pulling these features out of houses, and I think that’s what turned us.
“We realised there’s so much extraordinary workmanship in the home so we came off the whole minimalist path pretty quickly.”
With four young children aged seven and under, the couple took on the formidable task of renovating the house, opting to live in the property’s single garage for eight months while the work was done.
As part of the transformation, the attic was converted into four bedrooms, while the area under the house was excavated to create an office and home theatre. Green shag carpet was pulled up, floorboards replaced and painted woodwork returned to its former glory.
As they renovated, the couple also added their own quirks to the property, much of it thanks to the imagination of Perry, a former ad director now an artist.
Inspired by his children as well as regular holidays on a family farm in southern NSW, Perry said he started “hankering for some of the things I always fantasised about as a kid”.
Not only did he build a whimsical cubby house in the backyard with timber from the original home, he also created a system of secret doors and passageways to link the children’s four upstairs bedrooms.
But perhaps the pièce de résistance is the door Perry built that leads from the hallway to the basement. Cleverly disguised as a bookcase, the door is lined with shelves filled with vintage books sporting amusing and bizarre titles.
Impressive artwork by Perry adorns the home, and includes a modern maze of Christmas beetles collected from the farm, a spectacular curved lamp made from sheep bones from the property, and vibrant portraits.
In the powder room, guests are greeted by the smiling faces of a collection of colourful crocheted toilet roll dolls.
While the front door is framed by a stunning kaleidoscope of heritage stained glass, one piece now bears an image of a boy kicking a soccer ball – an update the couple made after their youngest son shattered the original pane with a ball.
Sitting unobtrusively on a loungeroom shelf is a small photo that also tells a story.
The image depicts Katherine and the co-founder of her business Sophie Gilliatt preparing the first meals cooked in the garage for The Dinner Ladies – a chicken and celeriac pie and lamb rogan josh.
The friends first met at their children’s school. With seven young children between them, Katherine, who at the time worked in digital communications, and Gilliatt, a literary editor, discovered their mutual love of cooking and hatched a plan to start a local meal delivery service.
For two years the business operated rent free out of Katherine’s Waverley garage, which they turned into a dedicated kitchen before moving premises as the business grew.
Eighteen years later The Dinner Ladies employs more than 130 people and delivers close to 5000 boxes of meals a week to homes across the country, from Western Australia to Queensland and Victoria.
Meanwhile, the versatile garage has become an art studio for Perry, who is planning his first exhibition.
With their children now all adults, the couple say they have started to contemplate moving house, although they agree it will be an emotional decision.
“Home is anywhere that you set up but there is so much history here, not just with our family but with The Dinner Ladies as well. It’s hard to let that go,” Katherine says.
This story is from the June issue of Mansion magazine.
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