Clever colours

Photo / Supplied

Most renters are forced to grin and bear the state of their home. Happily for Natalie Walker and Sean MacKinnon, renting their 1940s weatherboard bungalow from MacKinnon's family in Australia means they had free rein to update it.

MacKinnon had lived in the Westmere, Auckland, house until he was 10 with his mother and his two brothers. He can still recall the floral wallpaper, the linoleum in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry, and the Axminster carpet in the lounge. In his university years, he flatted here with his brothers and some friends. Their idea of home improvement was to paint over the wallpaper and rip up the carpet.

The boys weren't interested in the finer points of interior design because "the place was a real bachelor hangout". But all that changed five years ago, when Walker moved in and the flatmates moved out. "I saw a sweet little character bungalow needing a facelift and I felt really inspired," says Walker, a commercial interior designer. To make the house liveable immediately, they painted one of the walls in the main lounge a shade of deep violet and the adjoining walls taupe.

"The cream walls had seen better days and we needed something different," says MacKinnon of their feature wall. Walker says they decided to have a bit of fun with a bold colour before they set about working on permanent choices as part of an overall colour scheme. Two years later they began refurbishing in earnest, working to a strict budget.

They pulled off four layers of wallpaper in the lounge before they conceded that the walls were in no fit state and had the plasterboard professionally replaced to achieve the required smooth finish. The soft white on the lounge walls complements their furniture, including an old 1960s dresser found under the house which has been given a charcoal stain finish, and now has pride of place beneath a Florence Broadhurst peacock fabric artwork in the dining room.

MacKinnon and Walker also spruced up the dining room by removing the bulky curtains and instead using window film. The fireplace was made over with a stone veneer surround and a tiled hearth. By using colour cleverly, the couple has managed to revamp the kitchen without spending much money.

Original features, such as the timber cabinetry, trims and tongue and groove wall panelling, remain, but they have been given a fresh look with a coat of green paint. Installing open shelving above the original stainless-steel bench has allowed Walker to display her modern white and green accessories - a stylish way of contrasting old and new. The house might have been in the same family for 40 years, but now it looks every bit the modern pad.

* Leanne Moore is the editor of Your Home & Garden.