Selling Houses Australia - Baulkham Hills

The LifeStyle Channel's Selling Houses Australia Episode 6 Season 9

The Story: Michael is the sole owner of the house in Baulkham Hills, a boom area where properties like his are selling for over a million dollars. With retirement looming, Michael thought that this was his chance to cash in - but not everyone was as keen on his home as he was, and it just languished on the market.

Michael believes the problem is that his house is old and tired and is competing with many new builds. Also, the street number 95F makes people think that the home is on a battle-axe block. So it is time to transform his home from ordinary to extraordinary.

The Problem: Michael had done everything right to try to sell his property. He gave it a new paint job, a new roof, and it was clean and tidy. The main issue was that the house was just ordinary. In a saturated market such as Baulkham Hills, standing out of the crowd is essential - something that his house did not do.

The Solution: Transform ordinary to extraordinary by injecting some style into the house. This forgettable house needed a little floor adjustment to get the most out of it. The office in the master bed dressing area was moved, and turned into a room of its own. One of the doors leading to the garage was blocked off, making the office a room of its own right and not a walk through.
Now that the office was out of the dressing area, there was no need for a second walk-in robe. By demolishing this, the floor space and shape of the family room was increased.

Laminate was used in the kitchen, hall and family room, while all the luxury areas like the lounge and bedrooms were carpeted. This helped the floor plan flow and connected each area of the house together.

The kitchen had good bones, but looked tired. A massive respray brought the kitchen back to life. Luxaflex Duette Shades in LiteRise and Vertiglide operating systems in 20mm Architella Elan Translucent fabric (Daisy White) were installed. The Duette Vertiglide was the ideal solution for the kitchen sliding door. The fabric runs from side to side, vertically suspended from a single track system, therefore is the best solution for sliding doors or as a sliding room divider, whilst also providing superior energy efficiency in heating and cooling.

A modern palette of grey on the walls and bold tones in the bedrooms brought the interior up to date, and Luxaflex Duette Shades in LiteRise operating system in 20mm Architella Elan Translucent fabric (Daisy White) was the perfect neutral match for the bedrooms.

The light-blocking pergola was removed, and replaced with the Luxaflex Garda Folding Arm Awning to allow light into the house on those darker days. The Garda Awning was an ideal solution for sun protection over the expansive entertaining area of the backyard. With an oval design, the Garda awning added an elegant appearance to the Baulkham Hills home.

All Luxaflex® Window Coverings were supplied and installed by Luxaflex® Gallery dealer Master Quality Shades in Castle Hill, Sydney.

Selling Houses Australia- Stroud

The LifeStyle Channel's Selling Houses Australia Episode 5 Season 9

The Story: Ariana and Melissa purchased their Stroud property after Ariana got a job there with the NSW Ambulance Service. They thought it would be a nice place to settle. They have family in Newcastle and buying in Stroud meant they could afford a big property for the family they were planning.

The couple now have 3 boys under the age of 3. There is 3 year old Zac, 18 month old Eli, and 6 week old new born Tane.

All was going to plan until Ariana's job meant that they had to move to Teagardens. As a Paramedic, she has to be on call, which means the family have to live in the place she works. Ariana and Melissa are really desperate to get a sale and feel stuck with the house they own while living somewhere else in a rental.

The Problem: This house had an overall very good interior, but it just had a very old fashion look to it. which needed some modern character injected into it. The carpet was old and daggy, and made the kitchen, dining area and lounge area feel disjointed.

The backyard had a sloping garden, and a large deck which needed replacing - a beast of a project on its own. The shed created an ugly distraction from the deck/entertaining area, and needed to be hidden or covered up.

The Solution: Take the daggy out of the house by sprucing up the interior and exterior. The backyard had a sloping garden, so the old deck was replaced with a new one. Because the deck was so large, it was divided into zones for dining and lounging. A beautiful slatted screen was installed to hide the shed from the entertaining area of the deck, making it more appealing. By matching the paint at the front of the house to the back plus a clean and tidy up, the exterior was brought back to life.

Inside the house, only simple, but effective changes were made. The old fashion feel of the house was banished, injecting some modernism to create some character.

By taking out the carpet in the living/dining area and replacing it with modern laminate, it instantly created flow between the kitchen, dining and lounge areas. It also created the illusion of extra space.

Beach Roman Shades in Series B500 Translucent fabric (White) were installed in the lounge and dining area. Beach Roman Shades added that contemporary feel to the house, and was the perfect colour compliment to the grey and white tones of the house. Luxaflex® Beach Roman Shades are a great insulator, as they can extend past the window frame for full coverage, and the translucent fabric allows for natural sunlight to come into the lounge and dining area - creating the perfect ambiance.

B500 Blockout fabric in White were chosen instead for the bedrooms for privacy and coverage from the natural light. The Beach Romans in the bedroom created a timeless, yet contemporary look, injecting character into the previously dull looking bedrooms.

Selling Houses Australia - Mudgeeraba

The LifeStyle Channel's Selling Houses Australia Episode 4 Season 9

The Story: Maria and Marissa, along with Maria's partner Alan, bought this iconic windmill property in 2001. The plan was that Marissa would run the family Indian restaurant business and Maria and Alan would bottle their chutneys and spices. They decided to close the restaurant to concentrate on the spice business. A few days after that, Maria's partner Alan passed away from cancer.

Since Alan's death, the girls have found it difficult to maintain their beloved windmill. Much of their time is taken up with the cooking and mixing of their spices and chutneys, not to mention regular visits to markets and food festivals to promote and sell their product.

The property has been on the market for two long years and this is causing no end of frustration to Maria and Marissa. They need to buy or rent a small industrial space to run and attempt to expand their small business, but cannot afford to do this until their quirky windmill sells.

The Problem: This commercial residence was very outdated, and needed to be cleaned up and brought out of the dark ages. It needed to find a way to show potential buyers that the house could be used for a number of purposes. The exposed brink on the inside made it darker than it should be, making the property feel gloomy. The restaurant area was overloaded with product, making the space feel really crammed and small.

The residence area was completely dated, but everything was in good working condition. From the purple and brown colour scheme to the old furniture, it needed a modern and fresh look.

The exterior looked quite sad, because the sails of the windmill was broken. The windmill looked odd next to the residential part of the house, and really needed to pop and create that wow factor from the outside.

The Solution: Bring back the identity of the windmill property by restoring the sails and bringing some modern into the interior. The exterior of the property was given a new paint job to brighten up the windmill. The light butter colour automatically made the windmill stand out and complimented the existing brickwork. The front door steps were also re-tiled to replace all the broken tiles.

The dark and very dated colours of the commercial space was replaced with an on-trend grey colour to brighten up the inside and create a modern look. The interior brick work around the fireplace was also covered up, which allowed for the vintage wooden ceiling to stay as something had to give.

It was important to highlight the commercial aspect of the property, but also needed to keep all options open by revamping the domestic area. In the residential part of the property, the horrible purple suede effect was painted over with a nice neutral colour, which automatically brightened up the property.

Roller Blinds in Atmosphere Translucent fabric in the colour Pure White were installed because they have a clean look and matched perfectly with the interior's colour scheme. Luxaflex Roller Blinds gave the property a stylish finish as well as offering functionality and easy operation.

The bedrooms were given some new appeal with new linen and furniture, and the dated curtains replaced with Luxaflex Roller Blinds.

All Luxaflex® Window Coverings were supplied and installed by Luxaflex® Gallery dealer Tomorrow's Home Environment in Bundall, QLD.