Sydney's Inner-Western suburbs are densely populated with Federation cottages. They display a wide variety of lush decorative detailing, though with a more hand-crafted, nature-focused spirit than Victorian architecture, with its decoration born of the Industrial Revolution and numerous historic style wars. So, when approaching the restoration of this rather sober fronted Federation cottage, the owners were keen to find a happy balance between creating a strong impact and something in keeping with the architecture. The strong impact was achieved with the fire engine red door, providing a strong visual pop to the facade and acting as a foil to the understated, timeless elegance of the Barclay checkerboard verandah with Norwood border.
In choosing a geometric 'old English' floor pattern for their verandah, the clients were guided by memories of pavements seen & owned in London, where checkerboard floors realised in the smaller scale of 50x50mm are quite common. Adding additional strips to the standard Norwood border, ensured that the border would not get lost in the general pattern but exist in its own right. The success of this project is the result of many small, discrete aesthetic choices being taken to yield something that is more than the sum of its parts.
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