Confronted by a sense of shame about their home and kids too embarrassed to have friends over, this family had to do something.
With gutters falling off their brackets and buckets used to catch stray rainwater dripping through the cracks in the ceiling, it’s no wonder Sibon and Gerard Schouten were keen to call in the experts.
By the time Foxtel’s Love It or List It’s real estate expert, Andrew Winter, and design guru, Neale Whitaker, were called in to inspect the Hunters Hill Californian bungalow, rooms were full of mould and an intervention was well overdue.
Sibon and Gerard and their sons Leon, 14, and Remy, had moved into the property seven years earlier and were in a constant flux about knocking it down to build new, or reinstate the home’s heritage beauty with a renovation.
Aside from the obvious issues, Sibon’s other bugbear was the laundry was outside, and the whole family shared one bathroom. She also ran a business from home and needed a dedicated space to work, and with Covid lockdowns, Gerard was also homebound working. In the meantime, they plodded along with very basic repairs, which Sibon admits barely made a dent in improving their situation.
“We have to tell the truth,” she says.
“We are simply not DIY people. We had a leaking roof, and basically we just didn’t know where to start. From the front to the back, there were things that needed to be done. It was overwhelming.”
Gerard too admits the house’s problems all became too much for them.
“We talked about just fixing up the front because that’s what people see, but then we thought, ‘wouldn’t it make more sense to make the house more liveable for our family’. We just talked ourselves in circles for years,” he says.
EXPERT RENOVATION HELP DESPERATELY NEEDED
Sibon was ready to put a “for sale” sign on the property and move on, but not before Neale had the opportunity to work his magic on the “old girl”, which is how the family had referred to their somewhat dilapidated home.
“The boys would never invite their friends over here. There was a sense of shame and not feeling proud and I didn’t want that for them,” says Sibon.
With a renovation budget of $200,000 Neale was up against it, fighting off his LIOLI real estate competitor who valued the home at around $2.1 million unrenovated.
Sibon and Gerard had bought the property for $1.2 million, so selling it off for such a big profit and reinvesting the money in a ready-to-move-in property certainly appealed.
But, by adding an extension out the back with large stacker doors and creating distinct kitchen and living zones with tall windows and skylights, Sibon, who was mentally half out the door, was warming to the home’s changes.
“I think we’re going to have to stop calling her the ‘old girl’,” says Neale.
“We’ve taken her from looking like a derelict dwelling to an attractive and classic, yet contemporary home.”
Neale had also given Sibon the one thing she wanted most: an internal laundry and an ensuite off the master bedroom, so the family of four no longer had to share one bathroom.
Gerard says his house with its heritage charms remained intact in the renovation while the beautifully detailed modern extension made it functional for the family and their needs.
“When we started to look at the other houses to buy with Andrew, most still had some work to do to get them to where they needed to be for our family. We didn’t want to go from one project to another,” he says.
When the time came to decide between whether they would Love It or List It, the couple were given just 15 minutes to decide.
“I started to think, let’s sell it,” says Gerard.
“I had this preconceived idea that I would love the house, and Sibon would want to sell … in the end we flipped.”
Even Sibon was surprised by what came out of her mouth: “I love it. We’re staying.”
“I had unfinished business with this house. Andrew says there is no such thing as a forever house. This home is right for us, right now. Who knows, we might list it later.”
Later may be a long way off though, as in another surprise move, the family are uprooting and moving to Amsterdam next month. Gerard was offered a promotion with his company and the family could be overseas for up to five years.
Sibon, whose parents live in the UK, is welcoming the move.
“As a family, it’s our carpe diem moment. My parents had Covid last year, and it would make visiting them so much easier.”
Gerard agrees: “I’m looking forward to it, I think it will be an amazing experience. I can’t believe though that we got our dream home and now we’re leaving. I hope the tenants take good care of it.”
Watch or stream Love It Or List It Australia on Foxtel.
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