This home at 11 Emerald St, Kedron is for sale for offers over $895,000 after a $350,000 renovation.
LESSONS learned from years working as paramedics has informed the renovation of Kym Mander and Gavin Farry’s Kedron home.
AFTER This Kedron property can be accessed from Emerald Street and Leckie Road.
“Being paramedics, we wanted toilet doors that open outward,” Ms Mander said.
BEFORE The toilet is getting ready for its makeover.
AFTER The finished work with an outward opening door and its Japanese-style toilet sink.
“Our builder wasn’t happy with that, but that wasn’t negotiable. Imagine if you collapse in the toilet how hard it is to get the door open when it opens inward.”
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Bars on the original windows of the Queenslander at 11 Emerald St, Kedron were also removed to allow for an easy escape in an emergency.
BEFORE The windows used to have fixed bars across them.
AFTER The bars are gone and a fresh coat of paint lightens the room.
And the couple had all the smoke alarms hardwired into the main power supply before it became compulsory on all new builds and renovations in 2017.
With a young daughter at the time, the inground pool was also adapted to include a ledge around two sides.
“Probably the paramedic hat came out,” she said. “We wanted the ledge so the children can stand there and still have their heads out of the water.”
Other design features were insisted upon for personal reasons, like the Japanese toilet sink which has a wash basin built above the cistern so you can wash your hands with the water that then goes down to fill the cistern for the next flush.
A Japanese-style toilet with a sink above the cistern.
The front door and the front french doors downstairs were recycled from a local house.
“The builder wasn’t happy, it’s harder to use misshaped doors.”
AFTER The new downstairs living area with its recycled front door.
And where the couple couldn’t decide on a design feature, a compromise of sorts was made, and the master bedroom ensuite is a case in point.
AFTER The master bedroom ensuite.
“My husband wanted the rain shower and I wanted a hand shower,” Ms Mander said of the shower that now has twin rain showerheads and a separate handheld shower.
“It’s a bit of overkill but we wanted it to be our house.”
The couple moved from Cairns to Brisbane to look after family and bought a two-bedroom cottage with two-street access on 384sq m in 2014.
BEFORE 11 Emerald St, Kedron from the front which faces Leckie Rd.
They had plans drawn up to turn the property into a four-bedroom house with bedrooms and a living area in the original upstairs Queenslander and the main living area with a master bedroom on the new ground floor.
AFTER 11 Emerald St, Kedron as it looks today from Leckie Rd.
“We got three building quotes and there was probably $60,000-$70,000 between the quotes and we went with one in the middle range,” Ms Mander said.
BEFORE The renovations also included building a tandem carport and garage which faces Emerald St.
“The things that were frustrating were all the hidden costs, like the design fees, permits, soil testing, the disconnection of electricity. All these things add up.”
The project, which began in March 2015, ran over budget after an initial estimate of $250,000 for the building work and $24,000 for the pool.
“We had an overrun, the electrical work ended up being twice as much as what we thought, then there was landscaping, tree cutting. It probably hit around $350,000, but we wanted it to be as good as we could get. We were planning on living there forever.”
AFTER The outdoor entertaining area at 11 Emerald St, Kedron.
But four years ago, the couple transferred to Longreach in central Queensland and have been renting out their renovated Kedron home ahead of putting it on the market this year.
The property is for sale through Robbie Lofaro of Harcourts Connections, with offers over $895,000 invited.
The post Paramedics renovate their Kedron home with an eye for safety appeared first on realestate.com.au.