Dream home: From ‘trashed’ one-bedder to architectural masterpiece – realestate.com.au

News Corp Australia Network

Chris Furminger in his renovated Red Hill property, which is for sale. Picture: David Clark.

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IT IS hard to believe now, but the architectural masterpiece Chris Furminger and Tijana Jelacic have put on the market was once a dilapidated one-bedder.

Three years ago, the architect and his wife were looking for a new project when they discovered the “trashed” cottage at 35 Haughton St, Red Hill.

Chris Furminger and his daughter Lena in their renovated Red Hill property. Picture: David Clark.

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“Being an architect and builder, I always say; ‘Show me anything people don’t want to touch and hopefully I can solve some of those problems’,” Mr Furminger said.

“It was a beautiful site with a tiny footprint to work with. It’s as close as you can get to doing a newbuild, even though we kept the original cottage.”

Mr Furminger said his neighbour told him the original, one-bedroom house had a family of seven living in it years ago.

This property at 35 Haughton St, Red Hill, is on the market..

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The original house has now become a bedroom and the main bathroom.

The rest of the house is new and has been amalgamated seamlessly with the existing home to create a blend of character and contemporary.

Lush gardens surround the home and can be viewed from most angles of the building thanks to its north-east aspect.

Authentic materials were used to make sure the build was of the highest quality.

“Timber is timber, stone is stone, concrete is concrete, glass is glass,” Mr Furminger said.

This property at 35 Haughton St, Red Hill for sale.

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But it has not been an easy project. Mr Furminger admits it was a bit like a “long-term marriage”.

“It was the worst time to build,” he said. “Covid, flooding, the building materials crisis… but we navigated our way through it.”

So, why sell now?

“We have seen there’s not as much available, so we thought it could be a good time to put forward our project,” he said. “We’re also keen to find another project to work on.

“This house is a really lovely place to live. If it doesn’t sell, we’ll stay.”

The property is on the market with Josh Brown and Matt Lancashire of Ray White.