Photos Wayne Martin
Kitchen star of major renovation
Kitchens are called the hub of the home for good reason – it’s where cooking, conversation, entertaining and daily living take place. So, when Tony and Mary Wilson redecorated their Sunnyhills home, they told HELEN PERRY the kitchen, dining and family room were completely renovated to suit many uses. Tony Wilson has been a practising magician for 55 years but even he couldn’t turn a trick to match the magic performed by a team which has expertly revamped the house he and wife Mary have occupied for 28 years.
After the removal of several walls and doors, conversion of the laundry to a butler’s pantry, and relocation of the kitchen plus all-new cabinets, benches and appliances, the re-design meets their needs perfectly.
Heavily involved with various organisations, in particular the Brotherhood of Magicians, Tony and Mary are accustomed to hosting meetings and entertaining on a large scale.
“We no longer entertain on quite the same scale as we used too,” admits Tony, “but we still have large crowds here and the former layout was not only outdated but flowed awkwardly.”
Looking from the kitchen to the butler’s pantry.
Subsequently, when remodelling the downstairs kitchen, they required plenty of light and space with good storage plus open plan flow to family and dining.
Built as a Fyfe showhome in the 1970s, Tony purchased the house in the mid-1980s by which time a family room, fourth bedroom and a semi en suite had been added to the back of the house.
looked from the kitchen, over the brickwork, to the new family room on the other side. The added bedroom and bathroom stepped off the family room.
At the same time Mary wanted somewhere to stow dinner dishes and pans out of sight when she had guests.
To do so the former owners cut through the rear wall of the kitchen leaving the exterior clinker bricks in place. A wide arch-shaped ‘window’
“We did a big renovation a few years ago, adding a full storey on top, but downstairs we kept to the original floor plan. This time it’s been a major
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throughout,” Tony explains. “Downstairs, the wall between the dining room and the old kitchen area has disappeared and we removed the old kitchen entirely so that a new, re-configured kitchen could be relocated to one side which also meant shifting the former laundry wall back a few feet. Continued overleaf eastlife | june 2014 |
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