Inside a Victorian Terrace House Renovation in Potts Point

What Two Decades of Commercial Use Removed

The terrace was built in the late 1800s, on one of Sydney’s earliest higher-density streets. By the time Convict Interiors was appointed, before the architect and before the heritage consultant, almost nothing original survived. Cornices, ceiling roses, wall panelling, and plasterwork had all been taken out. Two marble fireplaces remained. The house still had its volume. What it had lost was the detail that made that volume make sense. The owners asked for London townhouse character made liveable for a family of three. The brief was to make a traditional heritage home liveable for today’s modern family without losing the period detail. Triple-skin walls, a heritage overlay, five floor plates, and a rear yard too tight to extend set the boundaries for everything that followed.

The Mouldings Behind This Victorian Terraced House Renovation

Intrim supplied five profiles across the house:

• SK60 skirting & architrave at 285mm high and 115mm wide, respectively, used throughout
• IN16 inlay mould with CR34 chair rail, forming the wainscoting
• PR27 picture rails at the upper wall line
• SN01 sill nosing to finish every window

Intrim’s sizing guide puts 285mm skirting and 115mm architraves against ceiling heights above 3001mm, which is precisely where this terrace sits.

Specify a 135mm skirting under a 3.9 metre ceiling, and the room looks unfinished, whatever the profile. At their tallest size, SK60 skirting boards and architraves give the entry and front rooms the base weight the original house would have had.

How the Wainscoting Was Built Up

Three profiles work together on the walls. CR34 sets the top line, IN16 forms the frames below it, and SK60 closes the base. The same method continues up the staircase, where panelling replaced plain plaster on what had been a pure transition space.

PR27 picture rails divide the upper wall into bands, and the door opening between the kitchen and dining space was detailed with recessed inlay moulds.

Before and After, Level by Level

Basement: From Dark Storeroom to Wellness Floor

The basement had been a dark storeroom, disconnected from the rest of the house. It is now a full wellness level, with an infrared sauna built into a redirected stair landing return, a third bathroom, the relocated laundry, and glazed doors onto the rear garden.

Ground Floor: Kitchen and Dining

The kitchen and dining spaces didn’t have any period detail. The kitchen layout in particular didn’t make the best use of the space, nor was it suitable for a residential home. Full-height joinery was reconfigured, an island was added, and one opening was widened to brighten up the space. Slim-profile shaker cabinetry and a custom micro-cement rangehood give the kitchen a contemporary take on classic detailing.

First Floor: The Grand Living Room

Before, white walls and commercial finishes. After, reinstated cornices and a ceiling rose, a muted green, pale eucalypt colour palette, and double French doors to the balcony with views to the Potts Point plane trees. It is the grandest room in the house, formal without being staged.

Mid-Levels: Primary Suite and Nursery

Neither room had acoustic or sensory treatment before the renovation. Curtains now separate the suite from the levels below, and smart lighting sits where a half-awake parent will reach for it. The nursery sits beside the primary suite for now, with the formal living room below.

Loft: Library and Study

The attic had been an overlooked floor with no assigned use. It is now a library and study with floor-to-ceiling joinery and dual workstations, sitting at the top of the house, above the noise of family life.

Victorian Terrace House Renovation Ideas Designers Can Apply

Three key Victorian renovation ideas on this project can be transferred to any period home that has lost its detail. Sizing should follow the measured ceiling height in each room. A single default skirting size applied across a house with varying ceiling heights will look wrong, especially in a terrace with 3.9 metre front rooms. The profiles operate as a system. Skirting, chair rail, inlay mould and picture rail each depend on the others to divide the wall properly, and fitting one without the rest leaves the wall unresolved. New openings need the same detailing as the original rooms. The archway and the kitchen door opening at Potts Point were finished with the profiles used elsewhere, so the additions sit within the house rather than against it. Restoring a period home? Explore our range of Victorian mouldings online or order a Victorian samples box to get started.