The transformation of this 19th-century villa was the passion project of experienced renovators Rob and Lindy Heriot, who own Splash Plumbing Services.

The couple bought 17 Fifth Avenue in 2021 with the intention of renovating rather than living in the house.

Lindy says that they love the challenge of renovating, having already renovated quite a few houses over the years and recently completing a new build in Burnside.

“It’s a thing we’ve enjoyed doing. We like to transform a house and we’ve improved as we’ve gone along,” she says.

Rob and Lindy love historic houses and were initially drawn to the property for its location and the potential they saw to restore the house to its former glory.

“It was mainly the location and that it hadn’t been renovated for a long time,” says Lindy.

“We could see the huge potential in it, that it was a pretty house, but it was just looking a bit tired and needed updating.

“We wanted to retain the character feel at the front of the house and then have a beautiful high ceiling extension which was more modern, but we wanted it to tie in seamlessly and not look like an added-on box.”

Almost every element of this elegant home has been meticulously restored by Rob and Lindy, as documented on their Instagram account the.fifth.project.

This included replacing the plasterwork throughout the house, recreating the Victorian hallway arches and stripping back the render on the exterior side walls to reveal the original sandstone, which was then repointed.

The original floorboards, which had been sanded one too many times, were also replaced with 19th-century wooden floorboards sourced from elsewhere.

“My dad rebuilt the archways because we’d stripped the plaster off and had to take the original archways down,” says Lindy.

“We just have a passion for old houses and transforming a house – seeing what we can do with it.

“We’ve done a lot of the labouring work as a family, so even our kids got involved at different times and we’ve got lots of subcontractors that we use.”

Visitors who walk into Fifth Avenue are immediately struck by its openness. The white walls make this house feel fresh and airy.

The master bedroom, which looks onto the established front garden, includes an ensuite and walk-in-robe.

Stepping into the back of the house you will find the open-plan kitchen and living area.

The large glass windows look on to a backyard that is perfect for entertaining guests, with an outdoor kitchen and pool.

Lindy says that some of her favourite elements of the house are the stunning feature stone wall near the pool, the striking black kitchen and the arch steel frame door at the end of the hallway.

Although Rob and Lindy have loved the process of bringing this beautiful old home back to life, the couple will move on to their next project, which Lindy says will be to rebuild their shack at the river that was flooded last year.

Lindy says there is already a lot of interest in the property, with a private viewing having taken place prior to the house going on the open market.

The first public viewing will take place on Saturday, December 2 with the house to be auctioned on Friday, December 15 at 6pm.

The sale is being handled by Sally Cameron from TOOP+TOOP Real Estate.