Keeping What Was Worth Keeping
The teak floors and casement windows were original and in better condition than anything we could have replaced them with. Everything else came out.
We spent the first month of the project just cataloguing the house, room by room, before deciding what stayed. That inventory ended up guiding almost every later decision.
Working Around a Heritage Facade
Menteng's heritage rules protect the street elevation, which shaped how the rest of the restoration had to be sequenced.
Modern Services, Hidden
New wiring, plumbing and cooling were routed inside a lowered service band so the original ceiling heights read exactly as they did before.
A Facade Untouched, a Plan Rebuilt
Nothing changed on the street-facing elevation. Behind it, almost every internal wall was assessed and either kept, repaired, or rebuilt on its original line.
Restoration Scope
The work balanced conservation with a full mechanical and electrical upgrade.
- Sanding and resealing of the original teak flooring throughout
- Restoration of all casement windows and their original hardware
- Concealed rewiring and new plumbing routed through a lowered service band
- Lime-wash repainting matched to the original facade colour
A House the Street Still Recognises
Neighbours who had known the house for decades walked past during the final weeks without noticing anything had changed, which was exactly the reaction the family had hoped for.
People kept asking when we were finally going to renovate. We already had.