6 days ago
You'll never believe what this crumbling country home in the Adelaide Hills looks like now
When Ish and Karen first stepped onto the property at 18 Dalton Avenue, Aldgate, it was far from the serene, sun-dappled retreat it is today.
The garden was overgrown, the house was dated, and there were entire rooms with nothing to write home about.
But even then, you could feel it - the bones were incredible.
'We'd lived interstate in St Kilda, Balmain and Subiaco - inner-city, trendy - and I said to Karen: 'Let's look at North Adelaide or Norwood, somewhere like that',' Ish told
The home, nicknamed Sundance, had been designed in 1960 by celebrated South Australian architect Newell Platten, a visionary who wove nature into every line and surface.
But by the late 2000s, decades without a major overhaul had left it looking tired, its mid-century magic buried under peeling finishes and forgotten corners.
That all changed in 2010, when Ish and Karen decided to take on one of the biggest projects of their lives.
The couple purchased the home for $835,000 in 2010, and it is currently listed for sale for $2.5million.
They worked with one of Platten's own protégés to bring the property back to life - without losing the soul that made it special in the first place.
The renovation was meticulous.
Out went the faded carpets and worn cabinetry; in came bespoke timber joinery, natural stone surfaces, and a layout that invited light to flood through walls of glass.
Subtle extensions created new spaces without disturbing the original flow.
The once-neglected garden was reimagined by landscape designer Simon Brown of Taylor Cullity Lethlean, turning tangled bush into a living, edible work of art.
Today, Sundance is a solar passive home that works with the seasons, not against them - one of the first of its kind in South Australia, now upgraded with double glazing, solar panels, battery storage and rainwater tanks.
The transformation is as much about atmosphere as aesthetics.
Step inside and the first thing you notice is how the outside follows you in.
The slate floors are cool underfoot in summer and warmed by sunlight in winter.
Sundance's open-plan kitchen, living and dining space blurs into a pergola-framed terrace, while picture windows capture mist rising from the nearby lake.
The grounds are a world of their own.
Rows of citrus trees sit alongside heritage apple varieties, figs, plums, mulberries, and a sprawling kitchen garden that feeds the household year-round.
Free-range hens roam beneath the gums, while koalas, rosellas and ducks drift through as if the place is theirs.
The incredible home is only a 23-minute drive from the CBD, but you wake up to birdsong and light filtering through the trees.
There's space for just about every mood or moment: four bedrooms, a retreat, a library, a mudroom, courtyard, rumpus room, and multiple fire pits for long evenings outdoors.
The couple, whose children have now grown and left home, are ready to pass it on to the next custodians.
'I'm sad to be selling, but I look forward to riding past it down the track and hearing people laughing in the garden, parents playing with their children, smelling a barbecue or seeing a gathering by the fire and hearing people really enjoying it, because it's the perfect house for families,' Ish said.
