Love Island's Niko Fotopoulos transforms derelict 138-year-old Sydney home

• Owner: Builder and TV personality Niko Fotopoulos
• The property: A run-down family home in Sydney’s Inner West
• Address: 4 Robert Street, Petersham NSW
• Price guide: $2.8 million
• Auction: 1.30pm, Saturday, July 4
• Agent: BresicWhitney, Nick Playfair 0421 964 406

Builder and Love Island Australia runner-up Niko Fotopoulos is no stranger to ambitious restoration jobs.

His company, Construkt 4U, specialises in restoring dilapidated terraces for clients in glamorous inner-Sydney locales such as Paddington.

So, when Fotopoulos decided to buy and flip a property himself, he sought out the most decrepit house he could find.

“I was looking for a challenge,although, in hindsight, I probably over-stepped a little bit,” he says.

The 138-year-old free-standing home that Fotopoulos snapped up had sat empty for more than two decades and was on the verge of collapse.

“Everyone in my life was like: ‘Wow. Really?’ And I was like: ‘Yes, really.’ I knew I was capable of doing the work,” he says.

Even so, the scale of the task was daunting. Deteriorating brickwork and rotten flooring meant much of the house needed to be demolished.

After

Before

All that remained were the facade wall, the right and left walls and the floor of the front room. “Essentially, I needed to build a new house,” Fotopoulos says.

Before he could start, he received a call from Love Island and was whisked away to Mallorca, Spain, to film the show. When he returned, the job began in earnest.

Working with architects Blu Print Designs, Fotopoulos conceived a house that maximised light, space and functionality on the narrow rear-to-north block.

“The architect pushed the council to really allow us to make the most of the site,” Fotopoulos says. “There is no idle space on the block.”

From the front door, a small formal living room leads through to an expansive kitchen-living-dining zone, which opens onto a paved patio and barbecue area.

Beyond, a landscaped garden, plunge pool and self-contained studio bask in northerly light.

After

Before

Upstairs are four generous bedrooms – two with en suites – and the main bathroom comes with a bath. Oversized skylights illuminate the upstairs corridor.

Curved walls feature prominently throughout, enhancing the sense of flow and casting soft shadows.

“There are no harsh edges,” Fotopoulos says. “We tried really hard to create a feeling of softness, warmth and elegance.”

Key to achieving that feeling were the materials used, including marmorino Venetian plaster on the living room walls and calacatta viola marble throughout. Pale floorboards, plush bedroom carpeting and copper tapware complete the look.

Appliances by Miele, a Horizon Jetmaster open fireplace, and a Beefeater barbecue are all seamlessly integrated, enhancing the sense that the home has been built to last.

“Creating something that would stand the test of time was my top priority,” Fotopoulos says. He even applied a water-repellent finish to the exterior to stave off damp.

All up, the home took more than two years to complete, with much of the work undertaken by Fotopoulos himself. The project was envisaged as a flip, but when Fotopoulos walked through the finished home, he began to have second thoughts.

“Seeing it finished, and thinking about all the blood, sweat and tears that went into it, made me start dreaming about living in it, just to experience such a home,” he says.

But the thought of a new challenge was too enticing, so Fotopoulos has decided to list the home and find another one to renovate.

This time around, he might have a co-designer on board.

“It didn’t last with that girl from Love Island, but I’ve got another girlfriend now, and it’s going well,” he says, grinning.

SOLD - Price Withheld

4 Robert Street, Petersham NSW 2049

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