Apartment of the week: Designer Centennial Park retreat

“I think my colour choices have been influenced by Al Pacino,” says Fabrizio Lipari, the vendor of this handsome townhouse.

Lipari is a freelance photographer who has worked with plenty of celebrities, including Hugh Jackman, the late Heath Ledger and Delta Goodrem. In this instance, however, he is not referring to anyone famous but rather to his silky and sedate, caramel cat, Al Pacino, who does indeed go rather well with the feature walls in the living room.

Lipari has lived here for the past nine years, renovating the property room by room over time to create a stylish and easy-care home. It’s immaculate.

Unit 10 is two storeys high, potentially three (see Room for Improvement) and sits on the end of the row. As such, it has only one shared wall and feels more like a terrace house than a unit. Between the delightful Cook Road streetscape and the lush landscaping at the unit’s rear, every window has an enticing, leafy outlook. It’s also wonderfully private.

The living and dining area is warm and welcoming, the product of red gum floorboards, the Al Pacino-compatible wall colours and the quality of the light.

The clear glass used for the stairwell balustrade helps maintain the open, spacious feel and also makes a charming gallery-like space of the void.

The kitchen, with its jungle outlook, is particularly lovely. The sleek white Asko dishwasher is new and the induction stovetop and cocoa-coloured glass splashback are enviably easy to keep clean.

Upstairs the two bedrooms are large enough to host king-size beds, though queen might be better. Both have built-in wardrobes with quality timber doors.

The upstairs laundry is almost as large as the bathroom. No one needs to trek downstairs with wet washing, thanks to its neat fold-away clothesline.

Other features include ducted airconditioning, a ceiling fan in one of the bedrooms and a shower head that delivers a multi-pronged waterfall.

You can see the old clock tower at Moore Park from the balcony, which looks like the perfect spot for gin and tonic on warm summer nights.

This is a tasteful, highly functional, easy to lock-up-and-leave home in a superb location, moments from Centennial Park and the Paddington stretch of Oxford Street.

Room for improvement: Consider building a third level of living space into the roof (STCA). Other units in the row have apparently already done it.

10/7-17 Cook Road, Centennial Park
Guide: $1.25 million – $1.35 million
2 bed, 1 bath, 1 parking
Built 1990
Size 110 square metres
Strata levy $799 a quarter
Inspect Sat and Thu, noon-12.45pm
Auction August 27
Agent Ballard 0439 025 188 or 0411 426 600
See more at: domain.com.au/2012961081

Need to know:
Last traded $622,000 in May 2007
Highest recorded apartment price in Centennial Park (past 12 months)
$1.59 million for 3/60 Lang Road in October
Median price for units in Centennial Park $583,250

Recent sales: 
$1.11 million for 103/141-147 Cook Road in November
$1.05 million 18/127-131 Cook Road in December
$951,500 for 16/7-17 Cook Road in September
Source: Domain Group

Owner:
“As a photographer, light is extremely important to me and I fell in love with the beautiful sunlight that floods this apartment the moment I saw it.”

Surrounding area:

Centennial Park is comprised of 189 hectares of glorious parkland and a few handsome, leafy residential streets to its west. For such a tiny zone, it boasts a lot of notable/historic houses, including Highbury in Martin Road, the former home of the novelist Patrick White. Centennial Park feels like it’s out in the countryside somewhere but it’s practically an extension of lively and lovable Paddington.
Serviced by Buses.
Close to Bondi Junction, with all its services, food suppliers, shops and other conveniences, Fox Studios and the Entertainment Quarter, the Sydney Cricket Ground and all the lovely old Paddington pubs to the north of nearby Oxford Street.