Of Frills & Friezes

One of my favourite Hills houses has just come on the market. Olivet House c.1920 (formerly known as Wachenappee) sits in all its grandeur at the end of our street here in Stirling. For a while back in the '90's it was a very gracious Boutique hotel, but was converted back to a private residence by the present Owners.

The land holding is a substantial 6,600 sq. metres approx (1.5 acres) of fabulous Hills garden & the house sits in a wonderful elevated position.

Very nice hedged courtyard outside the back door.

It has all the accoutrements required of a country estate.

The stairs leading down to an all-weather tennis court (puts our dodgy old clay court to shame!!).

Fabulous mature trees throughout the garden.

Meandering paths lined with the traditional Hills camelias & rhodies.

And a wide verandah to yell instructions to the gardeners from.

However, as we wander inside things sort of turn pear-shaped. A strange combo. of marbled colour washes on the walls, skirting boards & dado line. I have no doubt that a large amount of money was spent in the '90's getting all these specialist painted finishes done, but I reckon they detract from the true 'personality' of the house.

The formal sitting room is OK.

I feel a refit coming on here in the kitchen.

And the casual meals area off the kitchen has great potential. Love those French doors leading out to the verandah.

The formal lounge room has a bank of fabulous windows, but more of that painted marbled wash-ie thing happening with the walls. The chunky velour sofas seem to be caught in a time warp.

There are 7 bedrooms, and here's where the frills really kick in.

Hmmmm.

More frills & garlanded friezes.

This is one of the 5 bathrooms, & the ultimate awful frilly Austrian blind thing is in situ. This is a magical property, & I'm sure with a little clever design, strict adherence to the Less Is More theory, a large skip bin, the phone #'s of Heckle & Jeckle (aka Mike & Chris our favourite Painters & Decorators) & a fat cheque book, the new Owners can end the Frills & Friezes era Olivet House is sadly stuck in - good luck! Estimated sale price is $3 - 3.5 m.

Images: with apologies again to Jamie Brown @ Bernard Booth