To transform Olivia and Brent's Victorian home into the perfect urban pad, the DIY team tackled the kitchen/dining area, lounge room and cellar.

Kitchen

The kitchen was the major priority in this century-old terrace. The existing kitchen was beyond salvation, so the entire room was gutted and rebuilt. The old masonry walls were out of plumb and had exposed electrical conduits and water pipes, so Luke opted to batten out the walls and put up new Gyprock.

Tara gave the kitchen a modern, country feel with white butcher-style tiles running from bench to ceiling. The area was fitted out by Knebel kitchens, with new appliances from Westinghouse, including an "Alu design" fridge with interchangeable coloured front panels.

The patchy concrete slab in the kitchen/dining area was covered with a Cleaver Click Maple Ships Deck floating floor, and as the kitchen was too small for a serviceable pantry, Tara included a stand-alone pantry unit in the dining room, together with a country-style dining setting.

In the lounge room, Luke ran into problems, as inadequate ventilation had caused the floor joists to rot. And as they had also been placed too far apart, the floor had begun to bounce and sag. Luke replaced the rotting timbers and added extra joists to strengthen the floor.

The walls in the lounge room were painted with Dulux Ginger Crunch, the Victorian fireplace surround was properly installed and the empty space under the stairs was fitted with shelves and cupboards, making it the perfect place for storage and a home entertainment system. Once new particle-board flooring was laid, the living area was finished with woollen Sisal carpet and decorated with rich and vibrant artworks to give it an atmosphere of urban chic.

Luke and Tara discovered a sandstone basement under the living room floor, which was converted into a wonderful wine cellar. A steel wine rack from Simply D'Vine Wineracks was fitted and lighting was added to highlight the natural stone walls.

The garden was cleared out and a large Cocos palm removed, while a companion Bangalow palm was allowed to remain. Greg created a rustic-looking entertaining area using Boral Aspentone wide-format pavers, while the rest of the yard was re-turfed using shade-tolerant soft-leaf buffalo, after the couple confessed to several unsuccessful attempts to plant grass.

The edges of the garden were flanked with new garden beds and filled with classic border plants, such as port wine magnolias, liriope and gardenias. Greg used a few of the sandstone boulders found in the garden as feature stones in the corners of the yard. And to take advantage of the natural cliff face, he added a hardwood seat and two diagonal hardwood garden beds framed by a pair of Gymea lilies.

The only other job outside was to replace the tired old fence with a new one, before covering it with fibre-cement sheeting. Initially this was painted electric blue, but after everyone agreed the colour was too bright, it was repainted a softer aubergine, to complement the natural mauve tones in the bush rock cliff above. The fence was accessorised with hanging stag horns and the exterior of the home was freshened up with Dulux Weathershield Exterior in Stowe White.