Beautiful home restoration in Penang

Before TV went bonkers for home improvement shows, there was the charming, high quality, New England-accented and plaid-wearing This Old House on PBS. I loved This Old House. Love, love, loved it. Norm and the crew could fix anything. Steve Thomas could charm homeowners without seeming like a schmuck (OK, a little like a schmuck, but definitely not as schmucky as Bob Vila). The houses always turned out beautifully. I remember fondly one of their projects where they turned a beautiful old barn into a home. On drives in the country I still envision transforming a barn into my own cavernous, woody, sunlit house. Sigh. 

In Penang there is no This Old House. No DIY shows on TV, but lots of cooking shows (have I mentioned food is big here?). At least I am spared the frightening monster that is Insane Home Makeovers Bigger and Better, or whatever that hoarse, always-yelling Ty Pennington sells.

But I was recently able to get my home improvement fix by visiting a beautifully restored bungalow in the Straits Eclectic Colonial Style. Seeing the homeowner's 'before' photo at left makes the 'after' version that I toured all the more incredible.

This lovely and welcoming house sits in a large yard at the edge of the heritage district of George Town in a busy neighborhood, but it is an oasis of calm and elegance. It was originally built in the 1930s by a baba nonya woman of means, but whose descendants could no longer care for it.

The new homeowners worked with a local contractor who appreciated the quality and style of the old construction just as much as they did, and the end result was a process that was, and I quote "all very easy and remarkably smooth". Never in the history of This Old House, nor in the experiences of anyone I know who was undertaken a home restoration project of this scale, have I heard anyone make such a statement. But apparently their contractor breezed through the work, helped find good quality, period-appropriate fixtures, and even dealt with local jurisdictions himself. The man must have wings.

The craftsmanship of the original house now shines, with paint and finishes that highlight the intricate plasterwork and the light and stylish furnishings of the new owners.


Norm and Steve would be proud.