Former rugby league star Michael Bolt has extensive experience undertaking home renovations and other projects.
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"I've done four renos, two new from scratch, and I've done seven bars basically from scratch as well," he said.
He laughed when the Mercury joked that he should have his own TV show.
"I've had ten thousand scrums, I don't think I've got a head for a television show," the former Illawarra Steelers player said.
About 18 months ago, Mr Bolt began his latest project when he bought the original 1950s home at 2 Dumfries Avenue, Mount Ousley and sought to undertake a loving, sympathetic renovation.
Mr Bolt was drawn to the home by "the symmetry of it". "It wasn't run down, but it had different colours in every room, four layers of carpet and this, that and the other," he said.
"But the bones of the house was very solid, full brick all the way through."
Now featuring all white on the inside and with the mid-Century styling features emphasised, the $130,000-plus, seven-month project also included replacing the 1990s-style kitchen and installing a pool and rear deck area.
"It's got that 1950s, Palm Springs sort of look about it," he said.
"It's got about 750-odd sqm with it, so it's got quite a lot of outside space. And they'd had a new roof put on it, and done the wiring and plumbing work on it.
"So all those things which cost a lot of money had been done, so I just basically made it fairly cosmetic more than anything else.
"All the front's all original, but I've just changed the back to make it more of a lifestyle type place."
In keeping with the sympathetic feel of the renovation, Mr Bolt retained some of the mid-Century stylings.
"(Mid-Century style) is very practical," he said.
"In summertime, you can go out on the front deck and you just get a breeze, and it's beautiful. And in wintertime, you go out the back and you get the sun.
"The bathroom has all the original tiles in there, the old black and yellow tiles. I made the decision to keep them, because there wasn't a crack in them at all.
"I thought to keep it as simple as possible and just paint the whole place white on the inside.
"It's got Cypress pine all the way through the original boards. But Cypress pine normally comes up quite orange-y, so I put a bit of a darker stain in it, so it's got almost a Japanese-y feel.
"There was two bedrooms at the back, but I made that into one and put an old laundry as an en suite."
Mr Bolt said there were no major surprises when undertaking the renovation: "It's got so much character.
"There's a black ceramic holder above the toilet where you put your hat on. It's like a quirky 1950s thing, because they all wore hats back then. I had to sort of keep that, and once I decided on that path, I thought, 'that's the way I want to go'."
Among Mr Bolt's favourite features is the 'man cave' downstairs.
He's currently living at the property, and plans to stay for the time being.
"For me, it's nice and central, I can get anywhere in five minutes," he said.