While renovating last year, newlyweds Atlas and Murray James put in knotted cypress floorboards. Their old floors were getting thin and someone stomped through one during one of their parties.
"If you're gonna get a broken floorboard, it better be from someone dancing," Atlas says.
For the past two years, the pair have been living in their breezy three-bedroom, two-bathroom Mayfield home with their housemates. There's an extra guest bedroom in the courtyard as well, so there's plenty of room to have fun.
Atlas is originally from Oklahoma and the owner and operator of Kinfolk Barber on Beaumont Street and the Left Hand Space next door.
Originally from Queensland, Murray came to Newcastle to finish his degree and start his business, Murray James Building Design and Planning.
Murray has owned the 1920s Federation house for 10 years. The house has all the original brickwork. What is now the kitchen was a living room in the 1990s.
"It was (originally) a student house. I lived here for maybe three or four years, then I moved out, then we moved back in," Murray says.
In the last year they've made big changes. Murray describes their home as "Federation-meets-mid-century-modern-recycled-eclectic-mash".
Stylish and creative people, they both have experienced separate renovations in the past. For this joint endeavour they got along well and agreed with the other's aesthetic suggestions.
One of the first changes they made was the front fence, or gabion wall, also what Atlas calls The Bunker. Murray says it's basically a steel cage wall filled with rocks and character, although not all neighbours knew what to make of the massive creation while he built it with his housemates.
The striking robust structure not only offers privacy but holds big plants, as agaves and other succulents grow out the top.
Plants are everywhere on their property. They're proud plant-aholics and get their greens from We Grow Plants. Atlas says the secret is to put the indoor plants outside occasionally to keep them healthy.
"I love gardening," Murray says of his thriving back courtyard.
"It's very eclectic, whatever survives, survives. There's a lot of edible things, mulberries, mangoes, blackberries, blueberries, kumquats. The cacti out the front, you can actually eat them."
Enter the house and the light is amazing, bouncing off their new floors and big mirrors. Many of the mirrors are leftovers from when Atlas opened the barbershop, and they expanded the rooms.
Murray's old bedroom became what is now the new kitchen. Here they regularly share meals with their housemates.
Guests are drawn to the large bench in the kitchen made of Caesarstone Topus. It's a standard flat pack kitchen, but all the doors on the cupboards are custom made and painted by Murray. His father, John James, is a prolific potter, and his crockery stands out on their kitchen shelves.
Both paintings in the dining rooms are by local artist Sally Bourke and Atlas has more pieces to hang.
"We do need to invest in more art," she says.
They've had to restructure their party nights since they built the new kitchen.
"The new dance party room will be the dining room. We'll move the table out of the way and have a disco ball," Atlas says.
She loves what's now their new bedroom, particularly because she was able to keep the skylight.
"It just feels really peaceful," Atlas says.
In their loungeroom they have an Eames record player with mid-century tables.
They're resourceful and use recycled materials. They found the massive door to the laundry on Gumtree. The porcelain sink inside is from John's junk pile. Atlas found a door on the side of the road for their ensuite.
River City Recyclers provided the steel grated awning over the back courtyard. The backyard is like a rainforest where Murray enjoys his hammock and outdoor spa, installed with the help of Kris Lardner.
"It's my man bath. Even when it's cold," he says. "I was in a storm in there the other day; it's lightning, pouring rain, I'm in the nice warm bath. I did go in eventually, I thought, 'this can't be that safe'."
The designer and the stylist have found the perfect balance between fun and fashionable; the only thing missing is an invite to these dance parties.
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