MY fingers itched to turn back the clock on this gorgeous 1920s Moss Street, Fremantle home, to return it to its glory days.

A tangle of dead weeds in the front garden, a plumbago sprawling untidily in a variety of directions failed to dampen its Federation beauty, and like the gold and russet leaves of the ornamental grape vine under the bullnose verandah, it shone through.

Although the purple paint over original tuck-pointed exterior was a shocker.

I’m not the only one to see beyond a bad paint job, with 50 people turning up to the home open recently.

I can share their enthusiasm for a challenge—the chance to stamp your  own mark—and the opportunity to buy into this sought after area without the hefty price tag a fully renovated home would demand.

Beautiful bones abound at this three-bedroom abode, with glorious jarrah floors, wide skirting and high ceilings, stunning original fireplaces and lovely ornate arches in the long hallway.

And the sash windows in the front rooms, will eventually overlook a delightful garden and the tree-lined street.

The interior is spick and span, and there’s no reason new owners couldn’t simply move in, which is what I’d be doing, to get a feel for the layout before making changes.

The spacious kitchen is immaculate, if dated, and there’s even a scullery.

The laundry and loo are off the rear of the home, but with 663sqm there’s no end of scope to extend and revamp to fit in with the needs of today’s modern family, including bifold doors onto the expansive garden.

This area is worse than the front, a dead and dying wilderness, and I longed to get cracking to turn it into a showpiece.

There’s a sculpturally stunning tree to one side well worth keeping (a lovely red flowering brachychiton, I believe), a mature olive and a sad looking lemon to rehabilitate, but the rest would simply have to go, leaving an almost bare palette for a keen gardener.

Family home is writ large here with Richmond primary school just up the road, the delightful George Street cafe strip a stroll away, and Fremantle mere minutes by car.

27 Moss Street, East Fremantle
auction Sat March 28. 2pm
Brett Oliver 0425 252 901
Jennifer Castle 0414 572 40
Acton East Fremantle 9319 3022