The family moved in eight years ago, before they'd had their youngest. Anna remembers the day they bought it was also the day she found out she was pregnant.

They bought it with plenty of renovation plans and a vision of a fresh coastal style. This is the second house they've renovated together.

Interestingly, Aaron grew up in this house, and the couple bought it from his family.

He's now experienced living in several different versions of the house and put in plenty of effort to see it evolve. He's a very handy electrician and helped with most of the renovations.

Anna helped with designs. She currently works in interior design for Polytec and shares her design journey on Instagram as @moore_creative.

"There's little pops of colour, the navy bathroom, a bit of navy in the kitchen behind the island. I've stuck with natural colours: whites, blues and greens. There's lots of plants; I love using plants," Anna says.

They think the house was built in 1979. When they moved in, it was dated.

"It was very original, everything was still in the '70s and '80s. It had really horrible green laminate bench tops. My bathroom was horrible. It had little tiny blue tiles that looked like they belonged in a pool. It had really dark brick feature walls throughout. That brick was a big thing, it was really dark inside," she says.

They got rid of the dark brick. Before, the kitchen and the living areas were separate with an archway in between, and they completely opened it up.

The house is now all open plan, with a second lounge room for the kids. They put in bamboo floors. The tiles in all the bathrooms are from Tile Warehouse.

They went through the house slowly and made one change at a time, giving them time to think.

The house has five bedrooms, but when they bought it, it was four, with the downstairs having a kitchenette, a bathroom and a bedroom. They renovated it to be two bedrooms with a two-way Jack and Jill bathroom between it. Aaron did most of the work, with help from a tiler for the bathroom.

They put in a new kitchen and made a few changes to the dark blue bathroom upstairs. They redid it using stock from Highgrove Bathrooms, and it was featured in Adore Home magazine last year.

"That bathroom was the last inside thing that we've done. It has been shared a lot over social media, especially Pinterest," Anna says.

About three years ago they did a major exterior renovation and extended the deck.

Previously it was a little deck. The roof would have been two metres high and the deck was two metres wide. It was pretty closed off and it cut off the view. They extended it out to four and half metres and then changed the roofline of the house. It brought light in by opening up the ceiling, giving the house a fresh, natural vibe.

Tradies helped, as scaffolding on the hill was required. Aaron did the decking, the cladding, the railing and the ceilings.

The deck was the last piece of the renovation.

Anna also went through and added her personal touch to the style. They recycled the old decking to be their front fence. She loves Gumtree and bought the cane stools and dining table from there, later giving the table a fresh coat of paint.

"I really like to re-use things. I like to not buy everything new, if I can find vintage things or used stuff," she says.

Over the last eight years, Anna and Aaron have done so much work and now are excited to be wrapping up the renovations.

"We're actually finishing the backyard now, just with plants and paving. But, apart from that, we're probably about 90 percent done," she says.

She jokes that they'll always find something else to work on, but on all accounts, life in their house by the lake is looking lovely.

For faster access to the latest Newcastle news download our NEWCASTLE HERALD APP and sign up for breaking news, sport and what's on sent directly to your email.

IN THE NEWS: