Homes

Dan Honey and Paul Fuog

In all the years of sourcing and photographing all manner of beautiful Australian homes for this site, I thought I had developed a pretty robust immunity to home envy.  And then this apartment came along, and I totally crumbled.  I LOVE IT TO DEATH!  Oh my. What an immaculately understated, supremely functional, modern family home.  Much like it’s talented creative occupants, Paul Marcus Fuog, designer and founder of Coöp, and Dan Honey, Partner at Office for Good Design, this one is just too cool for school!

Written
by
Lucy Feagins

Kitchen details.  Fruit bowl from After Store, salt bucket from Doug Johnston, other terracotta, stone, enamel and woven pieces ‘picked up for nix whilst travelling’ says Dan. Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Cleverly concealed bedroom nook.  Mobile handmade by Dan, wall light by Brendan Ravenhill, cat bells found in Bali.  Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

OK ANOTHER angle of the dining table etc, but, can you blame us?  Every angle is a good angle in this apartment!  Pendant by Muuto, Artek Table, chairs from camberwell market, Frances’ bee a gift from Grandma, body surfing hand plane from Plane & Simple, Stacking Toy components on dining table created by Paul as a part of Field Experiments, Stelton jug.  Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Dining area looking back to kitchen.  Interior designed by Clare Cousins. Pendant light by Muuto, Artek table from Anibou, chairs a Camberwell Market find.  Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

View from front door.  Top print – a still from a video piece by Paul, bottom print – found. Pendant by Muuto, Artek table from Anibou, chairs from Camberwell Market, couch the ‘Nook’ by Jardan. Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Looking back to apartment entrance.  Mezzanine above allows for access to an additional storage cavity.   Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

The Melbourne CBD apartment of Dan Honey, Paul Fuog and their two year old daughter Frances.  Pendant is ‘Form Us With Love’ for Muuto, Artek table from Anibou, chairs – a very lucky Camberwell Market find!  Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Dining table details.  Stacking Toy created in collaboration with balinese craftmakers as a part of Paul’s Field Experiments in Indonesia, Stelton jug. Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Sideboard from Paul’s mum, Eames Molded Plywood Chair, paintings and rock masks on sideboard created as a part of Paul’s Field Experiments, Tivoli radio, Hay rug.  Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Frances’ bedroom, tucked just behind the master bedroom. Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Top print – a still from a video piece by Paul, bottom print – found. Pendant is ‘Form Us With Love’ for Muuto, Artek table from Anibou, chairs from Camberwell Market. Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Arguably Melbourne’s most photogenic bathroom…!?  LOVE the gold tapware – a little unexpected bling in this understated home. Photo – Sean Fennessy, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Set in the heritage listed Bible House building on Flinders Lane, in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, Paul and Dan’s apartment presented a curious challenge when they first purchased the home three years ago.  At just 75sqm, the footprint is essentially a small rectangle measuring 7.5 metres x 10 metres, but with huge windows along three of the four walls.  When they first purchased it, the apartment was dated, originally fitted with red timber floors, a blue laminate kitchen and bathroom, and just one bedroom – ‘a terrible size’ recalls Dan, ‘with only 50cm on either side of the bed, and a metre at the end, it was just big enough to make a mess in, but not big enough to really enjoy’.

Dan and Paul had a vision to create a much more functional space with two separate sleeping areas – a master ‘sleeping nook’, and a smaller kids bedroom. ‘We spoke to an architect friend, Clare Cousins, who didn’t think we were crazy’ says Dan!  Phew, always a good start.  ‘It was such an enjoyable experience working with Clare’ recalls Dan. ‘She understood immediately that we didn’t want anything flamboyant. The no-frills outcome was a testament to her experience. It was a collaborative process but we would have completely stuffed it up without her – we were counting millimetres so needed to get the layout right’.

Under Clare’s guidance, the apartment was completely gutted – the internal walls, kitchen and bathroom were removed to make way for a more modern, minimal and flexible space.  Simple joinery, incorporating lots of inbuilt storage, was designed to separate Dan and Paul’s sleeping nook from the baby’s room. The kitchen was extended, floorboards sanded and clearcoated, walls painted crisp white, and the bathroom overhauled.

‘It was a pretty low cost fit out, using plywood, common but creatively composed tiles in the bathroom, and basic tapware electroplated gold’ says Dan of the materials used.  ‘One of the good things about living in such a small space was that it made it possible to do the entire thing at once’.

Aside from the incredible natural light and enviable ceiling height here, of course there is also a lot to be said for Dan and Paul’s impeccably great taste – and the discipline required to decorate a home so sparingly, especially with a  two year old in tow!

‘We aren’t really attached to stuff as a rule’ says Dan of her minimalist aesthetic. ‘Objects come in and out of fashion for us, and the only ones we feel something for are those that are connected to a person or a place’. One particularly treasured piece is the Danish sideboard, a wedding gift from Paul’s mother.  Other current favourites are the handcrafted ‘souvenirs’ (seen on the dining room table and sideboard) which Dan and Paul recently brought back from Bali.  This playful collection of prototypes were handmade in collaboration with local Balinese craft communities, as part of a current project Paul is working on called Field Experiments.  These sweet details, each with a story to tell, punctuate the otherwise sparsely styled space, adding just a touch of quirk and colour.

Despite its central location, this certainly isn’t a typical Melbourne home.  There’s something unmistakeably international about this space, with its effortless marriage of old and new, and almost frugally efficient design.  ‘Living in a smaller space comes with sacrifices, but one of the benefits is that it needs very little maintenance’ says Dan. ‘It takes us no more than an hour to spring clean the place from top to bottom, which leaves time for more enjoyable things’.

Being based just moments from Flinders street Train Station, Dan and Paul also made the decision to live without a car when moving here. Melbourne’s city parks, gardens and other public spaces have now become their backyard – something they hadn’t thought about before moving here, but which has turned out to be a welcome surprise. ‘We spend entire weekends mooching about in our city’s incredibly well-tended public spaces’ says Dan. ‘There are the Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens, the NGV courtyard, Alexandra and Domain Gardens, Birrarung Marr and the Botanic Gardens. We now know the times and days these spaces are quiet, and sometimes they are so deserted they feel like our own private gardens’.

There’s a lot to learn from the very special home Dan and Paul have created here.  There’s something serene and comforting about its perfect balance of form and function, and the lack of excessive ‘stuff’.  It really is the most perfect casestudy for small footprint living.  Above all else, Dan says the sense of ‘connectedness’ is what her family most enjoys here. ‘Being right in the city means we never feel isolated’ she explains.

Dan and Paul travel often, and you might be interested to know that their beautiful apartment is often listed on Air bnb.  ‘We like the idea that when we aren’t using it, it isn’t laying dormant’ says Dan.  I must say I can’t imagine a more perfect base for a Melbourne city getaway – well worth bookmarking for anyone planning a trip here in the near future.

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