Family

Kate and Mal Heppell

Today we’re paying a visit to the bold and beautiful home of Kip & Co co-founder Kate Heppell, her partner Mal Heppell (of DMS Landscapes) and their 3 year old son Zig.

Written
by
Lucy Feagins
Supported by Dulux

The colourful Point Lonsdale home of Kate and Mal Heppell. Above, main sitting room (upstairs).  Cushion by Kip & Co, concrete ball and pink pyrenees sandstone coffee table made by Mal, white vase made by Kate’s Mum in the 70’s, painted vase by Kym Barter from the Falkner Gallery in Castelemaine, Lip mirror by Bride and Wolfe, vintage shell chandelier from the Camberwell Market. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

A corner of the timber-lined upstairs sitting room. Cushion by Kip & Co, concrete ball and pink pyrenees sandstone coffee table made by Mal, white vase made by Kate’s mum in the 60’s, painted vase by Kym Barter from the Falkner Gallery in Castlemaine, three matching japanese wood block prints from East West Art in Kew which Mal gave to Kate for her 26th birthday! Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Kate, Mal and their son Zig at home in Point Lonsdale. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

TV room.  Large painting by Minnie Pwerle, underwater photo by Eugene Tan of Aquabumps. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Front entrance hall. Wall hanging to left purchased secondhand in San Francisco, two artworks in the stairwell are original prints of Australian flora and fauna by Melbourne’s Leslie van der Sluys, which were Kate’s parents, pink sandstone and timber leaning key table made by Mal. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Upstairs kitchen / living zone and the walkway through to master bedroom.  Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Front entrance hall. In foreground, a very old antique miniature carving that Mal recently inherited from his 98 year old grandmother, in hallway, dog watercolour painting by tattoo artist Jacob Rolfe. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Downstairs workspace / piano room. Large Oil painting by unknown artist purchased in Bali, lamp, trinkets and instruments gathered on travels. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

The kitchen. Pineapple cookie jar from Market Import, popcorn sculpture by Madeleine Child, wooden candle stick holders from Sri Lanka. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Upstairs landing detail. Prints in stairwell by Melbourne’s Leslie van der Sluys, inherited from Kate’s parents. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Exterior of the house / backgarden (shame no blue sky on the day we visited!).  Garden by DMS Landscapes. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Upstairs dining / sitting room with window through to the kitchen.  Floor rug by Kip & Co, rolled steel fire wood circle made by Mal, dining chairs purchased on a holiday in Bali. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Living room details.  Floor rug by Kip & Co, hand chair purchased from a secondhand hand market in Geelong, stool made by Mal, print by Patricia Marrafurra, small artwork of reclining woman purchased in Burma. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Downstairs study / workspace. Oil painting by Anne Robertson, twig bed by Greg Hatton, all bedding, cushions and blanket by Kip and Co, bent steel work bench made by Mal. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Master Bedroom.  All pillows, bedding, blanket and bedspread by Kip & Co, horse photo by Brooke Holm, silhouette lasercut of Zig by Cheek by Jowl, bedside table made by Mal, pear oil painting by Saskia Howell-Moniz. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Guest bedroom.  All pillows, bedding and woven bedspread by Kip & Co, landscape photo on wall above bed by Brooke Holm, antique buddah light was Kate’s parents. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Zig’s bedroom.  All pillows, cushion, bedspread, bedding and blanket by Kip & Co, Minnie Pwerle artwork above the bed, vintage wall hanging purchased from the Mill Market in Geelong. Photo – Eve Wilson, production – Lucy Feagins / The Design Files.

Writer
Lucy Feagins
1st of July 2015

It’s fair to say Melbourne based bedlinen label Kip & Co has enjoyed a stellar rise to fame since launching in 2012. We’d go so far as to say it’s reached ‘cult status’ amongst an army of loyal colour-loving linen devotees! Today, we’re finally paying a visit to the bold and beautiful home of Kip & Co co-founder Kate Heppell, her partner Mal (of DMS Landscapes) and their 3 year old son Zig.

We’re ALWAYS looking for vibrant colour, texture and generally quirky, unexpected details in the homes we feature. It’s not that we don’t also love a white, streamlined minimalist architectural masterpiece… it’s just that, well, for the sake of visual storytelling, variety is our friend. So when we finally made the drive to Point Lonsdale to photograph Kate and Mal’s hyper-creative family home, we weren’t disappointed!

Kate and Mal purchased their property in Point Lonsdale 10 years ago. At the time, the property was advertised as a ‘knockdown house’. ‘The house had literally been “cut and sealed” – ready for demolition’ explains Kate. But it seems this quirky knock down had a special appeal – and unexpected staying power! Kate and Mal never demolished it.

’The short of what we did was; reverse the “cut and seal”, add 2 extra bedrooms and 1 bathroom, replace every window, extend the front and back decks, fill in the car port to create two additional rooms downstairs, and clad the entire house’ explains Kate. ‘While the exterior of the house was dilapidated, the interior was actually really beautiful, a sweet layout, with stunning natural light – and a lot worth salvaging. So we did – and the interior, particularly upstairs, is virtually original’.

This ‘mend and make do’ approach explains, in part, how Kate and Mal’s house came to be such a rich patchwork of textures and materials – as the creative pair added to the modest existing home, concrete finishes, bold colour and timber details were layered onto the existing framework of the house in a loose, unstructured way. In addition to embracing a brave materials palette, Kate and Mal have also used brilliant and quite unexpected colour throughout the house – rich olive greens, warm orange tones and deep indigo work so well here – there is barely a white wall in the house! An eclectic edit of second hand furniture, handcrafted homewares, beautiful artwork and, of course, vivid soft furnishings complete the look, and prove that more really is more when it comes to a home like this!

Kate is passionate about Australian art, and amongst her collection are treasured pieces by the late Minnie Pwerle. ‘A special piece is the Minnie Pwerle painting in the living room which Mal and I purchased together about twelve years ago – a couple of years after we met’ explains Kate. Two Rhys Lee paintings given to Mal by Kate for his 30th birthday seven years ago are also firm favourites.

Kate’s also very fond of the ‘popcorn sculptures’ by Madeleine Child scattered throughout the house (we love them too!). There are 15 in total displayed through the house in various rooms. They were purchased whilst Kate and Mal were on their honeymoon in New Zealand in 2010.

‘This house and Point Lonsdale are just heaven to live in’ explains Kate of her relaxed beachside home. ‘The house has the most beautiful energy and natural light, and to us, there is nothing better than living walking distance to the beach’.

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