After documenting Australian homes for many years now, we’ve learnt you can tell a lot about a person by how they present their home. Kate and Mal Heppell are no exception to this – their Point Lonsdale home is them in every sense!
As co-founder of popular Melbourne bedlinen company Kip&Co, Kate is not afraid of vibrant colour – there’s not white wall to be seen in the Heppell family home! Each room in the house assumes a personality of its own, from the moody charcoal walls of the living room, to the contemporary concrete flooring downstairs, and the retro feel of the timber panelled stairwell. Somehow, it’s the perfect mish mash!
Kate and Mal purchased their property 10 years ago. The house was in a dire dilapidated state, and was even advertised as ‘ready for demolition’. What others perceived to be a ‘knock down’, Kate and Mal saw as an opportunity – they decided to renovate and extend using the existing structure and footprint of the property.
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. The creative pair added to the modest existing home, incorporating concrete finishes, bold colour and timber details. With its brave materials palette and brilliant use of colour, Kate and Mal prove that more really is more when it comes to a home like this!
For the full story and many more photos of this Point Lonsdale coastal home, do pop back and revisit the original post!