Karin Altman’s Glen Iris residence is a serene home, filled with pops of personality and colour. Karin and her daughters moved in three years ago, and Karin immediately set about putting her skills to the test, designing and planning her renovation.
It was love at first sight for Karin, when she spotted the exposed high ceilings and the open calmness of the home. She explains ‘even though it was extremely dated, it just had the softest most beautiful natural light and I knew I could be very happy there.’ Karin had been looking for a place for over 18 months, but ‘finding a free standing three bedroom family sized home with renovation potential on an apartment size budget… proved rather difficult!’
While the home wasn’t what Karin had in mind, as was outside of the area she initially wanted, she highlights ‘to my surprise I completely fell in love with it when I saw it.’ The warehouse vibe of the property, in contrast to the ‘posh area’ was an intriguing proposition, and the home offered three ‘good sized bedrooms’ and a large dining area with good potential for transformation. Karin explains ‘I opened up a wall to include the kitchen with the living dining area, closed off a small laundry and added a second powder room.’
Karin completely gutted the interiors, before adding her own personal flair. She describes the place as ‘comfortably minimal’, where a neutral base of Dulux Antique White U.S.A. walls, sits against light oak floors, punctuated by vibrant artwork and collectibles. She enthuses ‘my style is constantly evolving and changing, I’m a decorator and constantly like to experiment with different styles, change up the art and objects and move things around.’ As Karin’s first solo home as a decorator, the space perfectly captures her love of playing with scale and colour.
For Karin, the only difficulty in this renovation was downsizing from a considerably larger home, without making this space feel cluttered or over-done. Opening up the main living and dining area allowed her to still be able to invite all her family and friends over for dinner parties, and her interest in pursuing a more sustainable way of living meant that compromising on a few things, like having less storage space, was a sacrifice she was willing to make. For Karin and her kids, this vibrant, personality-filled home is everything they need!
