Kirsty Ristevski is a seasoned renovator, but after taking the BuildHer Collective masterclass last year – she was ready to take on a new challenge!

Previous to their ownership, this building in Albert Park was leased out to five different businesses, over its three levels. A number of structural changes were needed to resolve the space, and transform it from disparate offices into a cohesive family home.

‘We worked with the existing structure of the building where possible in order to save money,’ explains Kirsty. ‘But to open up the downstairs area and create an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area meant a whole lot of steel to support the two solidly built storeys above.’

This meant lifting the ceiling in the living space, partitioning some private zones to make more bedrooms, and adding some internal walls to create a main bedroom suite on the very top level.

Despite this internal rearranging, the bones of the place were an excellent starting point. Kirsty retained the original solid brick walls and worked with the existing upstairs windows when working out the new layout. They even peeled off plaster ceilings, to reveal a higher concrete ceiling above, which was kept!

But the piece de resistance here is the floor-to-ceiling mosaic mural depicting Flinders St. Station, which Kirsty and her builder Mick (from Brace Construct) salvaged from the Earp Bros warehouse and pieced back together themselves! It now sits proudly in the snug, wrapped around a corner to frame the built in window seat that overlooks the garden.

Complemented by a natural-toned material palette and pops of colour that act like punctuation marks, this home is a lesson in slick but liveable contemporary design.

See more of Kirsty’s creative direction work at FURNISHD here.