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Mitch Jones, founder of workplace design studio Made For, has an ‘obsession’ with real estate listings, which he constantly shares with his wife, Cara Stizza, founder of furniture curation service Wildflower.
Cara usually ignores the listings (!), but there was something about this Collingwood apartment, located in one of the former Foy & Gibson factory buildings, that stood out.
‘The apartment had incredible width, soaring ceilings, and big windows,’ she says.
Seeking a more low-maintenance lifestyle and less time commuting, Cara and Mitch decided to move from a four-bedroom house to this two-bedroom apartment.
With good bones but a tired fitout, the condition of the apartment was just right for the designer pair to revitalise.
The kitchen (which had a bizarre splashback window to the toilet) needed a major overhaul, as did the internal ‘walls’ of the apartment, which were actually just white laminate shelving used to loosely divide the bedroom, living, and workspace areas.
‘We could add value without major structural changes — just smart joinery and furniture,’ explains Cara.
Mitch and Cara designed the renovation themselves to introduce a new kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, and refinished floors within the original masonry walls.
Mid-renovation, while living with family, they learned Cara was pregnant, which shifted priorities towards practicality, and kept things running on time!
‘Renovating with your partner means some heated discussions are inevitable, especially when both are opinionated designers,’ says Cara. ‘A hard move-in date helped keep decisions moving!’
Cara and Mitch moved in February 2020, just before the birth of their son Pilot, and before Melbourne’s first Covid lockdown.
Five years on, and the family are still loving inner-city apartment life, which gives them more time together, and less time spent commuting, or maintaining a large property.
‘Living five minutes walk from our office has been life changing,’ says Cara.
Their relatively generous-sized apartment (120 square metres) provides a relaxed family retreat, in close proximity to the city, parks, galleries, and restaurants.
‘We love cooking together, and the best thing about this apartment is being able to do that in a large, light-filled space where we can all be together but still not on top of each other,’ says Cara.
‘It’s the best kind of apartment living.’
