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After a stint of apartment living in LA, the couple behind of this Brunswick West cottage quickly fell in love with the home for its rambling garden.
It wasn’t until they moved in that owners Sam and Fi realised the house itself had a ‘few problems’: sinking floors, a gloomy bathroom and laundry, while a ‘clumsy’ 1990s renovation had left the rear with a disjointed kitchen, living and dining room.
‘The architects we spoke to both suggested tearing the whole back off the house, only leaving the Victorian front, and losing a lot of the garden in the process,’ Fi says.
Unwilling to make this sacrifice, they were instead recommended to engage Cantilever for a more sensitive renovation — overseen by their end-to-end design and construction service, Cantilever &CO.
‘Sam wanted a space for movie-nights, and music. Fi wanted a dedicated dining [space] to share together daily. Both wanted to separate the laundry and bathroom, and to create a great, hospitable kitchen,’ Cantilever &CO creative director Kylie Forbes says of the brief.
Much of the inspiration for the project came from the home’s existing quirks, and the couple’s love of mid-century modern aesthetics.
In the kitchen, Cantilever’s K3 Kitchen System, customised with butter-yellow concrete benchtops and laminate-on-ply fronts, set the tone for the playful interiors.
The efficient layout made space for Fi’s dream dining area, complete with vintage pendant lights from Angelucci, while double-glazed windows now perfectly frame garden views.
Deep green terrazzo tiles and glass blocks add an eclectic touch to the improved bathroom, where the original bathtub was refinished in a soft peach power coat.
‘The property had strong contrast of light and dark spaces, which I wanted to create a feature of,’ Kylie says.
‘I was interested to create a moody bathroom, that felt more like sunset, or the dappled light of a forest, than a clear bright day.’
In addition to improving the home’s thermal performance, existing plaster cornices and ceiling roses were restored; new recycled timber floorboards and cork tiles installed; and a third bedroom was converted into an eclectic living room.
Referring to the renovation as a puzzle, Kylie says this layered space came to life as the final ‘missing piece’. But it also influenced the transformation of the hallway.
‘I felt [it offered] opportunity for an artwork. It had to be a mural, and when I suggested Minna Leunig to Fi, it turned out that she is a favourite artist! It was meant to be,’ she adds.
The house is now a lively reflection of the owners’ personal taste, without losing touch with its Victorian heritage!
