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Interior designer Cetti Wearmouth of Tiano Studio is drawn to the city, and her husband Gary Wearmouth to the country, which led the couple to exploring Melbourne’s Nillumbik Shire area.
They inspected houses online and in short bursts during COVID, which made the process even more taxing than usual (and building inspections near impossible), but they soon found a hidden gem in this 1970s house for sale on Diamond Creek.
‘We loved the house immediately. The raked ceiling and exposed beams tugged at my heartstrings, as did the views from the deck. As soon as we walked in and looked out to the deck, we were enveloped by greenery and it felt like we were in the treetops,’ says Cetti.
‘We just knew it was a special place and had great potential if we took on a considered renovation. We knew the surrounds would give us the peace and quiet we were looking for.’
The house is not technically from the mid-century era, but had a few similar design elements that Cetti wanted to enhance in a renovation.
There were also many features that needed to go, most added in adhoc renovations over the years, and some irreversibly damaged.
Cetti explains, ‘Aesthetically, it was devoid of colour and it had suffered a cheap and nasty renovation. Horrible grey washed laminate flooring, a smelly secondhand kitchen which was also impractical, and a black tiled en suite that is in the lower part of the house, so it felt a bit “dungeon-esque”.’
‘We soon discovered while renovating that we had a lot of termite damage to structural beams. There was also water coming in under the house… All these issues have since been rectified during the renovation.’
After fixing the damage, Cetti focused on designing a new kitchen, laundry, en suite, and walk-in robe, while adding new flooring and double glazed timber doors. The overall vision was to instill a greater sense of tactility to the interiors by layering natural materials, textures and colour. ‘I fear walking into a room and seeing a flat modern box, so I really leant into using a mix of materials and textures aiming to evoke emotion and create visual depth,’ says Cetti. ‘I wanted the home to feel warmer and more expressive to bring me that feeling of joy when I entered every room.’
The updated spaces are now tailor made for the house and the way Cetti and Gary live. The kitchen makes sense (‘I could tell the previous owners had installed a secondhand kitchen because it didn’t fit the space properly.’ says Cetti), the laundry is ultra functional. and the en suite is more luxurious.
The renovations took over three years to complete, with a few elements still to complete in the garden. There’ve been plenty of challenges along the way, mainly around accessing the steep block, but keeping tasks in-house where possible has helped keep costs down.
‘Pretty much everything we do, especially in the garden, requires us manually transporting buckets of mulch or soil or whatever materials needed via our steps,’ says Cetti.
‘Gary is very handy, so he did the paving, the bagging of exterior bricks, and painting inside and out. And I did all the design work, so that saved us too.’
The privacy and cosy nature of Cetti and Gary’s home makes every day feel like a holiday, while being just a short drive from Melbourne’s busy centre. ‘We have fabulous views and the trees that surround our deck brings me comfort,’ says Cetti. ‘People often say that it feels like an Airbnb, which is pretty great, because that’s the vibe we were hoping to create.’
Together, the couple have created their own sanctuary that’s the perfect marriage of city and country life.
