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When AFL footballer Cody Weightman purchased this Brunswick warehouse conversion last year, he knew he wanted to be involved in the process of making the house feel like home.
‘This is my first home, so I really wanted to make it feel like mine,’ Cody says.
Having played 80 games for the Western Bulldogs, the athlete also has a passion for art — having dabbled in painting murals, canvas, and even exhibiting his work at Melbourne Design Week 2026.
With an initial vision to convert the garage into his art studio, Cody approached interior designer Jessica Bettenay of By R.A for guidance. But like most renovations, the brief quickly grew to encompass all three levels of the converted warehouse home.
The revamp enhanced the industrial bones of the ‘quirky’ three-storey residence, retaining the existing floors, exposed blockwork, brick, and ceiling rafters that nod to the building’s 100-year-old history.
‘I’ve always loved warehouses, so we drew a lot of inspiration from restaurants around Melbourne like bistroX in Fitzroy,’ Cody says. Another Melbourne venue, Disuku in the CBD, also influenced the atmospheric vibe of the new interiors, with plenty of mood lighting and graphic art layered throughout.
On the ground floor, the garage now doubles as a functional studio, laundry, and hang-out zone. Upstairs, a DIY cosmetic refresh brought new life to the bedrooms and bathrooms, where Cody cleverly refaced the joinery and painted over the tiles.
Jessica says the biggest transformation took place across the open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room on the top floor.
The kitchen was reimagined with deep red joinery and a stainless-steel island, designed especially for gathering and meal preparation, while an awkward, ‘unusable nook’ was also repurposed into a secret powder room, hidden behind a sliding door.
‘Outside, the indoor-outdoor zone became one of the best parts of the house, with a pizza oven and Weber — another space built purely for the boys [Cody and his housemates] to enjoy,’ Jessica says.
For Cody, who managed most of the project himself in between playing football full-time, overseeing the logistics was the hardest part. Getting materials up to the third level was another challenge, and when the scissor lift broke down on the stone delivery day, they had to cautiously carry each slab up the stairs.
‘I slightly underestimated the amount of work and complexity of organising trades and materials. Though stressful and at times costly, it was overall extremely rewarding seeing something you envisioned come to life,’ he says.
Now, the passion project is something to be proud of — a home that’s tailor made to Cody, with spaces for training, creativity, food, and friendship, all under one roof.
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