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From the first step inside this Fitzroy home six years ago, artist Sammy Veall and her husband Critter Heinz had that magic moment most house hunters dream of: the feeling that it had been made just for them.
Sammy was instantly taken with the old Victorian. Between the blue-painted brick exterior and its familiarity — having appeared on the beloved TV series Offspring — the home already had the reputation of a local icon.
‘The blue bricks attracted us at first, then the inside just got better and better,’ Sammy says.
Upon entry, they were met with parquetry floorboards that transitioned to polished concrete in the living room, before revealing a checkerboard of terracotta and white tiles in the dining room — a motif that felt particularly personal to Sammy.
‘In my paintings, I have painted floors similar to the ones in our home, prior to even seeing the house,’ she says.
Having grown up on a farm near Albury-Wodonga, Sammy was keen to ensure her own family had a decent garden to enjoy. By some stroke of luck, the inner-city house had evolved over its many iterations into an unconventional floor plan, with lush outdoor spaces at nearly every turn, including a vegetable patch, a lap pool, and a courtyard garden.
‘We love how open the layout is… It’s not the usual rectangle or square shape; all the rooms just merge into one another,’ she says.
The house felt so perfect for the family when they moved in that the couple decided to turn their focus to the gardens first, creating an Italian-inspired, white pebble courtyard with guidance from Sammy’s mum, who studied horticulture.
‘We also built a veggie garden fence out of recycled timber from our next-door neighbours! At the moment, a pumpkin vine is growing all over it,’ adds Sammy.
The rest of the property has been personalised bit by bit, taking inspiration from the quirky details of building’s storied past.
Sammy says the house was renovated about 20 years ago by a Greek builder, who added on the enchanting dining room, complete with a pressed metal ceiling and wrap-around windows.
‘Being Greek, he wanted to create a room where 15 people would enjoy lunch every Sunday,’ she explains.
This wholesome legacy is something that resonates with the couple as new custodians. They’re passionate about carrying on the same hosting tradition, sometimes even opening up the home for Sammy’s art exhibitions.
One of the biggest changes to the home came in the decision to remove a pair of stained-glass windows at the edge of the dining room in favour of plain windowpanes — to maximise views of their beloved garden outside.
‘[Removing the stained-glass] has completely opened up the space… It was such a simple change, but it looks incredible,’ explains Sammy.
The subtle renovations have ultimately stayed true to the home’s existing character. Almost all of the lighting has been replaced with new pendants and vintage wall sconces. In the en suite bathroom, Sammy painted the walls a rich green to match the existing Italian tiles on the floors.
Sammy also engaged a local cabinetmaker to create a custom daybed. It looks like something from a Mediterranean villa, but it’s actually made of plywood, coated in chalk paint, and finished off with beeswax, as a budget-friendly way to mimic the appearance of Venetian plaster.
The final — and ever-evolving — styling flourish is the impressive collection of contemporary paintings from Australian artists (including some vibrant works by Sammy herself) hung on almost every wall, filling the romantic interiors with newfound life.
‘Our house is old and lived in. The finishings allow for lots of mess, so the house is not precious, but it’s beautiful,’ Sammy says.
‘We would rather the home have lots of people in it and lots of mess than be empty and clean. The kids can come into the house covered in sand from the sandpit or dirt from the veggie garden. It’s a welcoming house full of love and fun!’
An edited version of this story originally appeared in The Design Files Magazine Issue 04. Subscribe to the biannual print magazine here.
