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As a self-professed homebody, ROAN Group director and interior designer Nicole Chapman believes the most successful homes naturally encourage people to slow down, connect, and enjoy being together.
She took that approach when designing her own home in South Melbourne.
On a walk in the area in 2022, Nicole came across a run-down, double-fronted brick dwelling with a lean-to addition.
‘We could immediately see the potential. It felt like a real diamond in the rough and an exciting opportunity to create something completely new while staying in a neighbourhood we already loved,’ she explains.
Each ROAN Group project seeks to respect the building’s heritage and preserve redeeming architectural features. But there was no saving this brick home.
With a clear 260-square-metre slate, Nicole designed a new home to suit its heritage street and accommodate the seven neighbouring properties — achieved through a lengthy council process.
‘We wanted the house to be a strong representation of contemporary architecture, while still feeling respectful of its surroundings and as though it had always belonged there,’ she says.
‘We took cues from the roof forms, window placements and materiality of neighbouring homes, then reinterpreted those elements in a more contemporary way.’
The home’s repeated material palette — brick, steel, and concrete — pays homage to South Melbourne’s industrial beginnings.
‘We loved the honesty and permanence of those materials… and wanted the house to feel connected to that part of South Melbourne’s history while still being distinctly contemporary,’ she explains.
When designing the layout to support the way her family lives, Nicole returned to the same questions she asks her clients: Who are you as a family? How do you spend your weekends? What matters to you beyond what you have saved on Pinterest?
‘A home should support the life you want to live now, rather than becoming a place to store every version of the life you have lived before,’ she says.
The resulting home offers something for everyone in Nicole’s family — space by the fire to watch movies, long afternoons in the magnesium pool, barbecue dinners, and areas for her son to hang out with friends.
‘The broader vision was also about restraint,’ she explains.
‘I believe a home should have enough storage to support everyday life, but not so much that it encourages us to accumulate things we do not need.’
Nicole found designing her own home to be a freeing process.
‘As a designer and a creative, it allows me to explore ideas without the usual client boundaries, other than my own limits and, of course, the budget,’ she says.
‘Fundamentally, this home is about enjoying a quieter life. There are built-in wellness elements such as the magnesium pool and sauna, but also simple comforts like underfloor heating, filtered water and enough storage for everything to have its place, so the house always feels calm rather than cluttered.’
