Heritage House
After 36 years in a beloved family home in Pascoe Vale South, a pair of empty-nesters briefly considered flying the coup. They landed instead on a transformational refresh, reconfiguring downstairs spaces, improving thermal efficiency, and reinstating flow for themselves and their close-knit, intergenerational family.
Project
Heritage House
System
Tableau Kitchen System
Service
Joinery + Interiors Service
Location
Victoria
Author
Kath Dolan
Images
Martina Gemmola
Video
Racheal
Styling by
Kylie Forbes
Key Suppliers
Southwood Home Cosh Living Kett Furniture Craft Victoria Studio Gallery Moonie Ponds Antiques
““I feel like I have a brand new home,” the client says. “And I feel so privileged. We come from a working class migrant family, and I never dreamed I’d live somewhere so beautiful.””
The couple now luxuriating in their Edwardian Art Deco home’s newfound functionality, flow, thermal comfort and heritage-inspired detailing nearly left this place behind a few years ago. Had parking in Brunswick been easier to find, they’d likely have given apartment living a go. But with adult kids and a new grandson living nearby in ‘the hot zone’ (“they come pick up food and it’s still hot when they get home,” the client jokes), there were strong reasons to stay.
The house was thermally leaky and had an awkward floorplan not helped by a ‘90s renovation. But its combination of heritage features, a garage/workshop for her furniture-maker husband, and an expansive, hilltop block with established garden and spectacular 180-degree city views ultimately felt too good to leave. “Everywhere we went (house hunting) we looked out the kitchen window and went, ‘Oh’,” the client recalls, deflated. “We’ve got beautiful views. We look out over West Brunswick, we’ve got the city skyscrapers, we see the fireworks when they’re happening. So we thought, ‘Can we downsize in the house?’ That was the brief.”
Cantilever joined forces with Grounds Architecture on documentation and Evolve Build on a thoughtful renovation that worked within the building envelope but reconfigured downstairs kitchen, dining and living spaces to better connect them: to each other, external decks, and those killer views. In the process, they created the thermally efficient zoning and flexible functionality that now delight the owners and their many visitors.
“We needed to create a home that felt good for two, and for a horde of family,” explains Kylie Forbes, Creative Director at Cantilever Interiors.
“We revised the floorplan to create intimacy in the zoning and connection through the home by introducing look-throughs, and used functional, welcoming joinery to create seating in 'dead zones',” she says. “We wanted to retain the feel of the 1940's brick Edwardian, and introduce sympathetic plaster details, romantic lighting and playful tile work at the entrance to emphasise the craftsmanship inherent in the original home.”
The client initially interviewed two architects, who suggested additions like a glass turret to catch the light. “They wanted Grand Designs,” she says dryly. “We wanted to downsize, not get bigger.” She saw respect and practicality in the way the Cantilever team and Haslett Grounds listened to them and responded with functional suggestions to opening up core to their energising views.
““Travis (Dean, Cantilever’s Managing Director) was the first person who walked into the house and said, ‘Why wouldn’t you put the kitchen over here?’ she says. “No one else had suggested it, I wouldn’t have thought of it, and he was right. I thought, ‘Okay, you’ve got the job’.” ”
By moving the kitchen, enlarging key windows, removing an internal wall and reinstating an old servery opening between kitchen and dining, the design frames views that now start at the front entry. Cantiliver’s Tableau system appealed for its soft curves, crafted handles, and balance of robust, contrasting elements: practical stainless steel counters, warm timber joinery, and dark, striking stone on the island benchtop.
““Tableau is incredibly functional and easy to maintain,” the client says. “I’ve got the softness of Oak on the cupboards at the bottom (of the island bench), which really softens the area against the stone.” ”
Contrasting finishes elsewhere – on display shelving and pantry and appliance spaces, for example – “complement one another. It’s not sterile. It’s not overly busy. You’ve got a lovely softness, and the finish on everything is so beautiful.”
As the project progressed the scope of works grew to include unifying joinery throughout, as well as lighting design, soft furnishings, and enclosure of an exposed staircase to simplify the interior. It’s a common scenario, according to Kylie. “Projects naturally evolve as clients build trust, confidence and familiarity with our ideas,” she says. “Creatively, improvements to the initial response are also natural, as thoughts emerge and we get to know the property. It’s also common that clients start with an interest in reining in their project, mostly from fear of cost blow-outs, or sometimes from reluctance to embrace wholesale change.”
Tableau’s handcrafted feel compliments the Art Deco features, and its varied colour palette creates unity without uniformity. The clients love the contrast of warm neutral tones in kitchen joinery and Tableau’s first-ever application in black to match the living room’s darkly glamourous new fireplace. She concedes she and her husband couldn’t picture how Kylie’s suggested combination of painted Oak, tiles and stone detailing would come together in and around the restored fireplace.
““But I had confidence in her, and she never forced things on us,” the client says. “She just said, ‘Think about it’. And they are exquisite.””
“Many heritage homes would be considered high-end architecture for the level of detail in them, were they built today,” Kylie says. “You see it here in the brick detailing, the plaster, the timber and glass, the fireplaces and the window designs. I’m interested in re-establishing this feeling of care and detail in our projects.” Along with the elegant new fireplace, custom plaster accents on doorway thresholds “do this in a simple, quiet way,” she says.
Zoning is also central to the project’s success. Repurposing the rear family room as an expansive formal dining space makes the most of its openings to the elevated deck. When the couple are flying solo, this room can be closed off, reducing the need for heating or cooling (along with upgrades like the double-glazing of lovely double-hung sash windows throughout).
But in warmer weather, or when there’s a crowd to feed, this space hosts the get-togethers that make family life tick. New triple-slacked sliders maximise vistas and indoor-outdoor connection, and an in-built sofa introduces space for play, rest or conversation while extended meals roll on. “We had 25 people here before the baby was born and it never felt like a crowd,” the client says.
For everyday dining, Cantilever created informal seating at the kitchen’s stone island, and a dining nook for two with a round table and pendant light in the sun-drenched space opposite the new/old servery look-through. On the other side of the kitchen, the reimagined living room with fireplace and new in-built seating forms a central zone where the couple happily spend most of their time.
“There’s not one thing I’d change with the benefit of hindsight.”
A busy woman with a demanding career, she didn’t expect to enjoy this creative collaboration as much as she did. Eventually. The thought of spending precious downtime pouring over paint swatches filled her with dread initially. “Because I’m so time-poor and I make big decisions every single day I thought, ‘I can’t do this’, she recalls. Kylie’s tactic of presenting her with a small selection of considered options made for a quicker process and more fun than she expected. “As we went along I really looked forward to our meetings, especially as we got closer to some of the final decisions,” she says.
An astute observer, she gained knowledge and confidence in her own style and eye for detail, and recalls learning plenty about design from Kylie, Travis and interior designer Sally, including quirks like the way paint on the living room walls looked too yellow until rugs and other furnishings were added. “It’s true, a particular corner just bounced yellow,” Kylie recalls. “I think the neighbouring walls were reflecting off each other and enhancing the base tone. Light and colour are totally fascinating. We interpret tones in relation to each other, and they shift in accordance. It is not uncommon for clients to get nervous when elements designed to work together are established in isolation.”
Kylie’s renowned for her skill with colour. One of her many tricks of the trade is to select paint colours last, because it’s the most flexible medium. “I just sit with the palette and tap into different feelings,” she says. “How the room could feel with different colours working with the established selections. There is always more than one option. But I generally feel a strong sense toward a couple.”
For her part, the happy client has some tips of her own for fellow renovators. “If you think it’ll be a year, assume a year and a half,” she laughs. And regardless of how time-poor you are, “you’ve got to be an active part of the process,” she says. “There’s a flurry of activity at the beginning but it certainly tapers off, and the last 10% is really hard. You have to keep at your builders and tradespeople and all the rest. The responsibility is ultimately always yours.”
