Moving Feast
Veterans of two previous renovations collaborated closely with a draftsperson and Cantilever to remodel what now feels like their forever home, allowing plenty of time to test ideas and explore their options.
Images
Martina Gemmola
Styling by
Kylie Forbes
Key Suppliers
Blum
Artedomus
Hatch Design Studio
Make Designed Objects
Vasette
Country Road
Damian Gross concedes it briefly felt like a step backwards in December 2018 when his family of six and their au pair at the time moved from a renovated home in Moonee Ponds to a three-bedroom Northcote fixer-upper with one bathroom in a rear lean-to. But he and partner Monica Duggan were playing the long game, and knew sometimes going backwards is part of moving forwards.
“It was quite a step down from where we were previously in terms of convenience and having everything that we needed,” Damian recalls. “But we wanted to move to Northcote and in hindsight it was the best move we’ve ever made. We never felt at home where we were, and as soon as we moved here – even before the renovation – it felt like our ‘hood.” Client
“Obviously moving in with seven people … we knew we’d have to do some work on it eventually. But we lived in it for 18-24 months … to work out what we wanted to do.” He means that literally. They had a ‘forever’ home in their sights and no plans for an architect. They’d done a major renovation at Moonee Ponds collaborating with a draftsperson, and had a glowing recommendation from a designer friend for a highly experienced local draftie who could help with functional details like spatial planning and compliance.
“It’s quite an expensive exercise going through an architect and we didn’t really have the budget, so we thought, ‘We’re going to design this space ourselves’, Damian says. “Obviously you still need the technical expertise of a draftsperson for the layout of the house and to get building approvals. We’re not architecturally minded but we knew what we wanted.”
After two years in the cold, north-facing, early 1900s Edwardian-style cottage, the brief became crystal clear. Ditch the lean-to and two “extravagantly” large front bedrooms to make way for five compact bedrooms (the master with ensuite and walk-in robe), more expansive, light-filled kitchen, dining and living spaces at the rear, and better connections to a garden with outdoor living space and inground spa. They researched passive solar design and added to their priorities plenty of insulation, rooftop solar, and maximising the existing building envelope.
“We’re on a 384-square-metre block, not the hugest bit of land, so we had to be careful with the way we designed it,” Damian says. “We pushed to the boundary as much as we could, made the bedrooms functional but compact, and didn’t go upstairs. Our experience was it’s hot in summer, harder to cool, and in 20 years we’re going to be 70 so don’t really want to be climbing upstairs to our bedroom. And it’s certainly more expensive.” Draftsman Bernie Trahar of Trahar Design “had done hundreds of houses before and had all these great ideas, especially for one of our keys: getting light into the place,” Damian says.
The trio developed the floorplan through an iterative process that involved Damian painstakingly drawing up every space, indoors and out, to test possible room configurations, dimensions and layouts. “I did very detailed drawings … to see how things would fit, and moved things around,” he recalls. “I’m big on function.” This went beyond floorplans to interiors, helping the couple visualise spaces in three dimensions. “We maybe spent more time than other people might have on how rooms work to make sure that what we designed with the draftsperson would be fine,” he says. It paid off given the scope of change required. “I think we moved every single wall,” he adds with a laugh. “The shell at the front of the house remains, but we took out five fireplaces as well. So that obviously opened up a whole lot of opportunity.”
The design places four bedrooms to the right of a central hallway, and the new master suite, bathroom, laundry and pantry to the left. Beyond are light-filled living and dining spaces connected to the rear garden via glazed doors. The kitchen opposite is topped with angular highlight windows and connected internally to the walk-in pantry and externally to the garden via a timber-framed bi-fold window opening onto an external timber bar.
Cantilever Interiors felt like the obvious choice for kitchen design and custom joinery in the pantry, side entry/laundry and living room. Using a retailer’s design service in the past had felt transactional and limiting. “We had some friends who’d used Cantilever,” Damian says. “We liked the fact that they were local, we went and visited the showroom, and we just fell in love immediately … with the look and feel and materials. They can build bespoke kitchens, you don’t have to worry that this cupboard won’t fit in with those dimensions, so it was less constrained. And the bonus for us was that I would say they’re competitive. So for a really, really nice kitchen we didn’t spend an absolute bomb.”
Cantilever’s Creative Director Kylie Forbes recalls Damian and Monica were drawn to the pared-back K3 system in black, inspired by images of the first project ever to use this striking palette. “This one is black internally also, and uses a black concrete island bench and a stainless steel backbench,” she says. Warm feature grain elements echo timber detailing throughout the renovation, including floors, door frames and the kitchen’s beautiful bi-fold and bar.
“That’s something I love about K3, it has this really subtle timber element and because it’s ply it can work aesthetically using any timber,” she says. In utilitarian areas like the laundry and pantry they opted for K1’s economical functionality “but kept the K3’s splashback tile for consistency,” Kylie adds.
That’s the kind of nuanced design advice that made the collaboration a delight for Damian and Monica. “For instance, those tall Blackbutt cupboards are just magnificent, and we didn’t have that pinned down before we started discussions,” Damian says. “The stainless steel benchtops on the perimeter we’d never even considered. While the functional aspect is pretty much how we (envisaged), Travis and Kylie brought a whole lot of design elements in and said, ‘this is how it’s going to function, and it’ll look great, and it’s durable’. They were so important on the materials side of things. Also they came up with the tile colour I never would have chosen, but when we put it all together we said, ‘Yep, this looks really smart’.”
Custom pieces were similarly successful, and include a set-down nook in the side entry combining the Wanda shelving system with a low drawer, and Blackbutt joinery and shelving that completed the living area a year later. “We got them back to do (that), which is a testament to how easy they are to work with,” Damian says. “They’re quite flexible and they’re design thinkers. ‘Here’s a space, what could we do with this?’ That certainly is a gap in our expertise. And the nice thing is … it was organic. It was a conversation. It didn’t feel like we were under any pressure whatsoever, and the results speak for themselves. I don’t think we could be any happier with the kitchen to be honest.”
Matthew Day of Day to Day Carpentry and Construction provided “quality carpentry and a can-do attitude,” according to Damian. “Matt and team were on-site every day, demonstrating a total commitment to our project.”
Damian’s advice for others renovating is simply to take their time. “Try not to be rushed into making decisions,” he says. “Go down all the paths you need to go down. If you do things too quickly you forget things, or don’t realise things. You do need to spend time pondering and thinking and planning to get the best result possible.”
