Artist Annabelle Gfeller looked for a decade (!) for the perfect place for her family to call home: somewhere that ticked all the boxes and then some.

She found it in this Vaucluse property, originally designed by Luigi Rosselli Architects, which wouldn’t look out of place in the Spanish or Italian village. ‘Our home blends Mediterranean architecture with rustic and contemporary influences. Luigi thoughtfully designed a space where the garden wraps around the house creating multiple focal points and intimate spaces to enjoy,’ says Annabelle.

‘There’s a real sense of depth and warmth throughout, with natural stone, rough-rendered walls, and French-style windows and doors. The limewashed exterior evokes the charm of a Tuscan villa, while the Spanish tiled roof and climbing bougainvillea add to its old world charm.’

Over 10 years on, these qualities are never lost on Annabelle and her family (husband David Goding and two children Gaia, 17, and Raphael, 13). ‘Stepping through the doors always feels like being on holiday’ Annabelle confesses.

The existing house didn’t immediately ‘need’ anything, except for a bit of TLC in kitchen area and around the pool. These works involved interior painting, sanding and re-staining timber floors, cleaning limestone, and upgrading the kitchen.

‘It was very important to us that we maintain the look and feel of the home and I really feel we achieved that. The kitchen looks as if it was always there’, says Annabelle.

In the years since, Annabelle and her family have also invested in significant landscaping works, to allow for a purpose-built artist studio.

‘It isn’t very big, but it has a beautiful feel and serenity to it. I look out over the garden and pool and back of the house… It is my happy place and an absolute joy to work from,’ says Annabelle of the studio. ‘We mimicked the dark timber doors and open shelving from the house and put in limewashed and smoked timber floors.’

The styling of the home has naturally evolved as Annabelle has collected pieces travelling overseas and from vintage stores in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Subtle blue and green tones echo the calm of the garden and pool, rugs were sourced in Istanbul, and there are many much-loved artworks displayed throughout the home.

It’s still very much a family home, so nothing is too perfect or precious. ‘We have children, pets, mess, and a busy lifestyle, so you need to strike that balance between a home that is aesthetically beautiful without being too fussy or styled,’ says Annabelle.

Mission accomplished!

Georgie Rose, Account Manager

The Akari 3X from In Good Company has been on my wishlist for ages, but I’ve always put it down as a want, not a need, but now I think I need one. Lighting is crucial, and an Akari just makes every space feel warm and inviting, especially as you’re winding down for the evening.

One of my favourite things to do in winter is cosy up in an armchair with a blanket and a good book, so the Atli Lounge Chair paired with the Tung Side Table and a throw from Waverley Mills is a dream setup for me.

Amelia Barnes, Senior Writer

Apparently, everything I like at the moment has a green or chartreuse tone that feels both cosy and a little unexpected (although entirely on trend).

My house is entirely floorboarded. If it wasn’t a rental, I’d be laying some gorgeous, coloured wool carpet in a deep brown like the Gigi from Supertuft, or a perfect-sized rug in the bedroom.

While not specifically a ‘homeware’, I think the Saison bubble bath looks as good as it smells sitting in a bathroom, which is good, because it’s an investment!

Annie Portelli, Art Director

I’m a big believer that you can never have too many lamps, and Cult have so many great ones to choose from right now, but I am really loving the distinctive shape of the Drome Table Lamp.

A hot water bottle is also one of my biggest must-haves for winter, and this stylish knitted version from Finnish Design Shop would be the perfect companion for those chilly days and nights!

Sarah Hendriks, Art Director

As someone who openly hates winter, I have decided this year not to fight it and instead to try to embrace the cold with a little bit of a Scandinavian mindset. This involves a lot of nights in, cooking for friends and creating a cosy and comfortable space.

Lighting is arguably the most crucial element to cosy interiors, and the Gubi Semi Pendant will be the perfect addition to our new dining table, adding a lovely touch of soft light. Add in the Stolab Lila Aland chairs, and the dining area will be complete.

Chelsea Hall, Advertising & Sponsorship Director

I’d love to set up a cosy corner of my house for reading, so I’m on the hunt for the perfect armchair, little side table and warm table lamp to entice me to slow down and embrace winter.

The Garret Lounge Chair looks chic from every angle. I love the textural fabric, plus it swivels — what a winner! The Squiggle Table Lamp is super fun and playful — it’s the kind of piece that would instantly liven up a space. I’ll have to fend off my kids to keep that one in my room!

Christina Karras, Writer & Producer

I’ve got my heart set on finding a new place, but in the meantime, I’m hoping to collect a few statement pieces that are versatile enough to follow me from my current home to the next: like the Sunday Sofa from Fenton & Fenton. The coffee-brown colourway would look perfect beside the striped timber Pepé Side Table.

This winter, I’m also hoping to get into some more crafty hobbies like beading and sewing, so I’m feeling very inspired by the Barley coasters from Tanchen Studio.

Lucy Feagins, Editor

Lighting is always the best way to create a cosy mood, and I need some lamps to create a bit more atmosphere in my living room… The Akari UF4-33N has been on my wishlist forever — maybe this will be the year I finally take the plunge!?

One of the best things about winter for me is comfort food and home cooking. I love making a big soup on the weekend to eat throughout the week, but my big casserole pot is more than 12 years old and has seen better days. I’m coveting a new Le Creuset cast iron pot in a decent size — ideally, big enough to make stock with a whole chicken.

When GIA Renovations interior designer Carmel Wylie first stepped inside her client’s Ormond family home, she instantly knew the kitchen needed a full revamp.

‘The kitchen was in the wrong location in the house,’ Carmel says.

‘It had been squeezed into a corner and had several DIY additional storage solutions added over time. It had a beautiful light coming in from the north window but that was about it.’

In addition to tackling the kitchen, GIA Renovations were tasked with updating the awkward bathroom and laundry. Both felt dysfunctional, and aesthetically, they were stuck somewhere between the 1970s and 1980s — reflected by the laminate finishes, dark trims, textured glass and decorative floral tiles.

But believe it or not, this dated scheme subtly influenced much of Carmel’s interior design choices for this latest refresh.

‘I wanted to stay true to the house and the time it was built,’ she adds. ‘The client loved warmer tones and wanted to use browns and earthy reds.’

It all started with the Rosa Strata Marble from CDK Stone that Carmel selected for the kitchen bench.

Covered in a combination of rich browns, creams, and gold veins, this natural stone set the tone for the rest of the materials: the dark terracotta floor tiles, the honey-coloured laminate, and Polytec Tasmanian oak joinery.

The kitchen layout was essentially ‘flipped’ to the opposite side of the existing space, the original door frames were also opened up with new curved archways that beautifully frame the show-stopping island bench.

‘As we were sitting it between two walls, I was conscious of the sizing of every benchtop,’ Carmel says.

‘We slimmed down the island slightly, but added the border tiles around the base, giving it the illusion of being much wider.’

Meanwhile, the services in the laundry and bathroom were retained and refreshed cosmetically with new finishes like terrazzo floor tiles and a textural basin from Robert Gordon. The same glossy brown tiles from the kitchen feature again in the laundry, creating a honeycomb-like colour combination when paired with the yellow grout and matching joinery.

The project proves how even the most utilitarian spaces in the home can still be fun, without sacrificing function.

‘I love the laundry in this job,’ Carmel notes. ‘The room is so full of joy and life!’

Leigh Ellwood has completed over a dozen renovations in the past 25 years – some big and some small – like the refresh of this single-fronted 1870s Victorian cottage at 153 Gore Street, Fitzroy.

The interior designer purchased the property with plans for an extensive renovation with architect Donald Holt of Hola Projects. In the meantime, she began lightly updating the two-bedroom cottage, which receives ample natural light thanks to an internal north-facing lightwell off the living room.

‘The way light accesses and is present in this house from morning to evening is our favourite,’ says Leigh.

‘At the height of the day, sun streams through the many skylights and the internal light well, and by the afternoon, sun pours in through the rear garden space, which funnels north light.’

The exterior was also given a delightful bright yellow front door and window shutters.

Leigh loves the location of this home, which offers a surprising sense of calm and stillness among the liveliness of central Fitzroy. ‘You can quietly observe the passing parade from the privacy of the front bedroom, or retreat to the rear garden and feel a million miles away,’ she says.

The suburb’s best restaurants, Richmond sporting precinct, public transport connections, and the city are within walking distance.

While the council-approved renovation plans are now in place for the cottage, Leigh has decided to take a breather from personal projects, so she’s placed the property on the market.

The house is now for sale, ready for someone else to realise its full potential. We’re excited to see what’s next for this charming property!

153 Gore Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065 is listed for sale with Charles Atkins and David Ashby from Jellis Craig and will go to auction at 10am on Saturday May 16. 

Living in an apartment or small home  shouldn’t mean giving up your dream of having your own garden.

In fact, with the right amount of sunlight, plants, and a bit of determination, you can still create a lush little outdoor space on a balcony or rooftop.

With more than 30 years of experience designing, constructing and maintaining beautiful gardens of all shapes and sizes, below Ian Barker reveals his advice for establishing a thriving rooftop or balcony garden.

What are the biggest challenges rooftop or balcony gardens present?

Water is the first practical challenge, and it’s a curse if you’re not prepared. You need to make sure your balcony or rooftop is genuinely waterproof before you do anything else. Wind is another major factor that people underestimate. On a rooftop, wind will knock over a round pot faster than you’d think, and cushions will fly away if they’re not tied down.

Fall protection is also critical — you need to consider carefully what you place against a balustrade where a toddler could step on it and fall over the edge. Finally, there’s the question of weight loading. You can’t just put anything you like on a roof without understanding how much weight it can bear.

What are your top tips for overcoming these challenges?

Start with a flood test before you do anything else — block the drains temporarily, put a thin layer of water on the surface and check for leaks. It’s far better to know before you’ve done all the work. Once you’ve confirmed the roof is waterproof, make sure nothing is fixed directly to the membrane – everything should float above it. We use pavers on a product called VersiPave, which lifts them off the membrane and allows irrigation to run underneath.

When it comes to weight, a good rule of thumb is a maximum of 240kg per square metre. There are also potting mixes specifically designed for rooftops that can halve the weight, so seek those out.

For safety and fall protection, even if you don’t technically need council permits, I’d strongly recommend consulting a building surveyor. That’s exactly what we did for our Clifton Hill rooftop project – not because we had to, but because we wanted to be 100% safe and legal.

Are there any environmental factors that need to be considered? 

Sunlight and shade are really important. On a balcony, you’ll either have too much sun or not enough. West-facing sun in particular comes in at an angle that is very difficult to soften, and morning sun can be equally challenging. You need to understand what that looks like across both summer and winter before you start planting.

Shade is something I consider mandatory in any rooftop or balcony garden. A garden should be layered with low ground covers, mixed middle planting and something for elevation — without some kind of shade element, you just end up with a hot pocket that no one wants to sit in.

What plants lend themselves well to these spaces, and why?

My personal go-to tree for rooftop and balcony gardens is the Crepe Myrtle. They’re as bulletproof as you can get at that height, handle wind well, and, crucially, they’ll be naturally stunted by the pot once the root system fills the space, so they’ll never outgrow the setting, as people sometimes fear.

For shrubs, I tend to go back to our bulletproof plants: Escallonia, Pittosporum tobira, and the like. They’re hardy, require minimal maintenance, and make great backdrop fillers. On a rooftop garden, you really don’t want to be scheduling a gardener every two weeks — so low-maintenance is key.

I also love plants that trail and spill over the edges, like Rosmarinus officinalis and Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ — they give a beautiful softness to the space. Succulents are also excellent for their drought tolerance.

And I’d always encourage some deciduous plants and perennials to give you that genuine change of seasons, like Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ – the autumn foliage and the arrival of spring make a rooftop garden feel truly alive throughout the year.

What pots or garden beds would you recommend for these spaces?

Square and rectangular pots for the backdrop — they’re more stable in wind and create a strong structural foundation. Then offset those with some circular pots to soften the look; because they sit inside the line of the square pots, they’re less exposed to the wind.

On pot size, for trees, you really want depth of at least 900mm, and the width of the base needs to be greater than the canopy to ensure stability.

For suppliers, The Balcony Garden is a great starting point for retail.

If your budget allows and you want something truly special, the handmade Italian clay pots from Cosh are in a league of their own — they’re works of art in their own right, just be prepared for the weight.

What is something that might surprise people about balcony or rooftop gardens?

How much they’re enjoyed from the inside. Gardens are looked at 90 per cent of the time from indoors — you come home, put the garden lights on, and the garden becomes part of your interior living space all year round. That’s why we design rooftop and balcony gardens from the inside out first — standing at the kitchen bench and asking: What are the best views to frame, and what do we want to soften?’

Lighting is a huge part of this, too. Mood lighting in a rooftop garden is transformational.

The other thing that surprises people is how much greenery you can achieve without sacrificing usable space. There’s a temptation to push everything to the edges to maximise the open floor area, but that actually makes the space feel smaller by highlighting the boundaries. Being willing to give up a little floor space for plant life changes the whole feel of the garden.

Any final words of advice for those not sure where to start?

Start simple. Put a couple of chairs on the balcony, sit there at different times of day over a few weeks, and work out exactly how you use the space and where you feel most comfortable. Then identify how much space you genuinely need for seating and make every other square centimetre count with plants. Plants are the heroes.

If you’re not sure where to start, find a landscape designer whose style resonates with you — there are designers of all shapes and sizes, with very different aesthetics. Find the one that suits your personality, and if you can, use them!

Learn more about Ian Barker Gardens here. 

As one of Australia’s most lauded architecture studios, Breathe is known for having a distinctive and sustainable approach to every project they touch.

But with this expertise also comes an understanding of how to make their mark on a home, without disrupting the original framework.

In the case of Merri Creek House, Breathe project architect Emily McBain says there was already a ‘lot to love’ about the Northcote family home.

Perched at the edge of bushland, the unique property was designed by Goad Fink Architects and built by its original owner, Ian Ezard in 1990, who used tongue-and-groove timber flooring from a nearby warehouse workshop and even built the home’s steel frame himself using a forklift.

Then in 2005, Fink&McMahon Architects added a third level to the top floor.

Despite its 90’s origins and later addition, when Breathe architects were invited to envision a new chapter for the home, they felt it radiated a distinctly modernist energy, with its floor-to-ceiling timber-framed windows, flat rooflines, and red steel beams.

‘The extensive glazing allowed for an abundance of light and warmth to penetrate the spaces, which was welcomed in the winter months, however proved problematic during summer,’ Emily says.

‘It also meant there was limited wall space, which wasn’t ideal for the clients’ art collection!’

Appreciative of the building’s unique character, Breathe knew they had to approach the project as a gentle retrofit rather than a complete renovation: ‘No new floor area, just a more comfortable and artful version of itself.’

The strategy was to effectively fill in the gaps, introducing a series of almost undetectable updates that transformed the house’s thermal performance.

One of the key moves was to retrofit the existing cedar framed windows with double-glazed units and sections of insulated, timber clad wall panels, which not only stopped the home from overheating, but offered new wall space for the owners’ art and objects.

Emily says it was also the family’s love of art, including pieces by Michael and George Johnson, that inspired the saturated use of colour amongst the otherwise ‘restrained palette’ of timber and glass.

On the ground floor, the new cobalt-blue kitchen now tucks neatly under the stairs, offering views across the revived gardens and a natural pool, designed by Sam Cox Landscapes.

The dramatic curved staircase takes its rightful place as the breathtaking hero of the house. Deliberately bold pops of orange and red across the furnishings tie in with the original steel elements, while a yellow laundry and green carpet upstairs also offer moments of delight.

The oversized main bedroom upstairs was reimagined as a sequence of spaces: for sleeping, dressing and bathing, all with uninterrupted views out to Merri Creek.

‘The design approach was one of careful restraint, to honour the existing house. The interiors are filled with timber, glass and vibrant moments of colour; they feel as if they are a natural evolution of the house, almost as if they’d always been there,’ Emily adds.

‘Merri Creek House makes a case for renewal and reuse, demonstrating how strategic and considered alterations can have a widespread impact. The project harnesses the unique opportunities of the existing home to create a comfortable and joyful home that will stand the test of time.’

The brief for this California bungalow renovation was nothing out of the ordinary.

The original rooms of the Essendon house had some lovely internal detailing, whereas the two-storey 1990s extension was very dated and not ageing well, calling for an overall refresh.

‘It was big enough for its large family but in need of reformatting and improving in terms of the types of spaces and how they flowed from one to the other,’ explains architect Lisa Breeze who designed the renovation. ‘The building envelope, particularly the windows from the 90s, especially needed attention.’

Lisa’s job was to rework the internal layout to suit the needs of the family, without adding too much space. The interiors also needed a refresh to feel lighter and suited to the client’s taste, who loves the colour green.

‘The space was there,’ Lisa says. ‘Through an early floor planning exercise, we worked out that a small extension between the house and boundary would be beneficial, as well removing a ground floor atrium space to provide a small extension to the first floor.

‘There was a lot of dark timber with curves, indents and layers to the paneling and doors. It was lovely, but the tone of the dark timber was oppressive.’

The only real must-haves for the client were a functional and beautiful kitchen with a walk-in pantry, bedrooms for each family member, and two work from home spaces.

To achieve this, Lisa adjusted internal walls throughout the house. ‘Removing an internal wall towards the back of the home, while relocating the laundry, enabled us to create a larger and well-proportioned open family area with living, meals and kitchen, plus the walk-in pantry,’ she says.

‘The laundry was relocated to an old bathroom space, and we built a small extension for the main bedroom’s en suite in the narrow area available between the main bedroom and the boundary.

‘These relatively minor interventions vastly improved the layout and usability of the home. It is not always possible, but this was preferred over knocking down and rebuilding large sections of the house.’

For the material palette, Lisa retained as much original detailing as possible, while reinvigorating and lightening the home up with colour. Taking into account the client’s love of green, Lisa implemented various green tones that fade to grey, using the deeper tones in the front of the home on the timber work to lighten the front of the home.

Durability and serviceability were as important to consider as colour, tone and texture. ‘We used granite with a leathered finish on the stone bench tops and vanities (easy to clean) and terrazzo tiles for the floors which conceals all manner of day-to-day debris,’ Lisa says. ‘The green painted timber veneer of the kitchen joinery elevates the finish. It is functional and beautiful.’

An expert at injecting colour into period homes, Lisa has unsurprisingly nailed the brief.

When the current owners purchased their Brunswick home on a corner site, it was a very simple cottage with dated additions that was only really suitable for a couple.

Over time, their needs evolved, with two children and regular working from home days now in the picture. After 10 years, it was time for a major renovation.

The owners engaged new architecture practice Office Fora to redesign the house as their first-ever project.

The founding directors, Alexander Wright and Stephanie Poole, listened intently to the family’s needs and desires, devising a subtle reworking of the original bedrooms, before adding a two-storey addition to provide more space and connect better to the outdoors.

‘Typical of cottages of this era, it originally had an outdoor bathroom, which at some point was demolished and added to the rear of the home,’ explains Alexander of the pre-renovated home.

‘What that meant for the internal layout was that the connection to the garden was lost, and the home didn’t receive any good eastern light.’

The home is located on a relatively prominent corner site with no fence or setback from the footpath. With that context in mind, the architects designed a visually sympathetic addition, extending the weatherboard cladding of the original house, and drawing on elements of the neighbourhood vernacular. ‘We wanted to complicate the character of the home by adding contemporary elements, but in a way that reads as a shift rather than a schism, says Alexander. ‘Rather than dividing the house into old and new, we were interested in a home with an evolved character – one connected to its neighbourhood, with a new street presence, and relevant to the clients’ lives.’

Internally, the floor plan needed to be flexible to accommodate the family’s changing needs. Alexander adds, ‘As artists, the homeowners are often making things, so we wanted a space that served as a backdrop to their life rather than being too present. It had to accommodate changes they couldn’t yet predict – hanging artwork, turning a room over to a different use – so flexibility and a kind of shell or backdrop for them to inhabit as they saw fit became the idea, rather than being overly prescriptive or heavy-handed.’

Working to a budget of under $500,000 was also a key driver of the project, which was completed in 2022, right after Covid-19 hit and construction prices were rapidly escalating.

‘We had to be incredibly inventive to make sure it came in on budget. We worked very closely with the builder and with industrial fabricators, visiting factories and workshops, exchanging sketched details, and learning their standard processes and what parts of those we could adapt without driving up the cost,’ Alexander says.

It was this research that inspired the galvanised staircase, stainless steel kitchen island, steel-framed bathroom furniture, and the upstairs glazed screen, complemented by a warmer more inviting base of plywood floors and terracotta-toned Artedomus bathroom tiles.

The front of the house remains largely unchanged, except for the addition of a high-level window and awning framing the new front door that brings light into a previously dark corridor.

The ground floor addition begins with the central wet areas, before the communal space, which feels larger thanks to a double-height void over the staircase. The kitchen, dining and living area have reoriented the house to the garden, with glazed doors that invite in additional natural light.

Upstairs, a landing leads into a small room before a larger one, both of which can serve multiple purposes. ‘That small room has been used as a reading room, a study, a music room and a nursery – its use seems to shift each time we visit,’ says Alexander. ‘They use the larger upper room as a bedroom, though equally it could accommodate a range of other uses.’

Office Fora’s renovations have also dramatically improved the environmental performance of the home with all-electric appliances powered by a rooftop solar array and energy-efficient heat pumps, contributing to an overall 6-star NatHERS rating.

‘But in addition to those technical measures, at a more fundamental level, I’d say the retention of these types of buildings – which have huge cultural value (as well as monetary value and the embodied carbon cost) – is a sustainable act in itself,’ says Alexander. ‘This house could easily have been demolished. The coherent evolution of these types of homes is really important, particularly for a neighbourhood like Brunswick, where there’s going to be a lot of change coming with residential rezoning.’

The clients appreciate that the house still looks at home in Brunswick, and meets all their needs without being overly ‘showy’. Alexander likens the house to a much-loved, worn, and quality jacket. ‘It feels fresh and a bit unexpected — not in your face… It has that kind of character, rather than a pristine suit where you have to be careful how you act.’

After 60 years in business, Australian-owned brand Warwick Fabrics knows just how impactful fabric can be in curating the right interior.

Not only can soft furnishings instantly shape a room’s personality, but it also plays a defining role in design trends — reflecting the popular colour, texture or mood of a specific moment in time.

Warwick started out in Melbourne with a vision to provide velvet for the automotive industry. But after six decades, the family-run brand has grown into a soft furnishing powerhouse servicing Australia and overseas.

Marking the major milestone called for a creative campaign that celebrates the past, while still speaking to the design possibilities of the future.

In ‘Six Decades of Style’, Warwick takes a trip down memory lane in collaboration with Sydney interior stylist Jono Fleming, who created six rooms each loosely inspired by a decade from the 1960s to the 2010s.

‘All the pieces in the campaign came from either re-purposing, re-covering, borrowing, buying or having them custom-made,’ Warwick Fabrics marketing manager Nicole Body says.

Starting with the ’60s, the team drew from the era’s mod-driven colour combinations. Layering energetic striped fabrics like Mallacoota in Melon across vintage-style outdoor furniture from Business & Pleasure Co created a retro poolside scene, inspired by Slim Aarons’ iconic photographs.

Interiors in the 1970s were all about mixing velvets with warm earthy hues like brown, amber, deep green and mustard. To recreate the relaxed look, Warwick Fabrics highlighted textural textiles, including Conway in Bronze and Uluwatu in Terra, styled across Facebook Marketplace finds and a revamped authentic ’70s sofa.

Meanwhile, the ’80s marked a decade full of blushing pastels to bright neon, and bold geometric patterns captured best by the zigzags of Sackville in Amber, as the 1990s introduced a famously more minimalistic energy — pairing pops of animal print with sleek chrome furniture.

In the year 2000, high-impact jewel tones, logo mania, and confident forms of creative expression defined the moment. Warwick’s take on Y2K style sees the return of the modular sofa which adds flexibility in configuration and fabric. Creating a contrasting, colour blocking statement here using Braxton in Sky and Lautner in Rouge on two of the six pieces.

Lastly, the calming interiors from the 2010s are reflected by a soft colour palette and Scandi-inspired styling. The campaign reimagines the decade’s pared-back finishes and its love for blush to create an inviting bedroom, peppered with plush feature cushions in subtle tones such as Copeland in Opal and Como in Blush by Weave Home.

‘Creating our 60th campaign was more than a visual outcome; it was built through the hands, ideas and creativity of the people behind it at every stage,’ Nicole says.

Not only does it reflect just how far the industry and the brand have come in the last 60 years, but it also proves the limitless possibilities of Warwick Fabrics’ range to make a space feel totally distinctive. And that’s something that truly never goes out of style.

Explore Warwick Fabrics full collection online now here.

After purchasing an off-the-plan apartment in a luxury Fitzroy development, interior designer Brahman Perera made an unorthodox choice: to reduce the two-bedroom home to just one.

‘Rather than maximising room count, we prioritised proportion and flow – spaces that could properly hold both daily life and entertaining,’ explains Brahman. ‘We worked closely with [developer] Piccolo and [design studio] Hecker Guthrie to reconfigure the original two-bedroom plan into a one-bedroom apartment with a stronger emphasis on spatial generosity.’

This kind of out of the box thinking exemplifies Brahman’s approach to interior design, which prioritises personal spaces rather than resolved design schemes. ‘I think that’s important,’ he says. ‘Spaces should reflect a life being lived, not just a design idea being executed.’

The decision to reconfigure the floor plan essentially set the tone for the entire apartment. ‘From there, we extended the material palette beyond its original boundaries,’ Brahman says. ‘The green timber veneer “core”, which wraps the bedroom and bathroom, became a kind of internal architecture – almost a room within a room. It introduces depth, but also clarity. It defines space, without relying on walls.’

He adds, ‘We extended finishes across surfaces where they wouldn’t typically go, which creates a more immersive environment. It’s less about feature moments and more about continuity – allowing the space to feel layered without becoming busy.’

The styling features several pieces collected by Brahman over the years, which TDF readers might remember from previous tours. For example, ‘The piano is constant – it moves with us and defines how the space is used. It’s less an object and more a presence,’ Brahman says. ‘The Albero bookcase is another… It has weight and movement, and it shifts the room depending on how it’s used. Those kinds of objects tend to endure.’

He adds, ‘Rather than replacing furniture to suit the space, we adapted the space to better accommodate those pieces. That approach not only reduces cost, but results in something more authentic. There’s less sense of everything being acquired at once, which can often flatten a space.’

The styling is essentially anchored around these pieces. From here, the remaining colour palette unfolded, resulting in a base of mushroom shades layered with pebbled stone benchtops, soft curtains, and a sparing of jewel tones across the rugs, Ligne Roset sofa, and art.

Statement light pendants and lamps add texture, and more importantly, build atmosphere.

The only challenge for Brahman was knowing when to apply restraint! ‘Apartments can quickly become overworked, particularly when you’re trying to compensate for scale,’ he says. ‘It was important to let certain moments remain quiet.’

This apartment has been Brahman’s home away from home or ‘pied-à-terre’. It doesn’t offer the same privacy or serenity as country living, but it comes close, thanks to the generous terrace that overlooks the inner-city Melbourne streets below. ‘It allows you to engage with the street – the movement, the trees, the rhythm of Fitzroy – without being fully exposed. That balance is quite rare.’

Brahman and his partner are spending more and more time at their Macedon Ranges farm, so they’ve decided to say goodbye to this Fitzroy home.

The apartment is now listed for sale with David Ashby from Jellis Craig.