BY THE BAY
A seachange was on the horizon for Melbourne interior designer Fiona Austin and her husband. Then they struck gold a stone’s throw from the city.
With its peaceful ambience and magnificent green and blue views, this home in bayside Melbourne could be anywhere along Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Indeed, the setting was one of the major attractions for its owners, interior designer Fiona Austin and her husband Craig. On the verge of becoming empty-nesters, Fiona and Craig had been contemplating a seachange to Flinders, an idyllic hamlet on the south-west coast of the Mornington Peninsula. However, the one-and-a-half-hour commute back to the city, where the couple’s older son Tim lives and Fiona’s office is located, proved a sticking point. They found the perfect compromise just a couple of kilometres away from where they were: a two-bedroom Moderniststyle home with views of Port Phillip Bay and Royal Melbourne Golf Course. “We hadn’t planned to downsize just yet – our younger son Nick still lives with us – but we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to live in such a fabulous spot,” says Fiona.
Designed in 2005 by architect Russell Kemp, the property he lived in for some time features the open-plan areas, large picture windows and raked ceiling so admired in Mid-Century houses. It also has the benefits of being a 21st-century home: solar panels, a 10,000L rainwater tank, hydronic heating and double-glazing for year-round comfort and energy-efficiency. Two small rooms to use as studies, plus a northerly aspect and carefully articulated views, were the icing on the cake. >
To make the home their own, Craig and Fiona got to work on a few updates. First, they freshened up all three of the home’s bathrooms and replaced a glass balustrade in the stairwell with timber battens. Then they tackled the kitchen, reworking the design a little to better suit their lifestyle. “It was important for us to stay true to Russell’s vision – he clearly spent a lot of time and energy designing the home,” says Fiona. “Besides, we love its honesty and the way the spaces flow into each other.”
Finetuning the layout of the kitchen allowed Fiona to include a butler’s pantry behind a blade wall and a generous new island bench. “A kitchen is so much more than its surfaces; it must function well,” she says. At the rear of the space, a dark-purple laminate shelf unit above the work surface (now topped with stainless steel) was removed and replaced with a replica in ‘Evenex’, a robust and eco-friendly wood-composite. For a cohesive look, the integrated Smeg rangehood was clad in the same material. “The new design has the memory of the original joinery but is reinterpreted for how we want to live.”
The living room and its open fireplace beckon when the chill of a Melbourne winter bites, but the sunny sitting area in the corner of the open-plan zone is where the Austins spend most of their time. The adjoining deck, north-facing and sporting a vine-covered pergola that gently filters the light, is perfect for ‘eating out’ in summer.
Borrowed views are an important and much-loved part of the home’s design. Two examples leap to the fore: the picture windows in the living room framing the pretty front garden; and the sweeping views of the golf course, visually extending the size of the backyard. “Fiona and I feel like we’re part of the landscape,” says Craig. “We often stand on our bedroom’s balcony and watch the action in the laneway – the golfers with their caddies and people walking down to the beach. There’s so much going on.”
Fiona says their plans for a seachange are now well and truly shelved. “This is definitely our forever home.” # Austin Design Associates, Brighton, Victoria; (03) 9592 6411 or austindesign.com.au.