The Braslins’ Art Deco home in Lenah Valley is a chic mix of vintage foundations and a modern interior

Jay and Brooke Braslin’s Art Deco home in Lenah Valley is a dichotomy of historic foundations and modern aesthetic resulting in a home full of ambience

Perched behind mature hedges on a corner block in Lenah Valley, Jay and Brooke Braslin’s home was built in the days when trams used to trundle down Augusta Rd.

A step from the street leads through the property’s white-painted boundary retaining wall and verdant hedge to a corner porch where the two sides of this classic L-shaped Art Deco home intersect. All this is painted white, too, except for the house’s brick podium, which creates the illusion the house is floating – even though it’s as solid as a rock.

Jay, a barber, and Brooke, a graphic designer, answer the door along with Pancakes, their British bull terrier who is chewing on a toy.

The white colourway continues inside, except for the polished floorboards along a generous hallway to a renovated kitchen, formerly a separate room. A large window provides natural light while new downlights dance across the ceiling to brighten the room.

A space-efficient white circular table is the focus for meals, all vegan. Today it is topped by a large fruit bowl of apples and bananas. There’s whisky on the shelf, Tassie gin, too, and a collection of vegan cookbooks.

“We tick a fair few of the hipster boxes,” jokes Jay.

He would know. Jay works as a barber – perhaps the most hipster of jobs – and opened Bob’s Your Uncle barber shop in Lutana in 2016 after moving back to his home state. He started working as a hairdresser straight out of school at 16, while also drumming in a band.

“I worked in salons for 10 years, but I’d never ask my mates in there,” he says. “Then a few years ago I was walking down Swan St [in Melbourne’s Richmond] and I could hear loud music and thought, ‘what is that?’. Inside there were dudes getting their hair cut and their beards trimmed, listening to music and drinking beers.

“It was a real light-bulb moment. I’d been doing the same thing at home with my mates, but I’d never thought it could be a business. So I started working in a barber shop. I had a lot to learn. Hairdressers and barbers use different techniques. Obviously, barbers do a lot more short work, but I’ve got heaps of experience with long hair, too.”

At home, Jay’s eclectic vinyl collection is on show in the spacious lounge room. His favourite vinyl find is US band TV on the Radio.

“I’d never seen their stuff anywhere then one day we were at a market in Brooklyn [NYC], and there was their first album,” he remembers. The cover art and indie sound make for double the travel memories. His Yamaha amp in a fine-brushed silver is so discreet it’s barely invisible.

Though the pair have been married four years, they haven’t accumulated a lot of stuff – “mainly because we’ve moved around so much, and in Melbourne we lived in some pretty small places,” Brooke says.

Jay and Brooke have taken a slow, adaptive approach to home style. They’ve let the house do the talking, sticking to white and relying on clever deployment of colour, such as the verdant green stems of a bunch of white chrysanthemums.

“I’ve only just started adding a few pops of colour,” Brooke says, “but I don’t want to be too matchy-matchy.”

A white terrazzo hearth has been repurposed as a plinth for potted indoor plants. On the mantelpiece, a large abstract painting in dark hues grabs my attention.

“We got it from [Margate antiques and gift shop] Mother Wouldn’t Like It,” Brooke says. “We were just really attracted to the colours. But sometimes I look at it and wonder if it’s the ugliest thing we own.”

On the other hand, she loves the original features of their home. “These light fittings,” she says. “And the switches, too – they’re wonky. They’re great details.”

These are the unintentional marks of the maker – a reminder of the days when people still built their own homes in the suburbs.