Home design: a home filled with pre-loved objects
With her knack for finding discarded pre-loved items, Martine Cook has created a beautiful family home, writes Bronwyn Phillips.
Say the words “former hospital” and images of sterile wards, lino on the floors and hard, cold surfaces come to mind. Yet nothing could be further from the warm, artistic, eclectic family home created by stylist and art teacher Martine Cook and her husband, Jason.
Known as a “lie-in” hospital, the Edwardian/Victorian house in an inner Melbourne suburb is now a four-bedroom home for the Cooks, their children Annie, 10, and Barney, seven, and recent addition Basil, an Ultimate Mastiff puppy.
Martine and Jason had dreamed of owning the imposing corner-block home for many years and had followed it through several owners. “It was a rare find – a big, triple-fronted block with a beautiful frontage and high, pressed metal ceilings,” says Martine.
Finally, at the right time and for the right price, it came up for sale.
“It was unliveable. People had been renting it and a renovation had been started, but discontinued,” Martine, 44, says. “We bought it and did a complete renovation.”
The Cooks started from scratch and, over five months, brought the house back to its former glory. Luckily, many of the beautiful features of the house were in great condition. “The pressed metal and plaster work just needed a coat of paint. We whitewashed the floors and put in a good kitchen,” says Martine. The couple built into the fireplace in the kitchen to create a walk-in pantry, which also houses the appliances. “We wanted a modern life within the bones of the house,” Martine says. “I wanted a timeless kitchen, in American timber Shaker style. There’s a place for everything.”
Martine is a passionate collector. Her found and recycled treasures create a rich, layered texture throughout her home – although she admits her children are not fans of the retro and second-hand furniture. “They hate the couches in their rooms,” she says, laughing. “They say everything in our house is old. They’d love it all to be modern.”
For the record, the despised sofas – one in lush green velvet and the other brown leather, both salvaged from kerbside recycling – are divine. “Hopefully, I’ve instilled the value in collecting and treasuring, and they’ll appreciate it eventually,” she says.
Martine’s love of collecting started when she was 15. “I used to go to antique and second-hand shops, and find dinner sets, handbags and scarves,” she says, explaining that it was a love she inherited from her mother and grandmother. “I don’t like matchy-matchy stuff – my collection and treasures are personal to us, and each has a different story to tell.”
Over the years, Martine and Jason have gathered chairs, tables, desks, tapware – even the proverbial kitchen sink. “We collected things hoping, one day, we would find somewhere to put them,” she says. The ceramic farm sink and taps, as well as a big old workbench, sat stored in their former home before being installed in their new kitchen. The dining table is an industrial technical table.
Where others may see junk, Martine has a knack for spotting treasures, and her dedication has paid off. “I’ve found amazing, original retro fibreglass chairs I paid $10 for, and a pair of Wassily tan leather chairs I picked up for $50 [they sell for anywhere between $400 and thousands online]. People often don’t know what they have, [so] some knowledge really helps. And I’m opportunistic; if I see something on the side of the road, I reverse and have a look. I just have a good eye.”
When Martine isn’t teaching art, she is a freelance stylist. “I aim to make things as beautiful as they can be,” she says, “whether that be a space, a wedding, a lunch, a feast or
“Collecting is about instinct, what’s in your heart.”
a vase of flowers.” Her clients are constantly asking her to create a collected style for them, too.
“It’s a hard thing to teach,” she admits. “I say to people, show me your treasures and we’ll go from there. One lady recently said she didn’t have any treasures. But she rang me later and said she had a collection of matchboxes that belonged to her grandfather and wanted to do something with them. We photographed them and now they’re displayed as artworks in her kitchen. Collecting is about instinct, what’s in your heart.”
It also helps to have somewhere to store your treasures – and a ute for grabbing those priceless kerbside finds. “If you don’t, someone else will,” says Martine, laughing.