PICTURE PERFECT
Apartment living was becoming a challenge for this growing Melbourne family — then an enchanting six-bedroom former bakery came to the rescue.
Apartment living was becoming a challenge for this growing Melbourne family — then an enchanting six-bedroom former bakery came to the rescue
Just inside the front door of this home in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, an entire wall is taken up by a salon-style hanging wall — a collection of 40 artworks and family photos encircle a massive television and are framed by an industrial steel beam and exposed timbers. Not only is this an ingenious way of accommodating that eternal design dilemma, the oversize screen, but the show-stopper also presents a powerful personal snapshot of the homeowners, TV producer Julian Cress and his wife, publicist Sarah Armstrong. As well as a teaser for what is to follow, it makes a dramatic statement in its own right. As executive producer of The Block, Cress is no stranger to drama. And, like the reality TV show, the intriguing story of this house has been the culmination of clever scripting and a series of unplanned events. In 2014, Cress popped home for lunch from work one day and, with a couple of free hours on his hands, he and Armstrong, then pregnant with their second child, browsed the property listings. “Sarah and I were living in an apartment, which was fifine until we had children,” he says. “We needed to upsize.” A former bakery, this six-bedroom, three-level home swathed in ivy captured their attention. “It took my breath away,” says Armstrong. “We’d found a perfect house — a mix of open plan and a barn. The ››
‹‹ thing I loved about it most was the light, which never stopped pouring in.” It also had echoes of their much-loved holiday home in France, another one-time bakery. “We were drawn to its European feel, with ivy over brick and its industrial history,” Cress says. After buying the home, last renovated in the 1980s, the family lived in it for a while before commissioning interior designer Darren Palmer to carry out a makeover, honouring the building’s past while ushering it into the present. “We wanted to strip it back to the original features and then overlay it with a ‘new traditional’ style,” says Cress. Peeling off those layers, they uncovered a three-metre-long steel supporting beam, which now plays a leading visual role. “You can see the structural elements and how it was built. I like that,” he says. Few structural changes were needed, apart from removing walls to create a vast open plan and accommodate a generous 3.5-metre-square island bench. They shifted a WC to beneath new oak stairs equipped with a sweeping balustrade, which also allowed room for a butler’s pantry. However, the focal point of the kitchen is that island bench, in which Palmer cleverly incorporated a cubbyhouse. “The adults party around the island while the kids party underneath,” says Cress. “It puts a smile on the face of every kid and adult, and sets the tone for the house.” Adding to the energy, a new light well behind the kitchen, teamed with 16 skylights, punches daylight downwards. From the front gate, you walk through a secluded courtyard directly into the main living room and kitchen, which lead to an office and another living room at the far end of the house. A third living area, the main bedroom and the two children’s bedrooms sit upstairs, while three more bedrooms are on the top level. The starting point for the ‘new traditional’ look was the couple’s art collection. “We went with a black-and-white palette as a background to our colourful art,” says Cress. “Darren’s style is masculine and then we added Sarah’s love of quirky pieces in every room.” Self-effffacingly, interior designer Palmer dubs himself a “sounding board” for the couple’s copious ideas. “They both have good opinions and style, and bounced things offffffff me,” he says. “Their offffffffbeat style in art informed the furniture and the decoration.” Keeping to a monochromatic palette, he has fifilled the home with earthy and textured furnishings that complement but never upstage the vibrant art. Palmer’s trademark attention to detail is everywhere. It is revealed, for example, in the black VJ ( vertical joint) panelling, with its plain profile in the cupboards and wardrobes, and a more ornate profifile in the imposing main bedroom wall. Coupled with brass handles throughout the home, it produces a cohesive whole. For all that, the star remains the picture wall. “It was super-fun fifilling it — a beautiful way of integrating art and family photos,” says Palmer. “Plus it incorporates the wall’s architectural content, and the timber shelf connects with the fifireplace.” Adds Cress: “It creates the mood as you walk in. When I fifirst saw it, it brought a tear to my eye.”
YOU CAN SEE THE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS AND HOW IT WAS BUILT. I LIKE THAT — JULIAN CRESS