NEW CHAPTER

A sympathetic renovation to a villa has made it relevant for decades to come – the library is a bonus for its author occupant

Meet & greet Alice Nelson (author), Danny Shub (psychiatrist) and miniature dachshunds Gracie and Toofy.

Author Alice Nelson used to write in cramped studios and at noisy public libraries, always dreaming of having a library in her own home. It would be a peaceful space, where her favourite books would be to hand and creativity would come easily. Except it didn’t quite work out like that. When Alice settled into the writing desk built into the steelframed bay window of her freshly renovated home, she found herself feeling quite daunted. “I now had such a lavish and beautiful room to write in I thought, ‘Wow, the pressure’s really on to write a book worthy of this space.’”

She needn’t have worried. Most of her novel The Children’s House (published by Random House) was composed at her new desk and upon release was lauded by the critics. That Alice has such a beautiful space to work in is largely down to the intuitive understanding and skill architect David Hartree brought to this renovation.

“When we met in 2013, David had read everything I’d written and had this real sense of who we were. We found ourselves immediately comfortable with him and how he saw our renovation taking shape,” she says. “It was his idea to engrave lines of poetry into the treads of the sliding ladder in our library.”

Alice and her psychiatrist husband Danny Shub bought the house in 2011 after admiring its presence and proximity to the beach. They lived in the house for a while to get a sense of it and then set about restoring some of the space and grace the original 1911 home would have had. “Over the years a number of rooms had been cut up into smaller rooms, and there was a bathroom where the library is now,” says Alice. “Some very unusual changes had been made.”

David came up with a simple floor plan that everyone agreed suited the house: the library to the left of the entry, the main bedroom to the right and a hall down the middle with a second bedroom and a bathroom running off it. The hall opens into an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area. “We wanted the living spaces to be flexible and airy, to be able to accommodate lots of family and kids and dogs. There’s a sliding door in the hall that allows us to shut off the front section, so it’s quiet and private.”

As the living areas are contemporary, with clean lines and dramatic elements, Alice and Danny felt their bedroom needed to be a softer space. Antique artworks and linen collected on trips to France were called into service and the adjoining ensuite was dressed in a simple, understated way.

Throughout the home, David’s thoughtful selection of materials is evident. In the living area, black bricks offer a nod to the crisp, French-inspired steel windows and doors, and jarrah lining boards

“Alice and Danny are passionate about sustainability. They wanted the house to have the flexibility to respond to the climate shifts of the seasons.”

DAVID HARTREE, ARCHITECT

on the ceiling introduce texture and warmth. The kitchen bench showcases a weighty slab of granite that took many weeks to choose. “We love marble, but in the end the practicality of granite won us over,” says Alice. “We must have looked at dozens of slabs before we finally found the right one.”

The bench’s mirrored base is an inspired choice; it balances the heaviness of the granite and bounces light around the kitchen. The airiness continues in the living spaces, enabled by a trio of large, cafe-style steel doors that open out to a shady courtyard and plot of grass.

All the interior walls are the same colour – Dulux

White Duck – creating a gallery-like backdrop for the couple’s artworks, statement lights and European furniture. “We are still adding to our home, still imprinting our personalities,” says Alice. “This is a house where our own story can slowly unfold.”

“It’s very relaxed here... this house lends itself to lots of indolence – and a few gin and tonics.”

ALICE NELSON

LIBRARY “My lifelong ambition was having floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with a sliding ladder, so it’s nice to have achieved this,” says Alice. The ladder was made by Israeli metal artist Daniel Kasher and has lines from one of Alice’s favourite Rilke poems engraved into the treads. The Wilfred chair is from Jardan. Cloud Series photograph by Trevor Mein. FRONT ENTRANCE (left) “Having been disfigured by many previous owners – one of whom bricked up the front window – we wanted to restore the home’s 1911 facade as best we could.” Crepe myrtles are planted on either side of the steel-framed bay window.

LIVING AREA A favourite perch for Alice, pictured with Gracie, is her Moroso Klara chair, with long-haired miniature dachshund Toofy resting at her feet. Danny relaxes on one of the Moroso Gentry sofas. “We tried about 100 sofas before making our decision,” says Alice, “but in the end the comfort and European styling of this design won out.” The space is heated by an Oblica fireplace and texture is delivered via the ceiling’s jarrah lining boards. The triangle sculpture is by Brahman Perera and the paper bird sculpture was created by Anna-Wili Highfield.

MAIN BEDROOM The Ivano Redaelli Timothy bed is dressed with linen from Maison de Vacances and a handwoven llama fleece blanket from Histoires des Andes, both bought in Paris. Antique French handpainted wooden panels hang above a Wilfred chair from Jardan (right).

BATHROOM The free-standing bathtub with its view to the garden looks ike the perfect place for relaxing in the simple, understated bathroom, but the reality is, Alice spends most of her time in the library, either reading or writing.

KITCHEN DINING Alice and Danny opted for a solid slab of granite for their bench, which has a bronzed mirror base, and teamed it with Tim Webber Design Wrap stools. The Lindsay Adelman Terrarium pendant lights were shipped from New York and the painting is by Agneta Ekholm. The customised Corbusier end chairs are from Thonet and positioned around. “We asked for it to be narrower and therefore more intimate,” says Alice. A pantry/laundry is tucked away just o the kitchen. COURTYARD Low garden furniture works well in the small but perfectly formed outdoor space. The Kettal Maia outdoor sofa and chairs and Vieques co ee table are from Mobilia. The steel doors are custom made.