This modern riverside home in Melbourne needed a new direction to bring our clients' vision to life. As ever, our approach was to listen first – to really understand our clients' needs, lifestyle, and passions, as we flesh out their brief – and to assiduously meet dual challenges of tight timeframes and budget.

With an appreciation for literature, fine art, and quality, our brief was to create warm, cosy and functional interiors, equal parts contemporary and timeless. Our clients travel a lot, and so the home needed to be a home: welcoming and personalised and theirs. We added pops of fun such as the Husk chair by Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola – sinking into the Husk is like a warm hug on a winter's day.

Working with the rich parquetry floors, we flooded rooms with natural light and river views, personalising the space throughout with finishes, furnishings and spaces such as the reading nook library – perfect for curling up with a book on weekend afternoons.