Houzz Tour: Revitalising a 1970s Home With a Cool Contemporary Look

This renovation promotes indoor-outdoor living and colour to work around a growing family's love of a free-flowing floor plan

Louise Lakier 20 September 2016

Houzz Australian Contributor: I am a content creator with a background in architecture and construction management, passionate about design, sustainable lifestyles, and storytelling. I am fascinated with how personalities inform the creation of space and make a place feel like 'home'.

Houzz Australian Contributor: I am a content creator with a background in architecture... More

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How do you reconfigure an older home’s floor plan and introduce modern finishes while keeping a retro style intact? The owners of this ’70s abode in Melbourne were keen to blend the best of the house’s mid-century features while contemporising the living spaces to suit their lifestyle. The problem as they saw it was that the existing floor plan had no clear circulation flow and lacked connection to the outdoors and, as spending time outdoors in the property’s spacious backyard was intended to be a big part of the family’s lifestyle, getting this right was an important part of the brief given to the couple’s chosen designers, Nest Architects.

By rearranging the upstairs living spaces into an open-plan design that takes advantage of the views without encroaching on outdoor space, Nest created a solution. They also reshaped the house by moving the children’s bedrooms downstairs with direct access to outdoor play areas, and added upstairs balconies for adult outdoor entertaining with direct access to the kitchen. Then, they connected them all with an open balcony and an external staircase. “We wanted to create a really social house,” says Emilio Fuscaldo of Nest Architects. “We didn’t want it to be precious or stuffy; it had to have a timeless feel about it.”

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Nicole and David Neal, their kids Callum, 14, James, 13, Charlotte, 8, and their dog Murray
Location: Glen Iris, Victoria
Size: 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
Architects: Nest Architects
Builders: TCM Building Group
Budget: AU$1.1 million renovation
Completion: 2015

The sloping site of this house allowed for a street level entry, which leads directly to the main floor living spaces (which are on the upper level). Interior stairs step down (in line with the slope) to the children’s areas and the backyard.

The exterior of the house was mostly kept intact. Cement bagging and fresh paint on the original brick walls freshened it up. The two existing windows were retro-fitted with perforated screens to obscure views into and out of an ensuite bathroom and dressing room.

From the rear of the home, the extent of the renovation is best seen. A large, open steelwork grid organises the different volumes into zones while expressing the house as a unified whole.

Fuscaldo’s design scheme allowed the owners to fully enjoy their backyard, while providing space for entertaining outside on the deck or the upstairs balcony. In this way, a greater connection with the outside was achieved and, at the same time, zones were established so that everyone had a space of their own.

“It’s a really big renovation,” says Fuscaldo, “but it doesn’t feel big when you visit the house. Also, it doesn’t feel ostentatious or over the top. It’s subtle and timeless, which is what we set out to achieve.”

Upstairs, hints of the original retro style can be seen in the large open-plan kitchen/dining room with the bold choices of colour and use of timber. The design team wanted the built-in joinery to punch off the white walls, but were mindful not to make the scheme feel “over designed”. “The use of colour helps to tone down the joinery by making it playful and fun,” Fuscaldo says.

Kitchen light fixture: Coco Flip; Replica Xavier Pauchard Tolix stools: Matt Blatt; Eames Segmented dining table: Luke Furniture; paint finish on cupboards in ‘White’ and ‘Swedish Blue’: Dulux

Entertaining spaces flow from one to the other in an open-plan design with views into exterior courtyards and patios. The openness invites in the natural light.

The most expensive indulgence of the renovation was the European oak parquetry floor.

Kitchen benchtops: Corian

In the living room, opposite the kitchen and across from the stairs a bluestone hearth provides seating and houses an entertainment unit for the TV and AV system. “We always try and incorporate as much open shelving as we can into all of our projects so that clients have the means to decorate and display their lives,” says Fuscaldo.

The living areas connect directly onto a slate-paved outdoor patio which is subtly partitioned into three sections that include a herb garden, an eating area and a covered seating space. This section of the outdoor space is heated by a two-way unit fireplace and makes being outdoors much more comfortable for the homeowners. The timber-lined walls both inside and out create a sense of continuity between the two spaces.

“The changes allow the owners to fully enjoy their backyard, and also allow them to entertain outside on the balcony. We created a greater connection with the outside, but at the same time zoning the house so that everyone had a space of their own,” says Fuscaldo.

Outdoor table: Classic With a Twist ; Emu round chairs: Zenith Furniture

Nest Architects’ designs include ample solid timber and timber veneer elements, so colour choices were made with timber tones in mind. Dark green and dusty blues pair beautifully with light ash and oak timber in the hallway. The dark green joinery features custom scalloped door panels that attempt to mimic the folds of a soft fabric. The effect softens and adds texture and colour to a large expanse of storage. “Nicole has a really great eye for colour and styling, so it’s no surprise that the art throughout the house has been somewhat curated to combine with the colour we used,” says Fuscaldo.

The Neal family’s most cherished part of the design is the joinery: “We put in a lot of joinery, with plenty of storage, great for a family with three children”, says Nicole.

At the end of the corridor and around the corner is a hide-away pivot joinery door to the master bedroom.

Corridor and ensuite woodwork painted in ‘Urban Garden’: Dulux

At the end of the hallways, the master bedroom door disappears into the woodwork.

In the bedroom, dusty blue hues are continued by painting a feature wall of wood panelling in Dulux ‘Swedish Blue’. “We’re always trying to push our clients to use colour, and Nicole and David were really for it,” says Fuscaldo.

Pendant: George Nelson

An interior courtyard provides access to light and air for the master bedroom. The courtyard leads on to the hallway through another floor-to-ceiling window.

The client was keen to use wallpaper in the house somewhere and, in the end, a tropical leaf print was chosen for the bathroom to acknowledge the ’70s feel of the existing house.

Wallpaper: Martinique; bathtub: Formoso; Clearwater Stone Composite: Reece

The other piece de resistance in the master bedroom is the walk-in wardrobe, which is fitted with seamless joinery in the same teal tone as the bedroom.

Pendant: George Nelson;
custom woodwork: Teasel Wood Cabinets and Furniture

Conversely, in the second bathroom, located near the living area, Nest Architects embraced the small space and let loose with black tile.

Black gloss subway tiles: DeFazio Tiles

Children’s bedrooms and playroom are located downstairs with direct access to the garden.
The design team chose a blue/green Pirelli rubber to line sections of the stairs to match the greens and blues used upstairs. It complements the copper rail and the blonde wood tones. “We saw those stairs as being a stage for the kids to play on, so the material had to be hard wearing – hence the use of rubber – and it had to be fun – hence the use of colour,” says Fuscaldo.

All three kids love that they have their own play area, and their bedrooms have been designed to endure the years. Charlotte’s bedroom is stylish and fun with a sturdy bedframe by Norsu.

Steel boxes protrude from the bedrooms, creating in-built study desks within the rooms.

Steel boxes frame views with operable windows into the paved side yard that slopes up to the carport at the front of the house.

The greatest reward after the build process was completed? “Definitely moving back in after two years of planning and 12 months of building, to a house that works perfectly for us as a family,” says Nicole.

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