JEWEL BOX

A LONG-AWAITED MAKEOVER TRANSFORMS A DESIGNER’S MELBOURNE ABODE INTO HER DREAM HOME

- JACKIE BRYGEL

SUNNY DISPOSITION

From the heritage rooms overlooking the street to this bright, beautiful rear living zone, every corner of the Melbourne home of interior designer Alice (pictured above, welcoming guests) has been taken into account. “As the house is quite dark at the front, I wanted this area to feature a lot of glass to bring the outside in,” says Alice, who shares her home with husband Steve and daughters Kara, 14, and Frankie, 11. A bespoke leather banquette and Edelweis terrazzo table, both designed by AV-ID Interior Decoration & Design and manufactured by Scope Furniture, have been teamed with ‘Avery Maja’ armchairs from Globe West to create a chic dining nook (opposite) that wouldn’t look out of place in a Melbourne bistro. A pair of &Tradition ‘Formakami’ paper-lantern-style pendant lights (try Cult) casts a delicate glow over the eating zone that is regularly used by the family.

Melbourne interior designer Alice has always been in her element expressing her creative flair in other people’s homes, but she had to don rose-coloured glasses to see the potential in her own home. In fact, more than a decade passed before the time was finally right for the talented mother of two to truly address her ageing 1920s abode in Melbourne’s inner south-east. “I design these beautiful homes for people, and yet here I was, like the cobbler with the hole in his own shoe!” says a laughing Alice. “My house wasn’t an expression of who I am as a designer and as a person. My family and I lived in what I call pseudo-student accommodation!”