There’s nothing like having a gander at someone else’s living quarters to get inspiration for your own. And, over the years, the Broadsheet team has stuck its nose into many beautiful living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens for our Home Visit series, finding the singular interiors found within warehouses, converted terraces, share houses and rentals across the country. Each has its own personality – and offers plenty of inspiration for changing up your home, whether it’s installing a new pendant light or completely renovating your space. We’ve rounded up a clutch of residences to inspire any sunny-season makeovers in the works, with practical tips from their owners on how they’ve created an aesthetically pleasing home.
A sleek and tropical beachside semi in Bondi
When you’re a five-minute walk from Bondi Beach, it’d be silly not to have an outdoor shower to wash away the salt and sand of your morning dip. Eugene and Debbie Tan’s outdoor shower is at the side of their house, which leads to their backyard, a lush tropical oasis. The works of Eugene, the photographer behind Aquabumps, decorate the family’s double-storey semi, which has a polished-yet-stripped-back Scandi style with plenty of natural woods. Their open-plan living space is extremely summer-friendly, with folding doors opening two sides up to the elements.
A renovated Victorian home in Elwood
Don’t know where to start with your home decor? Make like Lisa Buxton, the owner of this contemporary, fuss-free Elwood home, and start with your artwork and build the rest around it. “I knew the pieces I wanted in each room from the start, and then I built the rest of the story around them,” she told Broadsheet in 2019. For example, the lush green linen upholstery of the dining room chairs play off the colours of a mammoth work by artist Steven Harvey that hangs alongside. To counter the blight of poky rooms often found in houses of this vintage – it’s 140 years old – Buxton and her husband Ari removed all the downstairs doors, creating a comfortable flow through the living spaces. The home is also proof that a neutral palette doesn’t have to equal dull.
A sun-drenched, art-filled 1920s weatherboard home in Footscray
Art collector Freddy Grant’s home proves the power of a good cushion. Colourful cushions of all shapes and sizes furnish his lounges, offsetting the incredible array of esoteric artworks that line his walls. Grant has a great rule of thumb for adding furniture, art and accessories into the home he shares with husband Burton Reynolds: he doesn’t let anything in the front door unless he loves it.
A weekend retreat on the Great Ocean Road
The muted tones of this modern house, the weekender of architect Rob Mills, let the surrounding nature sing. It’s wedged between the forest and the sea, and while visually this extraordinary house doesn’t compete with the views, its interiors use tactile materials and fabrics to add depth and harmonise with what’s outdoors. Want to give the style a test run before redecorating your own home? It can be rented out, so you can experience the design first-hand.
A playful open-plan ’70s-era loft, Adelaide
Jonathon Oxlade is resident designer at Adelaide’s Windmill Theatre Company, where he’s tasked with creating whole new worlds on stage. It’s this eye for world-building he’s brought to his L-shaped home, which manages to straddle the boundary between clean, contemporary lines and objects that load the place with character. Bursts of colour in the form of artworks, souvenirs from travels and a colour-blocked bookcase pop against white walls and natural timbers. The gorgeous leafy courtyard is just the cherry on top.
An iconic earth home, North Warrandyte
Furniture designer and stylist Tilly Barber’s ’70s earth home is proof that good bones – in this case, raw and repurposed materials by iconic Australian designer and builder Alistair Knox – can do a lot of the heavy lifting in your space. Barber rents her home in North Warrandyte, which is 25 kilometres north-east of Melbourne’s CBD, meaning structural changes are out. So, she’s brought in furniture she’s designed herself as well as carefully chosen second-hand pieces that serve to emphasise the elemental feel of the house.
A family loft in an industrial co-working space, Brisbane
Film producer Sara Taghaode proves you can mix business and pleasure – the warehouse she owns in Brisbane’s inner north is both a co-working space and home for herself, her husband and her kid. The home part is a light-flooded mezzanine loft above the studios and co-working room, furnished with pieces from Ikea as well as second-hand items. The playful element is dialled up via a mirror ball in the kitchen, and greenery brings a touch of the organic to the industrial space.
A sunny mid-century share house in Fairfield
As more of us stay in share houses till later in life, it makes sense that many of them are no longer furnished with crate beds, wine-bottle candle holders and weird sticky patches with murky origins. Designer Kathleen Prentice’s home is kitted out in pieces she created herself, along with plenty of plants and artworks. Despite being a rental, the space feels like a home thanks to the eclectic pieces brought in by Prentice and her two housemates – though they would rip up the lino and update the bathroom if their names were on the deed.
A light-filled family treehouse in Noosa
Lou Clark and Amelia Shaw’s home in the Noosa hinterland is open and airy – and takes full advantage of its balmy tropical surrounds with expansive decks and sliding doors that bring the outdoors in. The house sits on poles among the treetops, and the light that floods throughout brings warmth to the calm, minimalist furnishings and artworks. This Noosa retreat is another example of a house with great bones – Shaw tells Broadsheet that “part of the appeal when we bought the house was that we could move in as-is and be super happy”.
Check out more of Broadsheet’s Home Visits here.