Art Deco Colourful Freestanding Family Home Renovation (2024)

When David Flack was approached to design this house in Princes Hill his firm, Flack Studio, was a fledgling business with just a handful of projects to its name. That was in early 2016. One of those projects, however, was an apartment development for a property developer who just happens to be the owner of this house.

The owner was determined, he says, that when the time came to renovate the rundown art deco duplex he’d recently purchased it would be David who would design it. “This was a very early commission for us,” says David. “I was really excited about it and thought it would be built really quickly but here we are in 2023 and it’s just finished.” Covid delays, heritage issues and building costs made the project somewhat of a slow burn.

Originally two apartments, the building was in disrepair when it was bought by Michael who wanted to turn it into a freestanding family home. “We moved in and rented out the top unit for a number of years while we saved up to do the renovation,” he says. When they bought the house he and his wife had no children but on the day they moved in they welcomed their second child.

“Whenever I start a project, I always want to honour the original architecture and the existing building, but obviously play around with them as well,” says David.

“What I love about this house is that it’s got a weight to it. It just feels so permanent.” One of the biggest tasks he faced in transforming the two apartments into a single three-bedroom home was getting as much light as possible into the interiors.

A double-height window at the rear of the house, which is part of a new extension, floods the dining area and kitchen with natural light. To connect the two levels of the house the original exterior staircase was encased in milky glass to allow for even more light. Flack Studio worked in collaboration with Freadman White architects on the built elements of the renovation.

“We love working with other designers,” says Ilana Freadman. “This is very much an inner-city dwelling with a narrow site and one of our biggest challenges was to bring in more light and keep the connection to the park opposite while maintaining privacy.”

David says integrating the new interior spaces into the heritage building in a seamless way was also a challenge. “There was one room that had coved ceilings. We loved how the walls just turned into the ceiling and had no cornices. So we retained that detail and ran with it. When you are inside it’s just so beautiful and it blurs the line between what is original and what is new.”

A rumpus room that can double as a guestroom is on the ground floor, as well as a study and powder room, and is connected to the rear dining and kitchen area via a cosy living room with an original fireplace. Upstairs is a main bedroom with a large dressing room and ensuite along with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry. A new garage with a loft by Freadman White stands at the rear.

“I’m particularly interested in having that bite of strong colour coming through in the hard materials,” says David. Stones such as Carrara and a deep-green Tinos marble are seen in the entrance, bathrooms and kitchen complemented by mid-grey terrazzo floor tiles in the bathroom, kitchen and entry.

The kitchen is clad in a rich walnut timber and its built-in joinery feels more like a custom piece of furniture. In contrast, the scullery joinery is painted in Dulux ‘Collard Green’. The rangehood and an overhead shelving unit in brass echoes detail on the balustrade and front balcony.

“The joinery handles are a reference to Jean Prouvé and his cabinetry,” says David. “The scullery is carved out of the kitchen. It’s as if you’re biting into an apple and biting into the colour.”

Throughout, texture and colour create a sophisticated and layered palette. Soft grey and beige leather on the kitchen banquette mixes with black leather ‘Cab’ dining chairs, a vintage Italian travertine table and Murano glass chandelier.

In the living room plush armchairs in a dusty purple velvet combine with a white linen sofa, a vintage rug from Halcyon Lake and custom joinery with fluted panelling. The most striking mix of colours and textures, however, is one of the simplest.

The main bathroom’s rich green marble is paired with Dulux ‘Recycled’, which in a less skilled designer’s hands would be plain old brown, but Flack Studio has made it feel rich and sumptuous.

flackstudio.com.au

freadmanwhite.com