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I'm Emma from Selzer Design Studio and this is my home.
Armadale is a very leafy green suburb.
There are lots of old Edwardian and old Victorian homes. Our home is a single fronted Edwardian
weatherboard with the traditional bedroom at the front and kitchen-living-dining area at the rear.
We lived here for several years prior to renovating so that we could experience the space,
understand how it worked. What was interesting about this project for me was that I was
the only person involved in the architecture, in the interiors and in the landscape design,
which was great but also challenging.
Looking at the home from the street, what was important for me was to still give the
appearance that it was single level. In the old part of the house, there was a lot of thought
that went into how to light that space up and what materials to use that would make that space feel
light and airy. I really was interested to preserve the traditional architraves.
When you walk through the front of the property, you're actually
met with a wall full of famous faces. My husband thinks he's a bit of a rock star;
he wanted a wall where he could place all of his rare photography.
This project is all about materiality. I used a sheer fabric for the roller which
really helped to diffuse the light in that space and shift your focus to soft linen and
the coarse texture of the boucle bed fabric that sits on the velvety texture of the rug.
Designing a bespoke bed head that ran the length of the room
gives the impression that the space actually feels bigger than what it is.
In the ensuite, you are intrigued by the archways and the curves; it's an unexpected space.
There was a lot of thought that went into trying to make that space tranquil. A skylight runs the
length and you look out towards a small courtyard and you get a hint of a beautiful Japanese maple.
Off the hallway is a small powder room, then you step down into the kitchen-living-dining space.
It's not till you're deep into the property that you realise there is an upper level.
These stairs are hidden behind the kitchen space, they open up into a double height volume.
Walking up the top of the steps, you're met with a
small hallway and off that hallway are two children's bedrooms and a bathroom.
Lighting evokes emotion. Humans are drawn to spaces that are bright. One of the
great outcomes of the renovation is the fact that everything feels like it's really opened up;
opened up out onto the park, connecting with landscape.
The garden space feels like it's an extension of the living space.
There was a lot of thought that went into how to make the space feel soft
and it was through a restrained palette that I was able to achieve that. I wanted
the island to be quite graphic and textured.
We wanted to really pair everything else back to really muted, pale tones, quite matte finishes.
It's all through the use of materiality
and light that we were able to achieve a very tranquil, cohesive result.
I've always been very interested in furniture and joinery design. It's functional but also
aesthetically pleasing. I came up with the idea of a sliding panel that could conceal
the TV area and I spent a while thinking about what we're going to clad that sliding panel in.
In the end, I chose mirror so that it could reflect all the greenery from the park beyond
in the afternoons. The space receives this beautiful, dappled light through the trees
in the park; you just feel very at peace. There is no hint that you're in inner-city Melbourne.
There are no buildings that you can see. All you see are different shades of green.
Now I'm able to live here and enjoy it with my family and that's a really nice feeling.
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