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When we were designing the home, our intent was to make sure we had space for our growing family
and we wanted to be located somewhere that was close to where we grew up
and that we have a connection to. I'm Lani from Lani Fixler the studio and I was the
architect and interior designer on this house and this is my home.
Elsternwick is in the inner southeast suburbs of Melbourne. It's known for its period homes,
but there are also a number of iconic modernist homes in the area as well
there's the Harold Shafer townhouses that were built in the 1970s and a Fooks townhouse,
which was built in the 1960s, which my husband and I lived in before we moved into this house.
The house is across the road from Harleston Park. It's a place where my husband and I used to play
as kids and when you first arrive to the house, there's actually no front fence; there's two
concrete plants that mark the entry. The idea for that was so that it felt like it was just a
continuation of the park and that the house opened up to the street and the beautiful elm trees.
As you walk down the path, you're then taken around to the side of the house, which you
then walk adjacent to a double height block work wall and then you're taken into a side entry.
The side entry opens up into a courtyard and this was to bring
in as much light as possible into the space, due to the site restrictions.
This also reinforced the modernist ideas that we wanted to bring into the house. We did this
through the use of materials such as the block work walls, having them externally and internally,
the crazy paved flooring, the timber batten ceilings and also through screening.
Once you enter into the house, where the crazy pave continues through into the entry,
you're taking up a step onto the next level which is dining, living and bar area
and this is framed by two gardens, so on one side is the courtyard and on the north side the
dining room opens up to an outdoor patio, which also has a swimming pool and a barbecue space.
We also wanted to have zoned off kids spaces, so the playroom, there's a big sliding door that
slides off, so we can close that off when we need some more privacy. Also the study
has a large sliding door that can be zoned off as well and we located all of the bedrooms upstairs.
When you arrive at the staircase you actually have a view of the canopies of the elm street
trees and also a view of the park. There are four bedrooms upstairs, each with their own ensuite.
Also, the bathrooms have a mid-century influence. We chose terrazzo flooring and given that it's
quite a beautiful colour and it's quite detailed in itself, we kept with very simple
materials for the rest of the bathroom, for the palette; white bench tops with timber drawers.
There's a bath which was an Omvivo bath.
We collaborated with Acre Studio for the landscaping. We wanted to make sure that
we could feel the different seasons during the year, so we picked plants that were
deciduous. So, for example at the front of the house, we've got some Japanese maples.
In the courtyard, we've got some ginkgos that go a bright yellow before losing their leaves.
I always knew that we wanted to have some kind of art piece or a sculpture in the courtyard.
We spoke to the artist Caleb Shea then he designed a beautiful sculpture for our garden. We've got
quite an eclectic mix of art and furniture and we wanted to make sure that the architecture and the
interior's worked with our collection that we have gathered over the years. I came across the
work by Grant Nemo and I met with him and he made a beautiful artwork for the end of the hallway.
The Troy Emery dog looks like my husband's family dog. It was just a bit of a reference to Louis.
We've also got a few sentimental pieces that were passed down for us from our family
and one is the Scolari chandeliers which are in the living room. They're also in their study.
When we decided that we would be designing our own place, it was both challenging and
the most rewarding thing I've done and it was just trying to pull together all of the
knowledge and the things that I've learned over the years to make a home for us. The thing that
I'm most proud of is that I've managed to create a home that my family and I just love to be in
and it's a space that reflects our personality and our style and the way that we love to live.
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