If adventurous design style is your thing, have we got a home tour for you! It’s modern meets original, and speckled with eclectic design accents. Think fun tiles (seriously, the tiles in this house are ah-MAZING!) bold wall colours and quirky decor.
Let us take you on a tour of this Edwardian cottage, reimagined by Julianne Bull Principal Designer at The Den Interiors. Trust us, this one is FUN!
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This is a home that wonderfully reflects the home owners personalities.
“This home is owned by a professional couple and their 2 boston terriers,” Julianne says.
“The home owners were fun and engaging from the beginning. They had a lot of interesting and colourful artwork from emerging artists which helped us to understand their personalities and design style.
“They were clear from the get go that they were not interested in having grey tiles and white walls. It was all about being bold and adventurous.
One of them has a design background, so they wanted to push the envelope and said, ‘Let’s try something new!’ I felt like I’d hit the jackpot when they said this in the initial consultation!
A traditional Edwardian cottage, this renovation project encountered a few bumps along the way.
“The home is in the suburb of Carnegie in Melbourne, Victoria. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a traditional layout,” Julianne explains.
“It has a central hallway with bedrooms off the hallway and at the end is the kitchen, dining and living area. This home also has a pool house with its own bathroom out the back that is used as an office space.
“As with many older homes you just don’t know what you’re going to uncover until you get started. We needed to restump the entire house!
“This was particularly important in the bathrooms. The cost of renovating a bathroom, only to have it move on its original foundations would be devastating in the long run.
“This is something we explain to clients at the beginning of a project. It’s important to have a contingency and expect a level of updates to either the foundations or the plumbing and electrical works.”
It’s the mix of modern meets original which makes this house such a fun and unique project.
“We got to know the house as much as we got to know the clients,” Julianne says with a smile.
“For example, there were some beautiful original features in the home that directed us towards the pink in the main bathroom. We kept the original lead light door and chose the finishes around these colours.
“It’s a charming home, full of colour and a personality that reflects the owners. Each room is different in colour but the principles of design stand true and flow through the home.
The house ‘feels’ good as you experience each room. It’s modern and eclectic and really is a house of fun.
The tiles throughout this gorgeous cottage are what truly captured our hearts.
“Part of our process is to take our clients on showroom visits. We visited the team at Byzantine Design to select tiles for the bathrooms. The clients were very involved in this and absolutely loved the experience,” Julianne tells us.
“Having the skills to know what works and what doesn’t takes practice. Thankfully the clients were open to being directed and took our advice on board.
“Here’s a quote from one of the home owners that sums up their thoughts quite nicely!
“I think I had the most fun with Julianne just choosing tiles. Initially, Julianne brought over a few samples for us to look at. And then she said, ‘How about we all go to the tile place together?’ I was like a kid in a candy shop!
“There’s a really beautiful marble in the ensuite bathroom with flecks of fluro lime green though it. And another one in the powder room which has this pink, black and white chevron pattern on the wall.
“I think the tiles really made the renovation. In a lot of ways, if she didn’t take us to that tile shop, we wouldn’t have had the outcome that we’re so happy with today.” — Aaron.
The unique mix of modern meets original is a fine line that Julianne absolutely nails.
“Custom joinery is a great way to bring a modern design into an older style home. We designed the joinery so it would not touch the original cornice,” Julianne says.
“Keeping the original features including cornices and fireplaces was really important. It would have been a shame to replace the fireplace and add shelving to such a beautiful space.
“The colours we chose were fun and unexpected and yet they work perfectly with the original fireplace and features in the home.
Selecting the paint finishes was more about creating a mood. Darker colours in bedrooms can make a space feel tranquil.
Photography — Suzi Appel Photography
Builder — Baypoint Projects
We hope you loved taking a walk through the stunning Edwardian cottage with us. It’s a glorious modern meets original home with adventurous design style that we’ve loved exploring.
Thank you to Julianne for taking us on a tour of Carnegie Cottage. If you’d like to see more from The Den Interiors, check out their website or take a scroll through their Instagram.
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