State of play Originality is at the forefront of this inner-city home

HOME REINVENTED Creative homeowners Leah and Wally (pictured with their pooch Benson) have made a home out of what used to be a grease-covered mechanics workshop in Melbourne’s inner city. The flexible open-plan space is layered with second-hand furniture, including a mid-century sideboard positioned against a wall painted in Dulux Domino, mementoes from the couple’s many travels, such as a wall-hanging from Myanmar, and timber pieces crafted by the talented Leah. “We love the flexibility our home offers us – it allows us to keep things fresh and creative, which is really important to me,” says Leah, before adding: “If I were to open a restaurant, the menu would be different every day!” >

THIS INNER-CITY MELBOURNE ABODE OFFERS FUN, FLEXIBILITY AND A TRULY ORIGINAL PLACE TO CALL HOME FOR A CREATIVE COUPLE, THEIR NEWBORN AND ADORABLE DOG

When Leah was a young girl growing up in Auckland she would spend her days building cubby houses. “I was the cubby queen,” laughs the interior designer and woodworker. “I would rearrange the furniture to create massive forts that would go through the rooms.” While other children created pop-star montages on bedroom walls, Leah, now a senior interior designer at design firm Hassell, was reimagining entire spaces and, much to her engineering father’s delight, revealing her early interest in architecture. Today, in the welcoming home she shares with her partner, Wally, a musician and tour manager, and their baby boy Sonny in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, it’s easy to see the couple have created a home that is the result of Leah’s thoughtful approach to planning spaces and is inspired by their need to see the bright side of life. “It’s quite important for Wally and me to keep elements of our lives light and fun, and to stay spirited,” remarks Leah, who, with Wally, loves to entertain and travel. “I personally don’t want to grow up.”

The open-plan home gives the couple plenty of space to host friends and the flexibility to change the layout to combat the extremes of Melbourne’s weather. The warehouse’s previous tenant, a designer and friend of the couple, Vincent Conboy of Cenzo Design, had turned what was once a mechanic’s grubby garage into something much more than liveable. “Vince did the grunt work – it would have been a very hard job,” says Wally of the task of cleaning away years of oil and grime. Vincent also lined the ceiling in ply, put up bathroom walls and created a simple kitchen nook.

The hard work done, the space needed a few more tweaks before Leah and Wally could consider it ‘home’. Treasures picked up on travels, timber furniture handmade by Leah and a healthy collection of plants added layers of character, but the open room was missing the private zones – places to sleep and work – so Leah got to work. Two pods were designed by her and built by the couple and a handful of friends in exchange for pizza and beer. The sleeping pod, known as The Maple House, is the couple’s bedroom, while the charcoal painted pod, called The Dark House, is positioned by the kitchen and contains Wally’s hidden music studio. “In winter, we can keep The Maple House closed and temperature-controlled, but we open it up in summer so it becomes a part of the bigger space but still has that sense of privacy,” explains Leah.

The fact this unconventional home is the result of the combined efforts and hard work of a tight-knit group of friends adds to the welcoming feeling of the space. The warehouse is often filled with the sound of music and chatter and it’s here that Wally composes music for his band, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, with the group practising in the warehouse next door. Bicycles roll up beside the dining table, movies are watched on a projector screen and Benson excitedly greets mates who drop by – it’s a home that is the perfect space to keep this couple’s life a little bit playful as intended.

KITCHEN DETAIL The compact kitchen (top left) was designed and installed by the previous tenant, Vincent. He used American oak benchtops, exposed copper pipes and an above-counter sink (find similar at Reece), which all harmonise with the industrial feel of the brick walls and concrete floors throughout the home. A Ruth Stewart tea towel from Alperstein Designs adds bold colour and pattern.

OPEN-PLAN LIVING Many of the furniture pieces have been made by Leah, a self-trained woodworker who produces under the name By Pono (bypono.com.au). “I like to learn by doing and playing – I wouldn’t call myself a carpenter!” says Leah. Her handiwork includes the dining table (opposite), paired with second-hand Cesca-style dining chairs.

The striking freestanding room divider was made by Leah out of timber and plywood, and is used to demarcate the warehouse entryway (the beautifully patterned wall-hanging was also created by Leah). >

“SPACES SHOULD BE INFORMED BY WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU’RE DOING, WHERE YOU’VE BEEN AND WHERE YOU’RE GOING”

~ LEAH

WE LOVE... cosy corners

Leah is a clever designer who knows how to maximise every usable inch of an open-plan space. Her trick? “You have to create purposeful pockets within the larger space,” she says. Here, a rug from a Malaysian marketplace and a Papasan chair from Cobra Cane are used to anchor the fireplace – designed with the help of the couple’s stonemason friend Den Holm – creating an inviting nook. “The fireplace really gives this place a sense of home,” says Leah. “It has changed the way we feel about the warehouse.” Visit cobracane.com.au.

BEDROOM “When I designed the bedroom pod, I had a clear vision of what it needed to be: a sleeping space with nothing else inside,” says Leah. “It’s where my mind needs to rest.” Bedlinen by The Vallentine Project and a wool rug from the artisan town of Oaxaca, Mexico (below), (try Pampa for similar styles) lend subtle pattern and texture to the minimal space painted in Dulux Natural White. “The concept was to create small, habitable spaces within the space,” says Leah of the overall design of the home. >

MUSIC NOOK

The couple’s respective passions of music and design, along with a shared love of travel, come together in this nook where Wally composes music on a century-old German H. Lubitz piano while perched on a chair made by Leah (below). An ARIA award won by Wally’s band sits by Leah’s graduate award from Monash University, with Maori babushka dolls and a Mexican print completing the meaningful vignette. For similarly globallyminded decor, without the cost of international travel, try Pan After.