CHERRY ON TOP

Set against neutral tones, the final flourish on this newly renovated heritage home in Melbourne is a bright pop of powerfully accented red.

- CARLI PHILIPS

When Nexus Designs creative director Sonia Simpfendorfer and senior interior design associate Bridget Ryan first saw this property they were stepping over a building site, exposed floor joists and all. Although the owners had engaged an architect and construction had already commenced, things just didn’t feel right. “We came on board really late in the process but we already had a relationship with the clients because we’d worked together about 14 years ago,” recalls Sonia. “There were existing drawings but we designed a whole new internal configuration. As the builder had already started we had to work really fast.”

The clients, who had purchased the Victorian house a few years ago, were set to make it their permanent home and it was renovated as such, blushing with bold cherry-red furniture and luxurious finishes. While designed for two, the couple have a big extended family so they wanted shared spaces to allow for terrace hosting and big Italian dinners spread over their custom 14-seat American oak dining table.