ROMAN HOLIDAY

Transformed into a glamorous entertainer's dream, this Victorian home evokes all the elegance of an Italian villa.

- CHRIS PEARSON

From dowdy dowager to charming contessa, this grand four-bedroom home in Melbourne's south has enjoyed a miraculous makeover. "We have taken a Victorian lady, given her a facelift, dressed her in Italian couture, adorned her with jewels and sent her on a Roman holiday," says its interior designer David Hicks. "Now she is well travelled and glamorous."

After the owners bought the house in 2002, she did decades of dutiful service as a functional family home. But, with their two children grown up, the couple wanted to elevate their cherished 1880s property to something more special. So, in 2020, they turned to David to make it happen. "They loved the way we integrate the new with old and that we design with a minimal palette that is also rich and luxurious. And, keen on mid-century Italian style, they had seen this, too, in our work," he says.

What David found behind the castle-like brick facade - complete with landmark turret - was a world away from that vision. "The house was dark, with orange timber floors and heavy timber mantel mirrors. The kitchen was in plain white laminate and the bathrooms in white gloss tiles," he says. “Designed when living requirements were different, the rooms were small, segregated and cramped." The solid shell and ornate detailing, such as cornices and ceiling roses, outweighed those shortcomings. "The substantial walls and plasterwork make this house so appealing. You can feel the history."

The practical brief was to open up the spaces and let in the light. "The clients wanted the house to feel larger and lighter, with a better connection between the rooms and better flow." They also asked David to reconfigure the first floor to provide a larger main walk-in robe and ensuite, and bigger bedrooms.