Heritage Goes Modern

Ariel Bryant’s renovation is a contemporary gem rich in period charm, thanks to interior designer – and friend – Georgina Jeffries

- Leanne Amodeo

KITCHEN

Georgina designed the white joinery to contrast with the rich tones of the new French oak parquet flooring, and kept the scheme simple to ensure efficient use of a relatively narrow space.

Bestlite pendants and Cobra wall light, Gubi at Nest. Nerd bar stools, David Geckeler for Muuto at Luke Furniture

LIVING ROOM

This is Ariel’s favourite space, where Georgina’s striking green and navy scheme has delivered a sophisticated outcome that still feels very modern.

Find similar pendant at Barovier & Toso. Faubourg sofa, Carlo Colombo for Arflex at Poliform. Glove Up armchair, Molteni. Coffee tables by Michael Hirst

For Ariel Bryant, buying her family’s home in South Melbourne, Australia, was nothing short of terrifying. ‘We bought it without setting foot inside or even seeing a floor plan,’ she says. ‘However, we had walked by it and toured other Victorian terraces.’ Ariel and her husband Tom were based in San Francisco at the time and had been house-hunting in his home city of Melbourne for two years before the two-storey terrace appeared on their radar.

‘The owner was reluctant and didn’t want to sell to someone who wouldn’t love it,’ says Ariel. ‘So I wrote her a letter and reassured her this was going to be our forever home.’ Maybe it was the family photos Ariel sent of herself, Tom and their young son Oscar, or perhaps it was her irresistible American charm that finally sealed the deal. Either way, as a furniture buyer for upmarket Australian department store David Jones, she knows a thing or two about good investments and wasn’t going to let this one slip by.