LONDON CALLING

Channelling English sensibility into a Victorian terrace delivered a family-friendly home with timeless European style.

- Sue Ramsey

KITCHEN/DINING Custom dining table in the style of Axel Einar Hjorth. Vintage Danish dining chairs by Henning Kjærnulf from CCSS. Vintage German pendant lights. Lilac marble splashback and wall-side benchtop, Signorino. Cabinetry handpainted in Dulux Natural White (wall side) and Porter’s Paints Mariner (island). The island benchtop is Neolith Krater from CDK Stone. Perrin & Rowe ‘Ionian’ mixer tap, The English Tapware Company. Butler sink, Belfast Sinks. Engineered-oak flooring in Bistre, Tongue N Groove Flooring. Landscaping by Paul Bangay.

After six years in London and the arrival of their first baby, Jess and John Britten decided to return to Australia to be closer to family. The couple didn’t want to leave the life they’d loved behind entirely, however, and set their sights on finding a property where they could re-create a slice of the UK capital.

Jess and John had been looking for a while when a two-bedroom Victorian terrace on a 182-square-meter block in Melbourne’s inner suburbs came on their radar. “We wanted a home we could renovate in a vibrant, cosmopolitan area,” says Jess. After snapping up the property, they lived in it for three years before embarking on a total revamp in January 2020.

The brief was to expand the terrace to better suit their family of four. The main bedroom with ensuite would be downstairs, with two bedrooms for their sons Jack, now four, and Charlie, two, upstairs. They also wanted an open-plan living area at the rear of the house. “We kept the facade and the front room as they were, but the rest of the house is new,” says Jess.