LIQUID ASSETS

A luminous, airy extension has elevated a boxy, ho-hum home into an organic showpiece for its owners.

- CHRIS PERASON

Expect the unexpected with this home in Melbourne's southeast. With a four-square, rendered-brick facade that gives no clue to what lies beyond, stepping into the hallway becomes a revelation. Arches beckon you towards a brandnew extension with organic curves that seductively wind themselves around you. There the paradoxical properties of concrete, fluid and malleable when wet, solid when set, have been explored to their full expressive potential.

When architect Michael Leeton of Leeton Pointon first encountered the two-storey postwar home in 2016 it was "dark, inward looking, boxy and unprepossessing." But for the owners, a couple with two children now teenagers, there was still plenty to love when they bought it three years earlier. "The house was spacious, but not oversized," says the owner. "We liked the elevation above the street at the front, while the generous site meant we could have a great garden. A separate pool house screamed perfection for teenage children. And then there were the features inside - a great staircase, steel-framed windows, terrazzo entrance and a northerly aspect with lots of sunshine. It had plenty of that scary word - potential."

Scary indeed for these first-time renovators, who called in Michael and interior designer Karyne Murphy of Karyne Murphy Studio to help them realise that potential. "We loved Michael's simple and elegant approach - how he uses curves, explores light and blends the old with the new was exactly what we needed," says the owner. "We wanted a lot of light and the spaces to work well for entertaining, be that large family moments, dinners with friends or just for our teenage children, but it also had to work when it was just ourselves. And we wanted an incredible garden to be part of the house, blending inside with out."