In its original state, Jackie Tuck compares her late '70s, three-bedroom home as similar to the one Charlie Bucket and his family lived in in the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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"We were living here and we would only use two rooms," Tuck explains."It was dingy and yuck, and it was just Linton [Tuck's husband] and I."
After living in the single-storey brick house in Caulfield South for four years, the couple decided it was time to renovate. Their first child, Fraser, was about to arrive and they aspired to use every room effectively.
The couple wanted an open plan, a seamless transition between the interior and the garden, and an upgrade that worked within the home's existing footprint.
Beyond that, they needed an expert to hammer out the details. After plenty of research, Tuck met with Mardi Doherty of Doherty Design Studio, telling her "the brief was to open it up, to be able to breathe".
"She didn't want it to be a precious house, she wanted it to be just a robust, beautiful home," Doherty explains.
Changing the original entry hallway, kitchen and living area from a three-room "rabbit warren" to an airy, multi-purpose space was one of the first steps. Large, sliding glass doors were installed to let northerly light flood the room and bring the garden indoors.
A solid blackbutt shelving unit was built by the entrance where a hall used to be, dividing the doorway from the lounge room.
"That's kind of reminiscent of architecture and design from the '50s up to the '70s. Just the idea of creating a separate zone without having a wall or without having it completely open plan," Doherty says.
It also has the added benefit of acting as a storage space and display case for books and family photographs - one of several practical features Doherty added to the home that were in keeping with its role of housing a young family.
Another is a window bench reading nook, with seats that lift up to reveal hidden storage chests.
Warm, honey-coloured timbers and matte whites are prominent throughout the home, lending a simple-yet-stylish Scandinavianlike appeal.
Doherty credits her clients as having a strong aesthetic that was based on using natural materials - "fairly down-to-earth, but interesting."
"It's quite a humble style house, and we didn't want to make it something that it's not, but we did try and add detail within the joinery to embellish it."
These details can be seen in the kitchen, where there are triangle-shaped cut-out handles on the pantry doors, and in grid-like timber shelving. Much of the joinery is open, a conscious choice to allow keen gardener Tuck to display her indoor plants and emphasise the house's connection to its garden.
The importance of the garden is also why a number of extra windows have been added.
There's one in the galley kitchen, where Tuck originally envisaged an island bench, and another in the couple's study, which sits at the rear of the house and at the end of a hall.
"You're always conscious of what you see at the end of a hallway, making sure it's not just the rooms that look good but the journey from one room to another," Doherty says."Natural light was very important for this house."
The bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry are all to the back of the home as well, and have the same timber-and-white palette as the rest of the house.
Eighteen-month-old Fraser's bedroom and a spare were newly plastered and given wardrobes, while the master bedroom was fitted out with a luxurious en suite and walk-in-robe.
??"I can??'t stay in a hotel anymore," Tuck admits. ??"They??'re just not as nice as this".
