When looking to buy their first home together, Haydn Green (director of Momentum Building Group) and Lucinda McKimm searched for beach houses with character and the potential to renovate. 

This modest brick house on the Mornington Peninsula ticked all the boxes, while offering plenty of room to extend on its generous block. 

Working with the couple’s close friend, architect Victoria Merrett of Pleysier Perkins, Haydn built a new extension taking advantage of the property’s sunny backyard, without stripping the home of its original charm. 

If there’s an architecturally significant home available to rent in Melbourne’s north-east, you best believe Tilly Barber knows about it.  

The owner of furniture businesses Homebody and Monde has lived in multiple nearby ’60s and ’70s homes, but couldn’t resist moving into the former office of prolific architect Alistair Knox when it recently hit the rental market. 

Embracing the site’s history and leafy Eltham environment, Tilly has turned the space into a somewhat unorthodox yet heartwarming home for herself, and six-year-old-son Marley.

Ben Mooney has always wanted to live above a shop. After years of scouring real estate listings, he signed a three-year commercial lease to finally make his dream a reality. 

He now lives in the upper level of an 1880s Collingwood shop, which he also rents out as a photoshoot and small events space known as Ma House. The large and flexible property is the perfect canvas for Ben’s many, many furniture pieces and design objects, collected locally and abroad – including enough chairs to seat 40 people!

Even when you’re the editor of a real estate platform, it can be surprisingly difficult to find your perfect family home! 

Domain’s national managing editor and property expert Alice Stolz (you might recognise her from The Block!) experienced this unique conundrum when returning to Australia in 2016, following 12 years living overseas with her husband Adam Stolz and three children. A city-wide Melbourne search ensued, leading to this 1900s Canterbury home, oozing with character and potential. 

Alice and Adam worked with Doherty Design Studio to completely renovate the property within the existing footprint. The result is equal parts practical and playful, exuding a certain ‘je ne sais quoi!’

If interior designer Sarah Conly and engineer Hugh O’Brien hadn’t bought this mid-century house, it’s likely the Ivanhoe East property wouldn’t exist today. 

Not only did the couple save the home from potential demolition, they’ve spent the last two years enhancing its 1960s bones with sympathetic restorations that masterfully blend old and new. 

It’s been A LOT of work, but the result is one very special home!

The home of Liam Gough, drummer of The Teskey Brothers, and Olivia Cummings, designer and founder of jewellery label Cleopatra’s Bling, is a classic mudbrick home, typical of Melbourne’s north-east. 

The couple purchased the 1977 owner-built home in North Warrandyte last year, and have since undertaken only minor updates that celebrate the original design. 

Over the past twelve months, this has been the perfect work-from-home and living haven for Liam & Olivia, surrounded by towering trees and native wildlife!

There’s a European feel to the home of Nicole Nelius – an art deco apartment in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill.

The artist and her husband Christopher Nelius (director of films like Girls Can’t Surf and co-founder of global wildlife fund The Lion’s Share) lives here with their two sons Remy (5) and August (2), surrounded by artworks, books and secondhand finds. 

With numerous parks and beaches on their doorstep, it’s the ultimate Eastern Suburbs apartment!

We see phenomenal houses on a daily basis at The Design Files, but rarely do we audibly gasp like we did seeing garden designer Richard Unsworth’s home for the first time!

Located on Rocky Point in Lovett Bay – a northern Sydney suburb only accessible by water – Richard has been holidaying in this house for 25 years with the previous owner’s daughter, Justine Johnston. The friends and their respective partners purchased the home together from Justine’s mother six years ago, spending weekends by the water ever since! 

Nabilah Nordin and Nick Modrzewski describe their Melbourne home best as a ‘warped maximalist colour feast; monster-bird dinner party; new gothic masquerade; baking disaster; totemic gunk pile; and cluster-bomb development laboratory!’ Brilliant!

This very specific look has been achieved in just six months by the artists, who have instantly characterised their period home with paintings, colour, and their own sculptures. 

It’s an ever-evolving space, with something new to discover at every turn!

Anna Spiro splits her time between Melbourne and Brisbane, but it’s just further east on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island where she truly feels at home.

After selling her holiday house of 16 years on the island, the interior designer went in search of an equally special place. She discovered a small, weatherboard house for sale, and despite its awkward shape, Anna immediately saw its potential.

In just six weeks (!), Anna worked with a builder and cabinet maker to transform the property into a relaxed yet luxurious house, stamped with her signature colour and pattern.