Fresh palette in Medindie
There’s a quiet power to refined simplicity – sometimes it’s the subtle things in life that hold the most opulence.
When the owners of this Medindie home – the Lee family – went for an inspection before purchasing it, they only had two boxes to tick: they wanted a tennis court and they wanted to live close to their children’s schools.
When they found the 1900s Victorian-style home in 2020, the boxes were ticked, but they needed to refresh and reconfigure it to fit their growing family. Luckily, they didn’t need to look far.
At an inspection, the soon-to-be new owners met Chris Diamantis, managing director and founder of custom builders, Genworth Group.
The owners loved the historical aspect of the home and wanted to retain and reinvigorate that in the original part that still remains. Photograph Ben Kelly. Previous pages Lighting plays an important part in the home, with chandeliers creating a hint of luxury against the white canvas.
Just a couple of doors down from the house the Lees were about to purchase is the home of Fotini Giamarelos, Chris’s daughter and Genworth Group’s head of interior design. Chris invited the Lees to Fotini’s house so they could see the type of sympathetic renovations and additions Genworth undertake and the family was impressed.
The family knew they wanted to retain a sense of the traditional that could sit comfortably in the surrounds of the neighbourhood’s period home, while also modernising it for ease of living.
The front of the home was quite run down, so Genworth penned a design to revive the existing space, while building out to the rear.
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“The clients wanted a home that their growing family could live in and where they could house their families who come periodically from overseas to visit them,” Fotini says. “The design brief was for the addition and the original part of the home to have cohesive flow so that one might not know where the old ends and the new begins.
“Staying true to the original Victorian architecture of the home was important.”
The home’s style sings through in the clever little details, such as wainscoting and chevron floorboards.
Genworth achieved this with custom plaster work throughout, adding subtle detailing that tells the story of the era. The family chose a restrained colour palette of crisp white in all rooms, adding interest through texture, such as an original ceiling rose, wall panelling and marble tiles in the bathrooms.
Mr Lee says the kitchen design was such an integral part of the planning process and exemplifies the theme with its detailed joinery and ease of use for the family.
A four-metre island bench is a place the family naturally gravitates to for meal prep and casual dining, and the butler’s pantry provides concealed storage.
“The kitchen design showcases a perfect blend of elegance and practicality,” Mr Lee says. “The 2-pac joinery gives the kitchen a sophisticated finish that adds a touch of luxury.”
The kitchen was one of the most important decisions of the design process. The owners wanted all-white with detail in the cabinetry and pops of gold.
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Lighting has been used throughout the home as a flourish – the kitchen displays large white and gold feature pendants, and chandeliers offer luxe touches in the living area, hallway and above the staircase.
Warmth is also added with touches of gold in the walk-in-wardrobe’s timber joinery and gold-toned handles and tapware throughout, while solid American oak flooring in a chevron pattern has been used downstairs as another layer of detail.
Damp in the cellar meant a restoration of the area wasn’t going to be viable, so instead, they created a temperature-controlled wine room on the ground floor and filled in the cellar. Ceiling heights were maintained from the original part of the home, extending to the rear, where the addition reaches 3.6 metres.
The staircase is a beautiful feature in the home and one of the most carefully considered, with windows and a skylight illuminating the space, reflecting off a classic chandelier to create a stunning effect.
The dark timber accents on the staircase were the brainchild of Genworth Group’s managing director and founder, Chris Diamantis.
Original ceiling roses are accented with gold toned feature lights. Photographs Yanni Slath
The original plan was for a solid balustrade, but when Mr Lee saw it coming together, he quickly asked Genworth to open it up with timber balustrades, which allows the light to flow through more freely.
Sitting beneath the staircase, a baby grand piano looks as though it was made for the spot. Mr Lee says they purchased the instrument after the design was completed and fortuitously, it’s centimetre-perfect.
When the family bought the house, Mrs Lee was expecting the couple’s third child, so the spaces were designed around the soon-to-be family of five. Three bedrooms sit on the upper level and two on the ground level, and a playroom can be closed off with double doors, while a study area upstairs will come in handy as the children grow.
Outside, the tennis court sits just beyond a strip of lawn, which is the perfect size for the children’s play equipment and to run around on.
The master bedroom sits in the original part of the home and, while it’s not functional, the original fireplace was saved and adds charm.
“Feng shui was also considered as an important factor during the design process and had a strong impact on the placement of windows and furniture within the home,” Fotini says. “This did not limit the design in any way, in fact, one might say it enhanced it and added a personal feel to the home.”
The article originally featured in the September 2024 SALIFE magazine.
