It Looks Like a Playland but This Home Works Hard
A toddler, a pup, and their parents fit onto a 16.5-foot-wide plot in an inner suburb of Melbourne.
Many young parents must choose, agonizingly, between the convenience of the city or the spaciousness of the country. In Fitzroy North, an inner suburb of Melbourne, designer Dan Gayfer took on the seemingly impossible task of delivering both for a couple with a toddler and a dog. The location, a traditional terrace house on a narrow lot, posed serious physical limitations. But by carefully apportioning each square foot and prioritizing access to daylight, Gayfer realized an addition as vivacious as his clients.
The Scyon Axon cladding of this gabled Melbourne addition gleams at midday. Designer Dan Gayfer punctuated the facade with sliding glass doors and a row of windows to fill the narrow home with sunlight.
The concrete courtyard offers the family, who four months ago welcomed a daughter, the option to extend their living space outdoors.
The narrow kitchen is brightened by a soft material palette. A burnished concrete countertop flows like a waterfall into the Blackbutt timber flooring. The translucent blue Poly Pop pendant is by Tokenlights.
Each inch is accounted for in the 1,916-square-foot home. Cabinets and clever storage for wine are tucked under the stairs.
Gayfer turned the home's greatest weakness, its compact size, into an advantage by encouraging interaction. Ledges, benches, and built-ins were placed tactically to promote conversation. The Errol sofa is by Jardan.
Upstairs, in a living room/office, a low built-in is upholstered in Purple Velvet by Warwick Fabrics.
Each of the home's bathrooms displays a different eye-catching shade of tile from Inax, such as baby blue.
A second bathroom is clad in soft pink tile. All the matte-black fittings in the bathrooms and kitchen belong to the Yokato collection by Brodware.
A small roof terrace offers a second outdoor enclave for play.
The unedited street-facing facade masks the home's rejuvenation and preserves the architectural continuity with its neighbors.
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