A Study in Progression
It sometimes happens that not all our ideas and advice will be heeded by you, the client.
And that’s OK. Because ultimately, it is your home.
Our job, in this case, is to help you design to what you want with as few egregious horrors as possible.
A Victoria flat, and three different briefs
This three-level, one-bedroom flat in Victoria was purchased as a rental property. The first brief was simple: refresh the interiors, advise on colour and styling, and make a modest change to open the kitchen to the living room.
As work began, the owner reconsidered the flat’s future. Could it also become a home for him? That meant finding space for a second bedroom and bringing the toilet, shower and basin together in one coherent bathroom, rather than leaving them on separate levels.
We developed 3D designs that addressed both needs within the revised budget. The proposals considered the flat as a whole: how its rooms connected, how each level would be used, and whether the new layout would feel natural to live in.
The Direction Taken
The owner sought our design input, but construction decisions were often made before there was time to assess how they would affect the flat as a whole. Several departed from the agreed proposals. When the results proved unsatisfying, our continued involvement sometimes blurred the distinction between advice we had given and decisions we had not made.
We stayed with the project to help bring the finished rooms together through colour, furnishings and styling. The flat has warmth and personality, but its underlying challenges of flow and function remain. The 3D renders shown here are the unbuilt proposals we developed to address those challenges within the revised budget.
This experience clarified something essential to our practice: good design needs a shared brief, time to consider changes and trust in the decisions made together. Those are the conditions in which we can do our best work for a client.
What This Project Taught Us
A renovation can look finished while its most important questions remain unanswered. Good design asks those questions early, tests the answers and gives everyone involved a shared direction before work begins.
That process depends on trust and collaboration. It is how we turn a promising idea into a space that feels as good to live in as it looks.
Pre-reonvation, design ideas and owner’s styling.
