Full Circle
Shaped over two phases, this Northcote home came to life through close collaboration with an artist-client whose creative eye embraced each decision. It’s a study in colour confidence, and the value of a patient vision.
Photographer
Martina Gemmola
Key Suppliers
Gallery Smith Cosh Living Make Designed Objects Pepite
The homeowner of this heritage cottage in Northcote knew what she wanted from the start. As an artist and curator by training – with a deep love of colour and form – Rebecca had a clear vision and distinct design language she wanted to develop within her home.
A key part of this project was a longer-term view, and a commitment to resolve it with quality of outcome front-of-mind. These values are also shared by Cantilever. Termed a ‘multi-phase project’ - Full Circle provides a template, an example how to fulfil the master plan, when funding capacity demands. A strategy that, when deliberate, is well-positioned to create lasting change at every stage.
Akin to many architectural typologies in Melbourne, Rebecca’s home had strong foundations at the front, and dilapidated ‘tack on’ rooms at the rear. The choice was simple. Renovating the rear of the home enabled resolution of the ‘shared zones’ of Kitchen, Living and Dining, and would have immediate impact to improve quality of life for Rebecca and her family.
Phase two would resolve bathrooms, bedrooms and formal rooms to bring the lasting impression of the home to a confident conclusion.
“Phasing is a choice clients make when the quality of the project outcome is prioritised over urgency and scale.
When the brief is holistic from the outset, the phases become a strategy, meaning clients don’t need to compromise.”
PHASE ONE FOCUS: build something warm, light and inviting.
CIRCA 2021 Rebecca chose our K2 System for her Kitchen. With intentional flexibility, K2 has been designed to satiate personalisation. As an avid colour lover, Rebecca embraced it’s inherent flexibility through her selection of cabinet colour, tiles, fittings and fixtures. K2 often resonates for its adaptability of palette, but it is also it’s inherent simplicity of form, and functional resolution, that creates the foundation for unique expression in every project.
The home’s rear floorplan engaged with the expansive, and much loved garden. Bathed in light, the Kitchen overlooks raised deck from which adjacent red brick laneway walls, and backyard trees collect to enhance the palette of terracotta and green. Rebecca’s selection of aggregate concrete flooring, large black aluminium double-glazed windows and minimalist white ceiling lights, further enhance the selection of colour, and draw the eye through the adjacent meals and living zones.
“Circa 2021, our K2 System shared many of the same details and design resolutions it does today. Maintaining our design collection is a foundational value of our practice, and creates a long term view on the impact of our work. We have always prioritised project quality, and minimised our environmental impact, through this lens.”
PHASE TWO FOCUS: create functional, personal spaces that nourish the senses.
Rebecca returned a few years later, with the same drafting and building team and a brief that had sharpened in the meantime. Evolution of vision was also underway at Cantilever. By this point, our Cantilever &CO design service was well established, and with it a full interior design offer that wasn’t available the first time around – including finishes, specification, documentation for trade, and the detail work that typically falls through the gap between permit drawings and a finished home.
Phase two was substantial: two bathrooms, a powder room, the entrance and hallway, three bedrooms, and the formal living. The development of our Interiors Service, has enabled our projects to evolve to merge the level of detailing akin to our joinery, to every corner of each room. The opportunity to continue to work with Rebecca through this phase of the project, was very fulfilling. Collaborating together even closer this time, the palette grew bolder, with striking textures, supported by a sense of confidence.
“Our design approach is deliberately inclusive and collaborative.
We value our clients’ engagement to bring their home to life, drawing on our design knowledge, experience and skill to make sure we land on the right solutions.”
“We are very happy we chose to work with Cantilever for our kitchen, bathrooms and joinery, due to their strong design and sustainability practices. ”
To facilitate and support the realisation of long-held dreams is one of the blessings of our work, and one that is well-supported by our Product based approach. The K2 Collection extends throughout the home, and was applied throughout primary bedroom, ensuite, bathroom, hallway and powder. The consistency of design detail, material and manufacturing quality, enables our service to minimise the impact of multi-phase projects.
We are experts of continuity.
For Rebecca, the home now reads as a single piece, even though it took two phases and several years to get there.
“There is no doubt Cantilever has been essential to achieving the overall effect and outcome of our very liveable home that we love very much. We love the function and attention to design they have provided.”
Full Circle captures a dedicated vision, where a creative client partnered with a specialist design studio to create a home that leaves a lasting impression.
Sight + Light
An iterative design process and Cantilever’s new build service helped a young family with a purposeful refurbishment of their West Brunswick home, embracing character and quirks they loved, resolving problems they didn’t, and opening up disconnected spaces with light, colour and flow.
Container Cabin by the Coast
A shipping container house in Aireys Inlet rightly heroes its exquisite setting: a precious remnant of open woodland. Cantilever helped design-savvy friends create a sustainable home that’s equal parts hip hotel and bird-hide, ideal for enjoying the towering Eucalypts, rare orchids, and unruly orchestra of birds.
Heritage House
After 36 years in a beloved family home in Pascoe Vale South, a pair of empty-nesters briefly considered flying the coup. They landed instead on a transformational refresh, reconfiguring downstairs spaces, improving thermal efficiency, and reinstating flow for themselves and their close-knit, intergenerational family.
Colour Bounty
The city dwelling of a freshly retired couple; who are now kindling their love of rural rolling plains and fruit trees during the week, prefaced the project as ‘the weekender’ to enjoy friends, family and our city’s bounty.
Artwork & Styling Credits
ARTWORKS
Client Owned Artwork Credits
Kitchen
Ron Reynolds (blue and red composition), Reshid Bey (still life)
Living Room
Debra Young Nakamarra, Women Ceremony, 2019, acrylic on canvas 137 cm x 200 cm
Kim Westcott, (print)
Dining Area
Julieanne Ngwarraye Morton, (painting)
Other print artist Unknown (red with white river)
Sitting Room
From Left to tight:
Rebecca Lovitt Bey
Naata Nungurrayi
Rebecca Lovitt Bey
Reshid Bey (Paris scenes)
Rebecca Lovitt Bey
Reshid Bey
Jane Farnam (hands)
Unknown
STYLING PIECES
Kitchen
Ceramic pieces/vases ~ pepite gallery
Green bar stools ~ Cosh Living
Homewares items ~ Make Designed Objects
Living Room
Coffee Table ~ Cosh Living
Ceramic pieces/vases ~ pepite gallery
Dining Area
Ceramic pieces/vases ~ pepite gallery
Armchairs ~ Cosh Living
Table cloth ~ Carlotta + Gee
Sitting Room
Chair ~
Couch ~
Coffee Table ~
Light ~
Orange side table ~
Bedroom
Ceramic pieces/vases ~ pepite gallery
Bedding ~
Bathroom(s)
Ceramic pieces/vases ~ pepite gallery
Towels ~
Lights ~