CLIENT SUCCESS STORY · GENEVIEVE · ONLINE INTERIOR DESIGN SERVICE IN ALPHINGTON, MELBOURNE
“MY HOME NOW FEELS LIKE HOME”
Genevieve left a family home in Greensborough for a new apartment, bringing almost nothing with her. We furnished it for the life she was moving into.
Award-Winning Interior Design
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Whittlesea & Melbourne
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E-Design Available
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Award-Winning Interior Design ● Whittlesea & Melbourne ● E-Design Available ●
THE STORY
Genevieve found us through a local community page, at a point when a good deal in her life had shifted. She was leaving a house that had held a family and moving into a brand new apartment in Alphington, smaller by a long way and empty apart from the bed she had decided to keep. The master bedroom, the entry, the open plan kitchen, dining and living, and the alfresco were all ours to furnish.
She was looking forward to it and quietly daunted by it, which is a common enough combination.
A blank apartment sounds like freedom until you are the one standing in it, and in a space this size every decision presses on the ones either side of it.
The complex was still being finished when we began, so nobody could get inside to measure. We worked through the site manager and their access requirements until we could take the dimensions ourselves, and nothing was ordered before we had them. The reasons for that become obvious the first time you try to move a sofa into a building you have never stood in.
From there the project ran the way she needed it to. Genevieve worked full time, so the sourcing, the deliveries and the install date sat with us. What she wanted was the deciding, and she had it, through a shared design document she could answer in her own time.
She later said the part she enjoyed most was waiting for the next board to arrive.
STARTING AGAIN, WITH every centimetre TO ACCOUNT FOR
(PHOTOGRAPHY: SILAS HAIRS)
GENEVEIVE’S HOME IN ALOHINGTON
WORKING WITH WHAT WAS ALREADY THERE
The apartment came with a heavy black table that took the room over. It moved out to the alfresco and became the entertaining table. A lighter setting took its place, scaled to the space that was left.
SOFTENED LIGHTING
Sheer curtains hang over motorised blinds, so the afternoon comes into the room without the privacy going out of it.
WARMTH AGAINST WHITE
Blush linen, a rounded lamp and timber close to the bed. Enough softness to take the edge off a brand new apartment.
QUITE BUT FUNCTIONAL STORAGE
A ribbed timber console holds the everyday things out of sight, with one soft green chair to anchor the corner.
THE ONE THING SHE BROUGHT WITH HER
Her queen bed came from the old house. Everything around it was chosen for the way she lives now.
DETAILS THAT SET THE MOOD
Brass, amber glass and a wool throw. Small things, and the reason a finished room reads as lived in rather than furnished.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING YOUR CONSULTATION?
GIVE US HALF AN HOUR AND WE WILL SHOW YOU WHAT YOUR SPACE COULD BECOME
Every project starts the same way, with a call about the rooms you have, the pieces you want to keep and how you actually want the place to work.
A clear scope for the rooms in question
An honest read on timing, budget and the level of support that fits
A sense of whether we are the right fit for each other
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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It began as an E-Design project. Genevieve’s apartment sat in a new complex that had not been finished, so the rooms could not be measured. We worked with the site manager and their access requirements until we could get in and take the dimensions ourselves.
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Her queen bed, and nothing else. That is unusual, and it gave the apartment a genuinely blank canvas to work from.
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As involved as she wanted. We worked through a shared design document, so mood boards and product recommendations went across and she responded in her own time. The design tightened with every round of feedback.
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A single room can move in two to three weeks when feedback comes back quickly. A two bedroom apartment with open plan living runs closer to two months, and this project also carried the wait for site access.
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Because a sofa that will not fit the lift comes straight back. In an apartment we measure the lift, the doorways and the access path before anything is ordered, not just the room.
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We did. Genevieve worked full time, so we sourced the pieces, tracked the deliveries, took receipt of some items ourselves and brought them to the apartment on installation day. Suppliers were coordinated around a single install date and a subcontractor assembled the furniture.
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Yes. We brought fabric swatches to the apartment, had the existing blinds retrofitted with motors and added sheer curtains for privacy and softness.
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Yes. The process does not change, only the scope, and one room is often how a longer project starts.