Kitchen

Creating A Space That Will Inspire You

Polo

I celebrated my 61st b-day on Monday. I spent the early part of the day at the bookstore, then came home to relax, read and just sat outside enjoying a day without a to-do list.

When Ed asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told him I didn’t need anything, but he insisted on getting me a gift. After a few days of thought, I told him I wanted a second kitchen island cart.

He said, “but there is no room”. I answered that I didn’t want to add another cart in the kitchen, but wanted to add a shelf to the existing one and the only way to do that would be to get a second cart for the parts. We can use the other parts if a part on the original cart gets damaged or make something creative with them.

Movable metal rolling island in a small white kitchen.
The Wheeled Metal Cart Island in
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Garden

A Charming Victorian Cottage, Turned Contemporary Family Home

Polo

A west-facing, newly-renovated Victorian home, just a stone’s throw from the bustling North Fitzroy village? It’s almost unheard of. Toss in a second storey, and not one but TWO rooftop terrace balconies, and you have something close to mythological.

Recently updated with a ground-up restoration and double storey extension, this semi-detached Victorian weatherboard comfortably contains three large bedrooms and accompanying washrooms behind its modest facade. Beyond the sleeping quarters, the ground floor contains an indoor courtyard, which filters light into the master ensuite and second bedroom, and laneway entry to a single-car garage.

The first floor opens up to a light-filled living and entertaining area, where the heritage proportions of this home have been elevated with a brand new kitchen, and suite of modern conveniences. Flanked by glass bi-fold doors, each end of the open plan room opens to a bluestone-paved terrace, the larger of which offers a generous outdoor

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Garden

Designer, Businesswoman and Mother Fatuma Ndenzako Weaves Dual Cultures Into Something Beautiful

Polo

Fatuma Ndenzako and her sister Laurinda make up Collective Closets, a clothing label that brings together their Australian upbringing, and African roots. 

Angola born and Altona-raised, these days, Fatuma splits her time between her store in West Melbourne and home in Coburg, which she shares with her husband Ryan and their two year old son, Arlo.

Fatuma doesn’t do anything by halves, and neither does her sister.  I’m no mathematician, but I think that means together they equal… infinity? Their clothes are made with bold prints in exuberant colours… and family Christmases consist of seven course meals and dancing until 2am.

Fatuma’s  parents are third wave African immigrants, who moved here in the 1980s to a house in Altona in Melbourne’s inner west, where they played the role of ‘Only Black People in the Area’. Growing up was a balancing act of African and Australian culture. Fatuma has fielded

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Room Ideas

5 Quarantine Cleaning Personalities & Traits

Polo

What’s your personality type? Whether you’re a fan of Myers Briggs, Enneagram, or Zodiac, understanding the inner workings of your mind and behavior—not just who you are, but why—can help you grow in just about every area of your life. (Plus, it’s fun to have an excuse for your extremely niche interests or annoying tendencies.)

Understandably, during a global pandemic, you may discover some new things about yourself: Spending more time at home has a way of surfacing new mindsets and habits, for better or for worse. Take cleaning, for example: Now that you’re hanging out inside the walls of your home more than ever before, you might find yourself newly obsessed with decluttering. Or, the opposite may be true. Maybe without the framework of your normal routine, you can’t seem to muster up the motivation to get things done like you used to.

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Garden

Entering Ebony Russell’s Playground Of Ornate Oozing Ceramics

Polo

Raised by a family of creative women who used craft as an avenue for creative and financial independence, Ebony Russell is fascinated with the feminist agency her ceramics practice holds.

‘Looking back now, I can see how my love of art was shaped by the craft practices of my mother, aunts and grandmothers,’ she explains. ‘The skills that were passed down through the traditions from both sides of my immigrant family, shaped my love of craft and art from an early age. I was always surrounded by women making things for love and for family.’

Surrounded by this web of artistic maternal influences, Ebony knew she wanted to be an artist from an early age. After 15 years of full time teaching (and raising two daughters!), Ebony finally returned to study in her late thirties. She graduated from a Master’s of Fine Arts from the National Art School in Sydney

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Garden

A Modernist-Inspired Haven Hidden On The Mornington Peninsula

Polo

Keryn Nossal and her partner found this oddly-shaped slice of bushland perched atop a sand dune in St Andrews Beach in 2000. Though Keryn was drawn to the wild ocean and rugged coastline, neighbours thought they were mad for purchasing the difficult, sloping block which had become a staple vacancy on the local real estate market.

But there is, as they say, a fine line between insanity and genius.

In the two decades since purchasing the site, the Nossals have added a four-bedroom private retreat to the half-acre property. The pair engaged architect Aidan Halloran from ITN Architects to realise their vision of a modernist-inspired seaside haven. It took eight years to complete the landscaping, and the couple added a basic beach shack to the site two years later. The impressive main house that now sits beside that shack was eventually built in 2006.

‘I was inspired to build a

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