This North Melbourne house felt immediately familiar to Tamara Maynes.
She’d never visited the house, but soon recognised it from a feature on The Design Files from years earlier, when the house was in the hands of artist Heidi Yardley.
Tamara and her husband musician Sascha Klave of Clap Hands spent a ‘solid year’ searching for their ideal home, and they had finally found it in this converted stable.
‘We wanted to live in something truly unique that reflected our creative lives and were specifically interested in North Melbourne. We knew it had been waiting for us before we even set foot inside,’ says Tamara.
‘It has this charming creative sensibility and honesty that really overtakes you immediately as you enter the garden gate. Once inside, the open plan, high ceilings, exposed timber studs, and rough brickwork walls trick you into thinking it’s an artists studio in the countryside. It’s such an inspiring and nurturing space.’
The couple loved the home’s ‘patchworked’ character and strong sense of history, but recognised its poor efficiency and unloved backyard. ‘The garden in need of serious TLC, it was painted creamy rental yellow, and was just impractical in so many ways,’ says Tamara.
The landlord agreed to paint the interior walls white and update the property’s heating and cooling. They also gave permission for Tamara and Sascha to fill in large gaps in exterior doorways, and relay the uneven brick garden floor. ‘It was a lot of work and money to put into a rental, but honestly we felt so destined to be together that we never questioned it,’ Tamara says.
Tamara is a ‘semi-retired’ commercial stylist (the co-owner and director of The Establishment Studios), and her home is filled with many pieces otherwise destined for work. ‘I’ll never stop playing stylist in our home. It brings me a lingering heart-felt sense of reward in comparison to the adrenaline fuelled satisfaction of nailing a commercial brief,’ Tamara says.
Her latest venture is Art Club offering ‘maverick creative sessions’ is due to launch in October.
