Sight & Light By Cantilever
Cantilever breathes new life into a well-loved 1880s West Brunswick cottage, where colour, retro sensibility and grounded materials tell the story of a home that was always worth holding onto.
Words HANDE RENSHAW Photos MARTINA GEMMOLA Interior Design CANTILEVER Build CANTILEVER &CO
Bellini High Stools from Coco Flip in the Cantilever K3 kitchen space.
‘It’s a hardworking space but it feels very luxurious when you’re in there,’ says Kylie Forbes.
Concrete benchtops and laminate-on-ply fronts define Cantilever's K3 kitchen system, simple and considered.
The Cantilever K3 kitchen is a playful nod to mid-century modern design.
Lemon coloured vintage pendant lights from Angelucci.
A spare bedroom once used for storage has been repurposed into a den-like living room.
“So many clients are scared of dark spaces. It was really enjoyable to be able to lean into it and create a space that embraced the moodiness. It’s a bit like the way a sunset can make you appreciate light in a different way to a clear, bright day.”
Artist Minna Leunig's custom mural transforms a once-forgotten hallway into one of the home's most characterful moments in earthy tones that tie together old and new.
The beautifully restored Victorian cottage.
Dark green tones, terrazzo detailing and a concrete-topped floating vanity work with the room's natural moodiness rather than against it.
Most architects who walked through their 1880s West Brunswick cottage saw a problem to solve: strip the back, start new and lose the garden. Owners Sam and Fi disagreed. They'd bought the house they loved with quirks and all, and Melbourne design practice Cantilever was the first to understand exactly what that meant.
The practice approached the project, named Sight + Light, as a conversation rather than a prescription, unfolding room by room rather than presenting the entire plan from the outset. Kitchen and dining first, then bathroom, laundry, hallway and a repurposed living room, each decision built on the last. For a young family new to renovation, it was exactly the right pace. 'It was much more collaborative than seeing plans of the whole house and having to imagine it from scratch,' Sam shares.
Cantilever creative director Kylie Forbes found plenty to love in what she describes as a home full of character and endearing quirks. Her instinct throughout was to work with the house rather than against it, a philosophy that shaped every room. The Cantilever K3 kitchen system established the design language early: concrete benchtops, laminate-on-ply fronts, functional simplicity with a quiet nod to the couple's 70s sensibility. The talking point was a butter yellow accent benchtop, a bold call that Fi credits entirely to Kylie's ease with colour. 'It's so much brighter than we'd have picked on our own,' she admits.
In the bathroom, long Sam's 'bugbear', the instinct ran darker. Rather than resist the natural moodiness of a south-facing room, the team embraced it: deep green tones, terrazzo detailing, and warm amber glass bricks that wash the space in shifting, caramelly light. A curved mirror amplifies the effect, bouncing warmth through every corner. 'It's a bit like the way a sunset can make you appreciate light in a different way to a clear, bright day,' says Kylie.
A hallway mural by artist Minna Leunig, one of Fi's long-time favourites, threads old and new together in earthy tones that tie together old and new in this easeful, grounding home. Opposite, a former storage room now breathes as a den-like living space, with velvet curtains, glazed doors opening to the garden, a vintage Dutch leather couch positioned so that Minna's artwork becomes a natural focal point. New tiles at the fireplace carry the project's design signatures through to this final piece of the puzzle.
Ethical intent runs quietly through every decision; double glazing, dark cork floors, Tasmanian Oak salvaged from a school building, reupholstered dining chairs, vintage pendant lights. Nothing is wasted.
Project: Sight + Light, West Brunswick, VIC
Interiors: Cantilever
Photography: Martina Gemmola
