Combining the essence of the nearby ocean and the characteristic grandeur of the existing home, Espie Residence balances soft and calming hues with a playful and immersive approach. Georgina Jeffries instils the home with a sense of quiet and honours its unique history through a careful attention to detail.

The combining of heritage with a contemporary relevance can take any manner of paths, either in the muting of colour and dousing in neutral tones to allow detailed cornicing to be expressed through subtleties or in the reengagement with vibrancy to mark a time of interior animation. Espie Residence combines the two opposing methodologies in its own way, expressing a sense of self through colour that connects to place, adding a textural layered effect and ensuring a playful yet freshly modern approach. 

In the design’s new resolve, craft is expressively celebrated throughout, both in the existing home, with its respectful restoration, and in the new addition. The elevating of the handmade extends from the architectural framework and transitions through to the brushstrokes of each curious artwork and the burnishing of metal elements within light fixtures. The home, like its layered elements, tells a story. The previous extension spoke more to its 1980s origins, as a time of excess, than to either the surrounding context of Geelong or the original home.