Tamsin Johnson has reimagined a sprawling South Yarra home into a casual and layered oasis for a young Melbourne family, where the aesthetic speaks on a sense of travel – from the comfort of home.

At the street elevation, a mid-century structure in a mustardy yellow hue is given new life via white bagged and painted brickwork and full-height square framed steel windows. A pebble entry filled with mature cacti furthers the refreshing overhaul to the exterior, while setting the tone for the interior that awaits. Inside, a neutral palette with pops of colour and a texturally-rich array of art, objects, and materials is found.

With the existing floor plan separated by a large internal courtyard, a key design challenge was to fill in the space with an open-plan dining room and bar to create a more cohesive interior layout. “We wanted to fill the internal courtyard, but this meant losing a lot of natural light, so we added large steel framed windows to the side of the house,” says Tamsin Johnson. “This let much more light in and also opened the room up to a beautiful creeping fig on the boundary wall.”

Tiering the floor-plate into three different levels created a sunken lounge and a raised kitchen flowing onto a courtyard, where a round marble tiled swimming pool with oversized palms and planter boxes creates a holiday feeling.And the carefully selected textures and objects further this sense of adventure inside. A kitchen of vibrant green fantasia marble leads to a bold red and white breakfast banquette that calls to mind warm, slow mornings on holidays, while feature crazy paving surfaces are balanced with soft greys, ornate light fixtures, and warm timbers.

The designer’s signature penchant for creating spaces that are intriguing and unique yet never cluttered or overdone is on show at Tivoli Road. As though each piece of art and furniture was hand-selected to tell a story of journey, the interiors of the home are intriguing and layered, yet the sense that each item and finish has been chosen with purpose ensures the project is cohesive and intentional, exuding a casual luxury.