A designer’s own home where colour transforms every room, Gable House in Melbourne is a deeply personal exploration of how colour, heritage and family life can coexist with warmth and restraint. Home to Studio Doherty director Mardi Doherty and her family, the residence became a testing ground for ideas developed across years of practice. Rather than treating colour as an accent, Studio Doherty uses it to shape atmosphere, demonstrating how a richly layered interior can still feel calm and inviting.
Located approximately four kilometres south-east of Melbourne’s CBD, Gable House occupies a corner site within a leafy neighbourhood. Its name references the varied roof forms across the residence and the prominent tower at the front. The brief centred on reconfiguring the existing rooms while introducing a contemporary addition designed to accommodate a family of four as their needs evolve. Central to a designer’s own home where colour transforms every room is a careful balance between preservation and change, with Folk Architects bringing a sympathetic approach to the restoration of the existing building.
Inside, the generous foyer leads to a sequence of rooms including a study, main bedroom and living room before arriving at the kitchen, dining and fireplace area. A glazed hallway connects the original house to the new extension, which contains the children’s bedrooms, bathroom, laundry and garage. Natural light was a defining consideration throughout, addressing the darkness often associated with Victorian and Federation-era houses while strengthening connections between old and new.
Colour takes its cues from the home’s existing coloured glass windows, establishing a foundation for the wider material and finishes palette. In a designer’s own home where colour transforms every room, original fretwork, fireplaces, cornices, skirtings and architraves sit alongside more playful interventions. The home’s 3.6-metre-high ceilings become an active design surface, most notably through a floral wallpaper that creates the impression of a garden overhead.
Externally, the contemporary addition is wrapped in diamond-shaped zinc shingles, selected for their durability, low maintenance and reflective quality. Landscape also plays an important role, with the generous front garden encouraging connection with neighbours and the surrounding street, while an upstairs roof garden overlooks the courtyard and both sections of the home. These moments ensure a designer’s own home where colour transforms every room extends beyond its interiors to embrace its broader setting.
For Studio Doherty, the interiors form a tapestry of the practice’s evolution, adapting elements from previous projects to suit the rhythms of family life. The result is expressive without becoming overwhelming, proving that confidence with colour can create spaces that feel composed, warm and enduring. Ultimately, a designer’s own home where colour transforms every room offers an intimate study of experimentation – one where restoration, collaboration and personality come together to create a home designed to grow alongside its inhabitants.
0:00 – Introduction To Gable House By Studio Doherty
3:00 – Reimagining A Victorian Home
4:38 – A Palette Shaped By The Original Home
6:30 – Trusting Your Instincts In Design
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Photography by Sean Fennessy.
Architecture by Folk Architects.
Interior design by Studio Doherty.
Build by Exceed Group.
Styling by Bea + Co.
Landscape design by Mud Office.
Filmed and edited by The Local Production.
Production by The Local Production.
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The Local Project acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land in Australia. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our country and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.
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