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Meet and greet: Leah (founder/managing director of a luxury homecare brand) and Samuel O’Connor (private equity investor) with their two small children and a golden retriever named Napa.
The property: A renovated early 20th-century structure with a subterranean cellar/media room.
Creating a safe haven for their young family was the guiding light for Leah and Samuel O’Connor, owners of this mid-century marvel. “As the founder of a luxury homecare brand, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the concept of ‘home’,” says Leah. “My philosophy is this: your home is your space, your refuge, your sanctuary.”
When the busy working couple – then with just one child under two – started looking for a long-term family home in 2022, they knew it had to be fuss-free. “Neither my husband [who works as a private equity investor] nor I have a handy bone in our bodies,” jokes Leah. “We were previously living in a heritage home, which was really beautiful, but it needed more love and care than we had the time or skills for.”
After searching unsuccessfully for months, the couple met a builder in the early stages of construction on a home they quickly realised was “the one”.
“While we’d been keen to find a property that was already complete,” says Leah, “this house, and the team building it, ticked every one of our boxes, so we decided it was worth the wait.”
Moving the family in with her mum for 10 months while the building was underway, Leah enjoyed the unexpected freedom of being able to choose a bespoke palette and finishes. “Buying at that stage of the build gave us the opportunity to change the interior, as well as the exterior finishes to suit our style,” she says. “The original scope was a moody and dark aesthetic, so I said to the builder, ‘Anywhere that’s black, make it white’.”
Inspired by the glamorous Calile Hotel in Brisbane, Leah admits to being a neutral lover through and through. “I’ve always said my blood runs beige,” she muses. “I felt inspired by the Calile’s neutral colour palette in the communal areas, as well as the colourful designs in the suites.”
Emulating a similar scheme, Leah chose light colours and low-contrast materials in the living areas, and then bolder colours with interesting details in the bedrooms, bathrooms and underground cellar.
More than just a backdrop for family life, the thoughtful, monochromatic interiors she’s created double as an ideal setting for Leah’s company, Domenica Formulations, to shoot beautiful images.
“I knew I wanted to use the home as a photoshoot location for my brand,” says Leah. “With the possibility of extending that opportunity to other brands in the future.”
While Leah relished the chance to experiment with the finishes, fixtures and fittings, she and Samuel were both happy to be spared the headache of conceptualising the layout. Architecturally designed, the home came as a ready-made package that fit the young family’s needs to a tee. “Our previous home had bedrooms and living areas spread across two levels, which wasn’t the most practical set-up with young children,” she says.
“Moving into this home has been one of those rare moments where reality has surpassed expectations.” Embarking on the hunt for a family home is rarely streamlined, but for the O’Connors, success lay in maintaining a singular focus. With crystal-clear priorities, every decision along the way became easier to navigate.
“[The ideas of] comfort and sanctuary have been at the heart of every decision we’ve made,” says Leah. And it seems for their kids, those decisions have also created a tangible sense of love and warmth. “My daughter often asks to stay home and play, rather than go out,” Leah adds. “I love that this is her favourite place, as much as it is ours.”
Lessons learnt
- Always sample your choices. The greatest joy I experienced during this project was making bold decisions with colours and finishes that bring life and vibrancy to our home. One key lesson I learned is the importance of sampling every element, no matter how confident you feel with online sample cards and colours. In our kids’ bathroom, I didn’t sample the tile and it ended up being purple rather than the biscuit colour I had envisioned. It was a costly mistake and now I find myself avoiding that room.
Shop Leah and Samuel’s mid-century-inspired house style
See more images of the mid-century-inspired house below
“While the cottage retains its heritage facade, the structure was completely gutted and rebuilt,” says Leah. A custom storage unit offsets the panelling in Dulux Natural White and a framed print by Bonnie Gray.
The two outdoor modular sofas make for a relaxed setting. The timber coffee table is by MCM House and the boho multicoloured rug is stain-resistant and machine washable.
Read this next:
- A modern farmhouse that seamlessly blends simplicity with sophistication and turns towards the view
- A cottagecore home filled with family heirlooms and secondhand treasures
- How to pick the best rugs for your space and where to buy them
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