When designer and maker Dani Dean took on a sentimental family project, both her creative compass and her heart were on the line
Meet & greet
Dani Dean (interior designer and design studio owner), her husband James Dean (electrician and co-founder of a warehouse space for events and creatives), and their sons, Dallas, six, and Smith, three.
The property
Renovated ’70s brick three-bedroom family home.
Dani Dean has known her home forever, even though she only bought it six years ago. “It was my grandma’s house,” she says. “It’s been in my family since I was a little girl. Growing up, I spent weekends with my nan. She was extremely important to me. I had been in every nook of her house.” Because of this, Dani always had lots of design ideas for it. The 1970s red-brick home was originally “like a Brady Bunch house”, before Dani and her husband James embarked on a nine-month renovation. “We changed the exterior to black and opened up the inside – just a bit,” says Dani. “We did new floors, paint, new kitchen, bathroom, laundry and all our light fixtures.”
Balancing act
The design was managed by Dani’s design studio. “We treated it like any other job in order to reduce the sensitivity of working on your own place,” she says. Still, being both designer and client was stressful. “I was the client from hell,” admits Dani with a laugh. “I drove myself nuts.” She wanted a green kitchen, but should she add scalloped edging to its cabinetry and wiggly lines on joinery in the kitchen, main bedroom and linen press? This caused much angst and rumination, but she eventually signed off on everything – and is glad she took a leap of designer faith.
Meaningful colours
In the dining area, green was revisited to make a deep connection with the kitchen.
But in the living area, neutral walls were teamed with a rose-coloured sofa and ’70s-inspired orange rug. “It’s surprising,” says Dani, “but the contrasting colours work with the green kitchen and dining space.” The bathroom was the biggest design challenge, but Dani and James continued the home’s green story for consistency and chose chequerboard tiling, which “felt right” to them.
Family ties
The couple preserved the existing floor plan and skipped big structural changes, which would have been costly. The result is a new family home that’s still connected to its past. “It’s amazing,” says Dani. “Renovating has given me that new feeling of accomplishment. We’ve improved it so much but it still looks like the [her grandmother’s] house.”
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