Cocoon House - A Harmonious Home, Collected.

Mornings at Cocoon House begin in the kitchen and dining area, with the family gathered around the table and breakfast underway. It is the heart of the home, and the room where its character is easiest to see: relaxed, warm and used every day. Built as a forever home in one of Melbourne’s bayside suburbs, this new build was always going to be crisp and clean. The challenge was to make it feel as though it had always been theirs..

Our clients, devoted to mid-century modern design and passionate vintage collectors, asked us to avoid the “showroom” feel and create a home that is calm, layered and gathered over time. They found us through Instagram after seeing our Albert Park Residence, and engaged us for the complete furnishing, lighting, artwork and object curation throughout. With young children at the centre of daily life, the home had to be as practical as it was beautiful. We chose durable fabrics, forgiving finishes and furniture that works with the rhythm of family life, so the spaces can be lived in fully, from school morning rush to slow evenings together. A strong connection to the outdoors was part of the brief too, so the layout and selections keep the home open, easy and in step with the garden beyond.

I. Gather

“We called this project, for ourselves, a project to bring us a harmonious home.” — Natalie, homeowner

The kitchen, living and dining area gave the project its first and most important brief, so harmony began here. Every selection had to earn its place twice, once for how it looks and once for how it lives. The palette draws on mid-century modern warmth and Japandi restraint, with natural textures, honest materials and low, relaxed forms that invite people to settle in.

The room does exactly what it was designed to do.

“After dinner, we sit by the fireplace, play a board game or cards and just really relax in the space. That’s something I look forward to every day.”

II. Light

Lighting was the area where our client felt least confident, and it became the project’s defining gesture. We guided Natalie through the selections one by one, and the pieces they invested in became the soul of the home.

The Taraxacum Cocoon Pendant is the clearest example, and it gave the house its name. Suspended above the dining table, its sculptural, textural form catches and scatters the light. Step through the front door and the hallway draws the eye straight through to the dining space, so the pendant is the first thing you see when you arrive and the last thing you forget.

“I just love the way the light reflects off it, the texture in it. It makes me really happy every time I come in the front door and see it.”

Beneath it, Libby Haines’ artwork ‘Should I Open Another?’ hangs above the vintage side table. It is a quiet bit of humour and a good reflection of the homeowner’s love of red wine, and it shows how contemporary design can sit comfortably beside pieces that have lived a life before.

III. Layer

The vintage thread runs through the whole house. The clients’ existing armchairs were custom reupholstered in Dedar’s Tiger Mountain fabric, a bold textural update that carries their history into the new space. Each vintage find sits among contemporary pieces, so the home feels as if it has grown over years.

In the master bedroom, the layering turns tactile and calm. A custom cork wall panel introduces warmth and texture, paired with our Ivy bedhead in Bedford Olive, a piece first introduced in the Albert Park Residence that returns here in a new setting. It links the project that brought these clients to us with the home they built.

The collaboration behind it was just as layered. We began with Natalie’s vision, moved through mood boards and an initial concept, and refined each selection together.

“They blew me away with the options… things I might never have considered myself. It gave me the courage to step outside my comfort zone and choose things that really had the wow factor.”

The result is a home with the ease and personality of one that has been lived in for years, which is rare for a new build.