Hidden behind an eclectic blend of exotics, this Robin Boyd home in the Woodlands of Mount Eliza surprises at every turn.
Emma Nosiara, seen here in her home with a piece by local artist, Emma Davies.
As one half of Mount Eliza’s Golightly, Emma Nosiara applies the same fanciful integrity to her home as she does to the consignment store she runs with the equally stylish, Sally Williams.
Fourteen years ago, Emma, Victor and their three boys, embarked on what has become one of Mount Eliza’s best-known Woodlands adventures: a Robin Boyd home where the opportunities to improve on an ideal template were confined only by the imagination.
As one of the Small Homes Services launched by the architect, the home built in 1966 was one of a maximum of 25 built in Melbourne and 25 in regional Victoria, ensuring each home would be an original in its neighbourhood. The plans sold for roughly five pounds and cost about 1,710 pounds to build, making them both affordable and profitable for the architect.
The chair from Emma’s grandfather, an antique dealer, anchors an Aboriginal piece and family photos.
Robin Boyd’s concept was not unique, yet it helped create a standard for architect design-designed homes fo the masses championed by the Sydney practice Pettit+Sevitt and Dr David Yencken of Merchant Builder. Mount Eliza is home to a most significant number of Merchant Builder homes outside Doncaster and Vermont, where Yencken’s design for community bears similarity to the Walter Burley Griffin-designed Ranelagh Estate.
Engaging an architect to help with a renovation honouring the initial design, the Nosiaras added a kitchen and dining room walled in glass with a higher ceiling, whilst the master was extended to make the most of a garden where the untamed Woodlands meets an emerging confection of colour and detail.
The irony of heavily scented wisteria welcomes lighter days and entry to a home where an oversized gallery of conversation pieces plays host to a life-long collection art, furniture and memories. “We wanted to bring nature into the house,” says Emma, an achievement that plays out in the extension where light is harnessed with abandon as an ornamental grape begins to makes itself at home, framing a mature interior.
The view from the kitchen provides an ideal sight-line to the covered entrance.
The kitchen layout came from the architect, Suzanne Macdonald of SMAC Design, but the material selection was entirely Emma’s concept. Tiles at home in the seventies and dark timber demonstrate the resilience of a palette and surfaces when home entertaining trumped dining out.
A mid-century aesthetic updated for 21 Century lifestyles integrates the dishwasher amongst a pastiche of rich hues and textures.
A wall of windows, mirrored in the addition of a dining room and new kitchen, sheds light on a collection of furniture from middle 1900s.
The home’s extensive collection is one borne of love and living that’s taken the family across the globe and the ages. An antique chair shares the spotlight with an indigenous artefact whilst a screen made by Victor hosts a carefully curated collection of glass and ceramics. “I’m a bower bird,” explains Emma, “I’m not really into matchy-matchy.”
It’s an aesthetic Emma shares at Golightly, where consigners have become part of a community, where beautiful pieces are appreciated on their own merit and styled together as unique ensembles. Much like her home, one of a number, Golightly is one of a few consignment stores in Mount Eliza – a shared concept with a completely unique perspective.
An open shelf separates the entrance from the living room, where a two-sided fireplace also warms the dining.
Influences from everywhere: a buffet sourced in Frankston underpins a collection of Kokeshi dolls, and a photo hinting at a passion underfoot ;)
Emma’s live loves are as eclectic as her style and experiences.
Love the outdoors “We never put a pool in, so it forced us to go to the beach and spend more time at Daveys Bay, sailing and being with people. It’s really unique to Mount Eliza
Live for the nooks and crannies “Covid has given us all a reason to walk around and discover serene little parks and paths – even goats!”
Love the architecture "Mount Eliza has so many great examples of modernist architecture - Boyd, Knox, Guilford Bell.. their brilliance was in the simplicity - making the most of the beach & bush surroundings”.
Live for Golightly “Our consigners are really a great community. They feel like part of the shop and the experience; Sally and I are just the platform to make it happen.”
Love Woodleigh School “It was such a unique and beautiful place for the boys to grown up in. They’ll take the values with them through their whole lives – Respect self, respect the environment, respect others.”
Training shade: ornamental grapes will cover the outdoor dining during the warmer months, framing an barely tamed garden of lush exotics and local succulents.
Golightly is located at 66 Mount Eliza Way
info@golightly.net.au / 0417 501 565
@golightlyonline