Home Stories: Nick Klomp and Suzie Moloney

Posted on 12 October, 2018

Every day for months, I watched Nick demolish his old home and a brand-spanking-new creation take its place.

Not because I’m a weirdo hiding in the bushes—but because that street, facing the O’Connor nature reserve, is one of my doggie’s favourite walking paths.

My dog Pepi would stare at the kangaroos feeding in the grass, while I would look towards the opposite side of the street, admiring a home clearly built with architectural flair. It wasn’t until about the home was finished that I met Nick at the University of Canberra where he works, and realised that he was the owner.

Nick and his partner Sue have lived in Canberra for the last six years and purchased the original home for its location and proximity to work and nature running tracks. They loved the old home and were quite keen to improve it with renovations, but after numerous builders came up with more complications than solutions, it became evident to them that demolishing it and starting from a clean slate was the most sensible option. So they threw an amazing party for friends and neighbours to say goodbye to the old girl and set about a reinvention.

It helped that one of their running buddies is architect Paul Tilse. While pounding the pavement, they discussed plans for a brand-new home that made the most of the elevated views, stunning large tree in the backyard and, of course, relating the colours and materials with the aesthetics of the surrounding environment.

The couple worked with Paul and his partner, interior designer Vanessa Hawes, to develop a design guided by four principles: contemporary, spacious, personal and practical. Contemporary in the sense that the home is full of clean lines and calm neutral tones; spacious in terms of long extended living space; personal in terms of quirky touches like the neon light wall quote; and practical in that the full living space is upstairs (after all, that’s where you’ll see the best view of the mountains, gardens and rooftops).

As with all humble people, Nick and Sue made out that the architect and interior designer did all of the work and that really they just live there. But the more Cass and I prodded with questions, the more it became apparent how much the style of their home is a reflection of them.

Every second thing I pointed at, Nick or Sue explained the process they had to go to achieve it. “See how we have a light in the hand rail? The sparky said it couldn’t be done but we found a solution”. “See this long dining table? Well we’ve had it forever and I asked Paul to build the dining space around it.”

They clearly have a passion for aesthetics and dedication to this style. I say ‘this style’ because I don’t know what it is called, and when I checked with Sue, she said “Look, I’m sure it has a name but we call it a place we love to live in.”

Credit: Rodrigo Vargas.

Speaking of dedication, did you notice the colour-coded bookshelf? Because I did—and for the first time in my life, I was happy to share with others that I organise my shirts in colour order. I now feel accepted. But beyond the bookshelf, this attention to detail was all around us—from the custom height of ceilings to create an extension of the vertical view, to the use of the wood panelling outside to relate the house into its nature reserve surrounding. Everything had been thoroughly considered.

The end result is really amazing. In fact, I love this aesthetic so much that when I learned that Nick and Sue are actually now leaving Canberra sometime at the end of the year to pursue an amazing opportunity at another university, I decided that I’m going to move in…well, at least until the police arrive.

Before we left, Cass got very preoccupied with a picture of a pineapple and after she send me a bunch of online articles about it I realised it was for a good reason. Turns out that pineapples symbolise warmth, welcome and hospitality. It’s a rather fitting representation of Nick and Sue. Next time they are having a party, Cass and I are going to turn up with some pineapples and ask if we can join in.