Like many young Australians, artist Atong Atem and associate nursing unit manager Otillo Page were once resigned to the fact that they’d likely never be able to afford their own home.

But their perception shifted after a leak inside their rental forced a temporary stay at Otillo’s mum’s place: a studio apartment inside one of not-for-profit developer Nightingale Housing’s buildings.

They were astonished by experiencing the building’s benefits firsthand — from how comfortable it was thanks to its sustainable design, to the leafy balconies and shared rooftop gardens.

‘It’s one thing to see and visit a place like Nightingale, but once you’re actually living there, you see how liveable it is,’ Otillo says. ‘That’s the moment we thought: If we’re in a position where we can buy an apartment or a house, this is a top contender.’

They wound up bringing this vision to life when they purchased a two-bedroom apartment off-the-plan in Nightingale’s Wurru wurru biik development, designed by leading practice Breathe Architecture.

At about 90-square-metres, the home ticked a lot of the boxes. Not only was it west-facing, with beautiful arches on the balcony that frame the sunset every evening, but it also meant they didn’t have to sacrifice the inner-city lifestyle they’d come to love from their years of living in Melbourne’s inner north.

‘We considered going further out, but I don’t drive, and Tilly prefers to cycle,’ Atong says.

‘Our lives were already pretty metropolitan, so it would have completely changed our lives if we had followed “the Aussie dream” of prioritising the need for space just because we had kids.’

While they don’t have their own backyard in the traditional sense, they say Bulleke-bek Park and the other nearby green spaces feel like an extension of their home. And when it comes to entertaining, they often host visitors for dinner and drinks up on the communal rooftop gardens.

Since moving in about a year ago, Otillo and Atong welcomed the birth of their daughter, Mayari, in addition to their two-year-old son, Isagani. What they didn’t anticipate was just how many other young families they’d connect with inside the building.

‘What’s really interesting is a lot of people have become pregnant since moving here — in the last year there’s been like six babies born,’ Atong says.

‘For our son, it’s been really amazing for him to have kids around his age that he loves to play with. Every week we’re seeing someone for a catch-up, and then incidentally every day while we’re doing laundry upstairs [on the shared rooftop]. It’s been really nice.’

As first-home buyers, the couple have really appreciated being able to finally style their home with a sense of permanence. They’ve added some personal flair to the cork floors, exposed concrete ceilings, and relatively pared-back interiors with a mix of vintage, op-shop, and Facebook Marketplace finds.

The living room in particular is anchored by two sentimental hero pieces: a commissioned painting of the couple by Gumbaynggirr artist Aretha Brown, and the timber shelves that Otillo handcrafted with help from his father.

‘We hadn’t quite measured everything out properly, and the bottom shelf is about five metres long, so it didn’t fit in the lift,’ he says of the ordeal installing the shelves.

Luckily, some tradies who were still on site had a scissor lift, and with a case of beer as their payment, they helped Otillo get the shelving up over the balcony.

For the couple, the apartment is filled with stories like this that capture the story of their family so far — which is more important than any amenity they could find in a larger house.

‘I think that because of the market and how unaffordable everything is, there’s so much pressure to get it right. But a home is where you live. If that’s the primary motivator, then, maybe it’s a little bit more flexible,’ Atong says.

‘It’s okay that there’s not a bedroom for each of our kids. We don’t have a laundry, we don’t have a garage, and we still feel privileged and really lucky.’