When Monty Mullooly-Hill bought his Fitzroy North house, he described the interiors as ‘workable, but quite grim.’

‘I lived in the home for a few months before renovations commenced and it was a humble, humble living experience — let’s put it that way,’ says Monty.

Fortunately, this wasn’t Monty’s first renovating rodeo. The owner of multiple hospitality businesses around town (Monty’s Bar, Milneys, and Bar Romantica), Monty has been involved in many commercial builds that helped guide the renovation of his own compact, inner-city Melbourne home.

Monty wanted to make the 1980s home feel like a ‘cosy beach house/Alistair Knox Warrandyte cottage with a sprinkle of modern design, where necessary.’

He engaged designer Anouska Milstein of Studio A.mi to help bring this vision to life, starting with dropping the home’s plaster ceiling to expose its Oregon joists (gaining a few precious millimetres of ceiling height in the process) and adding a glass sliding door opening onto the backyard.

Everything else in the house, including some partitions and structural walls, was demolished. ‘We got it back to the bricks, yellow tongue floor, and the slab then went from there,’ says Monty.

The guiding premise of the interiors came from Monty and Anouska asking themselves, ‘WWAKD’, which is short for, ‘What would Alistair Knox do?’

The pair constantly referred to Knox’s portfolio (spanning numerous Melbourne homes from 1946 to 1986) throughout the project, taking inspiration from his application of natural materials, light, and landscaping.

‘This essentially guided us when needed,’ says Monty. ‘Also, just going to friend’s beach houses influenced some of the feeling of lightness and the ‘70s cork floors, for example.’

After Moon Building Group constructed the ‘big ticket items’ of the project, Monty proceeded with smaller works as time and budget allowed.

‘it just kind of ticked along with me and a labourer until it was done,’ he explains. ‘It was the reno with the longest tail — let’s put it that way.’

Monty’s family also contributed along the way — albeit not always under ideal circumstances!

Monty recalls, ‘A funny situation was when myself and the house painters — who also happen to be my parents — all contracted Covid at the same time and had to lock down inside the house for 10 days. We decided to continue painting as we had nothing else to do and ended up finishing the job in record time!’

Looking at images of Monty’s home today, it could certainly be mistaken for an original Knox house, if not for the modern use of colour.

Dulux Natural White ceilings, Dulux Hog Bristle Quarter walls and trims, and Porters Paint’s Mist in the laundry and bathroom create a warm base, elevated by coloured tile and grout accents.

For Monty, home is a sanctuary, and somewhere to completely switch off from work. ‘I love sliding open the courtyard doors on a nice day, extending out the awning and pretending to have double the living area for an arvo of lazing…’ he says. Whether soaking up the sun on the front porch for morning coffee, or lounging on the living room sofa, this home is the perfect retreat.