Inside chef Shane Delia's much-loved family home in Moonee Ponds

• Who: Chef and TV personality Shane Delia, his wife Maha and their children Jayda, 15, and Jude, 12.
• What: A much-loved and reluctantly left early 2000s double-storey brick home in a brilliant Moonee Ponds pocket.

It’s not exactly a rarity to hear people speak glowingly of home and hearth, but to listen to Shane and Maha Delia reminisce about their recently-listed Moonee Ponds property is to hear genuine warmth and gratitude for the house that grew with them.

“I don’t want to leave,” Shane smiles.  “I love this place.” That’s the depth of feeling for this house the couple bought 10 years ago after living in a squeezy space in Sydenham.

“That house was 150 square metres  Maha ran a salon from the garage  We managed to use every spare centimetre of the place but we always aspired to something bigger and better.”

With their then two small children and a lively rotating roster of their large families periodically descending for celebrations and festive occasions, push finally came to shove.

With his restaurants flourishing, the couple considered crossing over to the other side. “We thought about looking in Toorak, but this has always been home and staying here was important. We know who we are; we love it here.”

Finding just the right house, though, in just the right part of this locale was the catch. Enter old friend, Australian Test cricketer Peter Siddle.

Fast bowlers usually only save the day when their batters have let the team down, but Siddle turned out to be the family’s champion, too.

“I was telling him how we needed to find another place, somewhere in the west and he said, ‘Oh I have somewhere that I’m renting out in Moonee Ponds  You could have a look.’”

When they first toured the cricketer’s house, Maha saw the potential instantly. Shane was less impressed. “I just couldn’t see it, to be honest. The floors were that yellow pine, the kitchen was just stark white, and there was no back garden, really. The garage was just a roller door.”

Maha, though, knew they could make something great of it. “I loved it,” she says. I loved the floor plan and the space. It felt adaptable and usable, and I knew if we put our touches on it, we could make it home.”

They sealed the deal on a handshake with Siddle and began the process of making the house their family home.

Built in the early 2000s, the two-storey brick facade has a grand, elevated entry portico that rises to form the main bedroom’s balcony with marvellous city views.

Columned edges and window moulds provide decorative relief, and large ground-floor casements give the facade an open, warm look.

Inside, the excellent central passage is broad, allowing light to flow end to end, conferring a pleasing sense of space and utility.

It’s easy to see why Maha liked the bones here. The rooms are generous without being overbearingly large, and after the Sydenham squeeze, seeing four bedrooms upstairs must have felt like moving into a mansion.

“It was a huge step up for us,” Shane says. “It was like our own Taj Mahal.”

The changes were largely cosmetic. They darkened the cabinetry in the kitchen to create a sharper, more contemporary look and refinished those “yellowy” timber floors, bringing up a light-catching warm sheen.

They installed modish black-framed glass doors across the front two rooms – the handsome home office with custom-built cabinetry and the formal living/media room across the way.

Upstairs, the bathroom and en suite boast excellent upgrades – black tapware and deep spa baths are just a few of the luxe inclusions.

What remained a much-valued constant was the brilliant, usable space. The open plan rear section is a rangy affair made even more user-friendly by the doors that open onto the superb, covered al fresco on two sides.

What you get, then, is double the space –an all-weather ripper with louvre side airflow, a fireplace and blinds to regulate the northerly aspect.

If the sun’s out, the entire extended family can spill onto the rear deck and neat linear garden. There’s an actual garage out here now, too.

Their brand-new house, the first one the couple have built together, is mere blocks away from this one, so they’re not leaving their “unpolished diamond of the north-east” locale.

“I’ve walked the kids to school, I can walk to the tram and I’m in the city. We had a birthday party one time and walked 20 kids to the park and kicked the footy  It’s so easy around here, it’s just home.”

SOLD - $2,289,000

25 Dickens Street, Moonee Ponds VIC 3039

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