Personal Space: Inside the eclectic home of Lynda Gardener

Interior stylist, hotelier and collector Lynda Gardener knows how to make the most Instagrammable styled vignette wherever she goes with whatever is lying around. It’s her not-so-secret superpower and has earned her a reputation as one of Melbourne’s leading interior figures.

While Gardener’s made a career making other people feel at home with her series of short-stay boutique accommodation in Fitzroy North, St Kilda, Trentham and Daylesford, it’s her own inner north turn-of-the-century warehouse conversion where she feels most like herself.

Gardener purchased the dilapidated property 15 years ago. The site was formerly a mattress factory-turned-car yard, and she admits when she walked in to view the property it was filled with junk as far as the eye could see.

She made some calls to her builder and started to design the interiors, transforming the brown floors and blue walls into an all-white palette, pitching the roof, inserting a courtyard and rooftop garden while knocking down three pokey old offices upstairs in favour of an open-plan bedroom with her beloved bath becoming its standout feature.

The home today is almost like her passport’s been brought to life, filled with oil paintings, antique furniture and one-off pieces she’s collected on her travels everywhere from Prague to New York.

A few of Lynda’s favourite things

Bath

My favourite thing in the whole world is my bath. I think to be able to have a bath in the middle of your bedroom where you can soak and ponder your thoughts is something really special. I’ve been collecting baths for 25 years for work and sourced this one in a Coburg warehouse. I’m running around doing a million things a day and it’s always nice to come home to my bath to unwind.

Portrait of her great-grandmother 

I collect all sorts of portraits from oil paintings to sketches on my travels. They are scattered around my house everywhere but this one is my favourite because it is actually my great-grandmother. She was about 18 when it was painted and looks so beautiful. The painting’s been passed down through my family and is actually on long-term loan to me from my sister. I’m not sure how I’ll give it back!

Antique cocktail rings

I love my cocktail ring collection, they’re big, over the top and divine. These are mainly from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s and I always look out for them when travelling at vintage markets and antique stores. The thing about rings is that they are so easy to pack in your suitcase, you rarely have to leave a good one behind.

75-year-old love letters 

These are love letters from my father to my mother. She kept every single one since the 1940s. She’s carried them from her home in Yugoslavia to Israel where she and my dad lived for a few years before coming to Australia – it’s very touching. She passed away earlier this year and said to me, “Please, you have to look after the love letters and keep them in one place” – these are a real treasure.

Ancient Roman-style busts 

I have to say collecting busts is one of my newer interior obsessions. I have them scattered around the house and am always finding a way to feature them in my other interiors projects. I bought this trio from artist David Bromley, they looked so good together I couldn’t separate them.

 Indoor plant collection 

I’m not a green thumb but I’m slowly figuring it out. It’s like an over-love thing and you think they need water everyday but they don’t want it and you have to learn to wait. My biggest pride and joy is the tree in my bedroom.