The Design Files: Inside the home of fashion designer Dana Burrows

Who: Fashion designer Dana Burrows and architect Graham Burrows

Where: Elsternwick, Victoria

What: An architectural family home

The Burrows family home is a sleek hidden gem, a generous, architecturally designed home nestled subtly among enveloping gardens.

Its bold, contemporary design captures the uncompromising aesthetic of owners, fashion designer Dana and architect Graham, as well as providing a relaxed, versatile home for their teenage daughters, Camilla and Sienna, and dogs Ginger and Harry.

Dana and Graham designed the house from scratch, after stumbling upon a vacant block of land (formerly, the tennis court of a school), in Elsternwick.

Despite the narrow street frontage (access to the house is along a 33-metre-long and three-metre-wide driveway), the opportunity to build a new home from a “clean landscape” appealed to the couple, who “saw an opportunity for creating a hidden home immersed in a secret garden”.

The house is informed by modernist aesthetics, and particularly references the home of Dana’s grandparents.

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“There are elements of this house that pay homage to that one both aesthetically, in the rectangular form, flat roof, excessive windows and the way the rooms flow into each other,” Dana explains. “I wanted to feel the same in this house as I did in theirs as a child.”

With its sweeping windows, lush landscaping and internal courtyard, every room is connected to the outdoors, and the eye is constantly drawn outside.

Dana describes the interiors as “reductive in colour palette and excessive in texture”, which could equally describe her own design approach.

There is a robust link between Dana and Graham’s personal aesthetics, as designer and architect, and the house they have built. For Dana, “I spend a lot of time here, as it’s where I do a lot of the design work for my brand, and the home really fuels my imagination.”

Dana’s favourite piece in the house is the Loom silk rug in the den, which adds colour and a soft texture to the mix of stone, concrete and timber. “The rug is made from recycled silk saris, and reflects different colours from different angles, it’s just beautiful – at night it glows.”

What is perhaps most distinctive about this home is a sense of quiet confidence. Each with their own discerning tastes, Dana and Graham have created a home that is highly considered, yet understated.

“We both very much believe in buying less and choosing well,” Dana reflects. “Each piece has some sort of significance and meaning.”

The Design Files guide to adding texture

The colour palette is usually the first thing we notice in a contemporary interior, but texture plays an equally important role.

• Every room should offer two or more key contrasting textures. If your home is more of a “painted plasterboard” situation, introduce textural variety using rugs, drapes and soft furnishings.
• We’re seeing a renewed interest in plush carpets. When selecting carpet, don’t be ashamed to kick your shoes off and really get a sense of the underfoot texture.
• Combine different textures to add dimension to beds and sofas – consider velvet cushions, chunky knitted throws and super soft “hug-able” pillows.