This week on our Home Life Series, we’re welcomed into the Northcote home of architect Amy Carroll, director of Margo Studio - a joyfully layered 1920s home reimagined for family life. Home to Amy, her husband and their three children, the house has been lovingly renovated to honour its heritage bones while embracing a more connected, easy way of living together. Spaces unfold as you move through soft curves, lofty ceilings and shifting levels that make everyday life feel a little more considered, and a lot more interesting.
Inside, colour does the storytelling. Rich blues, warm mustard tones and unexpected hits of terrazzo bring warmth to the home’s original character, creating moments that feel both nostalgic and new. At the centre is the kitchen, the true heart of the home where daily rituals happen, spilling into living spaces designed for lounging, gathering and everything in between. It’s a home that feels lived in, loved, and always evolving - just like the family who calls it home.
Hi Amy, thank you so much for welcoming us into your Northcote bungalow. For those who don’t know you, can you share a little about yourself and who lives here with you?
I’m an architect and director of margo studio, an architecture and interior design studio, which I founded with my business partner, architect Shelley Freeman. I live here with my husband, our 15 year old twin boys and our 10 year old daughter, along with our kelpie and 4 chooks.
Can you tell us about your journey into architecture and founding Margo Studio?
I came to architecture late, after a decade in law. I had one of the most fun legal jobs at the time (at travel media company Lonely Planet) but still didn’t feel like I was using all the different parts of my brain. So I started over in first year Architecture at RMIT at age 32. On my last day, almost 10 years (and 3 kids) later Shelley, who was one of my teachers from first year (and who I'd worked with on and off while studying), asked me to be her business partner!
Your family home honours the 1920s bones while adding contemporary, family-friendly layers. What first drew you to the house, which elements were essential to preserve, and where did you allow yourself to reinterpret the space?
Our approach is always to enhance what’s already there, and add a new layer to an existing story. This house already had a distinctive character but it needed to grow from a house with 2 bedrooms to a “forever house” for a family of 5. We kept most of the existing house and, where we altered or added, we reused elements or reinterpreted, or riffed off, existing elements. This meant we were able to preserve the spatial qualities and character of the house even though it almost doubled in size.
Your home is fearless with colour — from the cobalt blue kitchen to mustard tiles. How did you choose these hues, and what role do they play in defining the character of each space?
You can be brave with your own home! The previous owners were an Italian family who renovated in the early 1960s and it was important that this layer of the house’s history remained evident. The brown tiles on the living room columns were a starting point – original 1960s remnants bought from a former tile importer selling old stock collected over the decades out of his backyard. The mustard and blue were chosen to sing with these against the background of white and sunshine.
Curved arches, cathedral ceilings, and original terrazzo tiles all give the house personality and texture. Were there any daring or unconventional choices during the renovation that now feel essential to the home’s story?
I think the house is spatially unconventional. Rather than standard rooms or simple open plan, the spaces unfold as you move through the house, overlapping with one another horizontally and vertically. This was driven partly by the sloping site, to strengthen the connection to the backyard (straight down to the old orange tree), and the views. It was also driven by the desire for a more social family layout, where everyone can find their own space but still feels connected.
You rescued and repurposed terrazzo from the previous renovation. Can you tell us the story behind these tiles and why keeping them mattered in shaping the home’s design narrative?
We did a quick renovation before moving in, which opened the house up to the old 1960s terrazzo sunroom. We loved this floor and wanted to keep it, but when the sunroom had to be rebuilt, much of the terrazzo was damaged in removal. We spotted it in the skip, salvaged what we could and had it ground down. This gave us just enough for the downstairs shower and toilet. It is worth fighting for those details — they carry memory, add authenticity and reduce waste.
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The former sunroom beautifully links the old and new. Can you talk us through this design decision, how long the renovation took, and some of the biggest challenges and wins along the way?
Our approach is to make the most of what’s already there, so we try not to disturb the original roof if we can avoid it. The sunroom was the natural link between old and new: it was light-filled, with exposed rafters and terrazzo floors so we retained it. The new back volume followed the shape of the original house but opened up into a double-height space because of the slope of the site and open ceilings.
The renovation took time, with a lot of testing and refining, especially as it was my own home and one of my first projects after graduating. The brief was a challenge — north orientation, eastern views, a direct connection to the backyard and multi-functioning spaces — but it came together in the end.
The pandemic hit during construction and almost doubled the build time, though we were lucky to have a great builder and to deliver it at pre-Covid prices.
The home is designed to support both family life and elevated interiors. Are there corners, nooks, or furniture pieces that have become indispensable to your everyday rituals? How did you balance practicality with creating an interior that feels playful and stylish?
Everyday rituals — I love our kitchen island bench; it does everything and is the centre of our lives. We invested in a big sofa that comfortably fits the whole family, and the ensuite bath gets a good workout from Elsie and me, especially for post-football recovery. The living room daybed is another favourite to chillout all year round and with plenty of storage underneath.
The sliding doors, screens and awning in the kitchen/dining/deck area make the space adaptable to different functions, light and weather.
Practicality comes first in good design: functionality, how the house is used and how it responds to its environment. But strong ideas are just as important, because they drive decisions and hold the project together. Houses need to be robust, since people live in them and invest heavily in them but, importantly, they also need to be joyful.
What have been some of the challenges juggling motherhood, building businesses, and everything in between? Have you had to push past any stereotypes about what mums can (or can’t) do?
Juggling motherhood, business and everything else has often felt overwhelming, and I’ve had to accept that I can’t do everything well all the time. One stereotype I think we battle is that women should be able to do it all; in reality, it’s about being more strategic, focusing on what matters and getting the right support. My business partner and I are both more realistic now about what we can take on and support each other. At home, the balance has also recently shifted as my husband has eased off in his career and taken on a more supportive role.
I’m also learning to pause and properly recognise what’s already been achieved.
