If houses could reinvent themselves, our 2026 Open Houses Vivian Grove home has done so, not with dramatic transformation, but with the quiet assurance of careful editing. Set among the leafy streets of Hawthorn in Melbourne’s inner east, this modest c.1980s double-brick residence has been thoughtfully reconsidered by architect Dom Cerantonio, co-founder of Cera Stribley. 4 VIVIAN GROVE, HAWTHORN Vivian Grove, c.1980s: The Quiet Art of Reinvention The result is a home that reveals something often overlooked within suburban architecture: the quiet potential of what already exists. Where many houses of this era might be stripped back or replaced entirely, the renovation of thisVivian Grove residence takes a different path. Rather than erasing the past, the project embraces reinvention through refinement. It is a house shaped by subtraction, adjustment, and gentle recalibration, an architectural composition created by working carefully with the original structure rather than against it. From the street, mature greenery frames the approach, and the house retains the familiar silhouette of late-twentieth-century suburban design. Yet the façade has been subtly transformed. The once dark red brick exterior has been unified through a softly textured rough-cast render supplied by Rockcote, lending the house a contemporary clarity while preserving its original silhouette. The surface catches shifting daylight throughout the day, reflecting the tones of surrounding foliage and softening what was once a heavier façade. The gesture is restrained but deliberate. It signals the philosophy guiding the entire renovation: transformation not through replacement, but through thoughtful reinvention.
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