interior insight: Jeremy Unger
Modify Homes Creative Director Jeremy Unger discusses working with Javier and the iSpace Solutions team on the Bellevue Hill project…
When did you work on the Bellevue Hill project together? The project commenced in February 2024 and was completed in November 2025.
We understand it started as a focused kitchen and butler's pantry project. What prompted the scope to expand into a full home replan? What began as a focused brief to redesign the kitchen and introduce a more practical butler's pantry quickly evolved as the clients recognised the full potential of an integrated design and build approach. Through early conversations with our team, the scope expanded to include a comprehensive replan and refresh of the entire home.
How did you come to work with Javier and the iSpace Solutions team? We'd done a little work together previously, introduced through a trusted builder friend, so there was already a good foundation going into this project.
What spaces were renovated, and how central was joinery to the overall design vision? The redesigned spaces now include a generous, light-filled kitchen and living area, a formal sitting room, study area, powder room, reconfigured bedrooms each with ensuites and custom joinery wardrobes, and an oversized double laundry upstairs.
The Modify design team began by rethinking the ground floor, which had originally felt disconnected despite sitting on a single expansive level. The design shifted toward an open, flowing plan where rooms are defined not by walls but by movement, light, and subtle spatial cues. At the heart of this strategy, we introduced a central joinery pod, an architectural element that anchors the space while softening boundaries. This volume incorporates cloak storage, bookshelves, and study bays, cleverly defining zones without enclosing them. Its openings and voids were intentionally designed to channel light and maintain generous sightlines throughout.
The kitchen was relocated to face the landscape courtyard, with a highly functional butler's pantry added behind it, hidden yet easily accessed. The new living and casual dining areas flow together seamlessly, anchored by a central fireplace wrapped in full-height joinery. The team also created considered opportunities to display the clients' art collection along the expansive joinery surfaces and surrounding walls.
How did you manage the timeline and sequencing across such a large scope? Modify Homes operates on an integrated design and construction model, which allows us to run a tight ship and keep construction periods to a minimum. We get onto shop drawings very early in the design process so the timeline doesn't drag out. On Bellevue Hill, we reviewed all of the first floor joinery early, most of it freestanding, and staged the installation with the living areas completed before moving onto the private bedroom and laundry areas upstairs.
What standard did you need iSpace to deliver to? The joinery needed to be both functional and a genuine design solution, not just providing storage, but creating bookshelves, desks, and distinct spaces within an open plan. We used joinery to divide the ground floor while preserving view lines from the front to the rear of the property. The palette was muted, with hints of warm timber, acting as a calm backdrop to the beautiful outdoor aspects and the clients' artwork.
What was your favourite piece of joinery? The central ground floor joinery element is a design solution that does so much for the home. It subtly divides spaces while keeping the overall layout feeling connected, improving how the family interacts with the home, providing storage, defining zones, and allowing flexibility as their needs evolve. Sightlines are maintained, natural light flows freely, and the space feels open yet structured.
Would you recommend Javier and iSpace Solutions? Absolutely. Javier has a great eye for design detail, and I really appreciated his upfront attention, especially through the costing process. He's excellent at workshopping issues over the phone whenever anything arose, and he genuinely understands both the business and the design and build process. That makes a real difference for us and for our clients.
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See the entire project HERE