Hi, I’m Paolo. I’m an engineer and an artwork collector, and this is the story of a place I never expected to keep, let alone live in.
I inherited this little property from my grandmother. It used to be a small shop at the front with a storage room in the back. Just 40 square metres. One bathroom. Dark, cramped, noisy. I was emotionally attached to it, but I honestly couldn’t imagine how it could ever become something more. It felt too limited to hold any kind of future.
Renovating and selling it didn’t make sense financially, but keeping it as it was didn’t make sense either.
A friend of mine who happens to be a heritage officer for the Government introduced me to Carlo. I told him exactly what I was struggling with: a place full of memories that felt impossible to transform.
He listened, then asked me one simple question:
“If the place was spacious, bright, and actually felt like a home… what would you do?”
My answer came out before I even thought about it:
“I’d keep it. I still don’t know what I’d do with it, but I definitely wouldn’t sell it, especially in that location.”
That question stuck with me. It opened a door in my mind I didn’t know was there. So I asked Carlo if he could help me understand what was actually possible.
Nine months later, design, approvals, construction…it was done.
Not a huge project, but honestly one of the most incredible transformations I’ve ever seen.
We took that 40 sqm footprint and reimagined it completely.
A mezzanine level went in, giving me a private room, a walk-in robe, and a bathroom. Suddenly, this place that used to be a tiny shop and a storage room became a real home: a living space, kitchen and dining area, a powder room, and a master bedroom with an ensuite.
Ah almost forgot… There was something brilliant.
We designed the mezzanine like a floating tramdriver’s cabin, an architectural nod to the building’s history as an old tramdriver’s house. It literally “hovers” over the main space, connecting past and present in the most thoughtful way.
When it was finished, I had planned to rent it out.
But I walked in, looked around, and realised:
There was no way I was letting someone else enjoy this space.
So I moved in.
And now this little place that once felt too small, too dark, too everything… has become one of the most meaningful homes I’ve ever lived in.
