Saskia & Tony’s “Sprinkled With Art & Toys” Style in Melbourne

Name: Saskia Ericson, Tony Ericson, and their sons Louis and Sidney
Location: Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia
Size: 145 square meters (1560 square feet)
Years lived in: 14 years, owned

Saskia and Tony are graphic designers and run Hatch Creative in St Kilda in Melbourne. Saskia is also a food fanatic in the kitchen and online—she somehow finds the time to run her food blog 1=2. Tony loves to paint. They have two young boys, Louis and Sidney.

When I arrived at their home there was something slightly unusual about their little Edwardian house from the outside, and as it turns out, from the inside too!

The original run-down 1919 building was bought by Saskia and Tony along with two friends—they split the original home down the middle, extended and reworked it into two homes.

Their “half” is essentially now a single-fronted home with entrance, two bedrooms to the front of the house, with a hallway leading to the bathroom and then opening up at the back to the kitchen, dining and living areas with outdoor space. Saskia and Tony’s home contains an amazing collection of signs, trinkets, souvenirs and artwork brought back from travels or found at flea markets and local thrift stores.

Our Style: Vintage sprinkled with art, toys and folk.

Inspiration: Mid-century modernism with good form and function mixed with kitsch with its often bad form and function! Also Apartment Therapy and Pinterest (Saskia is a total addict).

Favorite Element: Wood, we both love wood. Golden through to chocolate—bring it on. We also love the size of our bedroom—it was originally the living room of the old house.

Biggest Challenge: Having lots of things while trying to maintain a bit of space. Getting the boys to leave their parents’ toys alone!

What Friends Say: Jeez, you have a lot of stuff!

Biggest Embarrassment: We’re a bit sick of our dark red bedroom walls, which we painted 12 years ago. The thought of re-painting them is daunting though!

Proudest DIY: Sourcing original old windows from scrap yards for the new part of the house, stripping off layers of old paint, sanding and re-painting. We also found original Baltic Pine floorboards, which Tony laid, with the help of family.

Biggest Indulgence: Collectables and books! Luckily we have a separate workplace so we can ‘display’ more stuff there, too.

Best Advice: Make it yours and no-one elses. Our house is Edwardian, but we both prefer mid-century. We love our happy style jumble. We installed a ’60s star-burst plaster ceiling rose in our bedroom and it looks fab!

Dream Sources: Op shops, Auction rooms, Chapel St Bazaar, flea markets. The best flea market we’ve ever been to was the Rose Bowl Flea in Pasadena in 2014.

• Off-white paint throughout house – Inherent by Aalto

• Cushions – made by Saskia from vintage needlepoints
• Slimline couch – Angelucci 20th Century
• Vintage house model – salvaged from the boy’s school
• German buffet cabinet – Leonard Joel Auction House
• Art on living room wall: Customised shooting targets – Jennifer Davis
• Portraits – Tony Ericson
• Cat – Janet Hulme
• Mexican wrestler – Neryl Walker
• Linocut house (1963) – Saskia’s auntie Ella van Schaik
• ghost etching (1968) – Saskia’s uncle Andre de Jong
• vintage baritone ukulele played by Tony’s father
• Folk art fireman – from Pasadena Flea
• Vintage viking tapestry and colour-by-number clown – found in an op shop
• Cabinet – Leonard Joel Auction House
• Enzo Mari ‘Calendario Bilancia’ wooden calendar (1959) on upper shelf – Luke
• Basketball planter – Kirsten Perry
• Life Drawing Paintings – Tony Ericson

• Dario Zoureff cabinet – Ebay.
• Vintage Indian rubber glove mould – Kabinett
• Ceramic bull by Gus McLaren – Outré Gallery
• Ceramic moon belonged to Saskia’s Grandma
• Wooden volcano – Sandra Eterović
• Dining setting – Leonard Joel Auction House
• Black Danish bench brought to Australia in the 1960s by Saskia’s parents
• Tokyo School Crossing boy – Kyo
• Tommy Talker – Chapel St Bazaar

• Yellow kitchen lights found on the same day at 3 separate stalls – Chapel St Bazaar
• Vintage yellow kitchen tiles found tucked away at a local tile store
• Kitchen collectables and anthropomorphic fruit found in op shops, vintage markets and on etsy

• Original 1919 fireplace
• Portrait painting – Tony Ericson
• Vintage suitcases full of more toys
• Big harmonica found at a New York flea market
• Robots were a wedding present
• Cowboy in photo is Tony’s dad, Denny, who was a singing cowboy on radio in the 1940s.
• Cushions made by Saskia from vintage needlepoints.
• Bed cover made from a vintage curtain.
• Prints above bed by David Sandlin – the first pieces of art Saskia and Tony bought together as a couple, in the 1990s!
• Vintage bobby pin and haberdashery collections, odds and ends collected over many years by Saskia.

• Petrol Head painting above fireplace – Jeff Raglus for Mambo
• Small paintings – Tony Ericson
• Giant paper mache tools found – flea market
• Paper mache Star Wars scene (on floor) made by Saskia and the boys
• Mexican mask – Masks Y Mas in Albuquerque.
• Pelham puppets – Op Shop.
• Vintage Mens Wear sign salvaged from a local store closing down.
• Foosball table – side of the road.

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