A simple yet elegant mix of patterns, fabrics and custom-designed furniture adorn a self-taught decorator's home, creating a cosy and family-friendly nest.

STORY JOSIE GAGLIANO STYLING JO MCCOMISKEY PHOTOGRAPHY SHARYN CAIRNS

Mornings are a breeze at the McIntyre household. Imagine floating through the daily ritual of getting the kids off to school with nary a "Where's my bag?" or "Where's my hat?" This state of household nirvana is exactly what Jo McIntyre intended to create in the renovated Edwardian house she shares with her husband Steve and children Annabelle, Sophie and Henry in Melbourne's Surrey Hills. "I'm a neat freak," she admits, "and fanatical about decorating!"

The adage 'everything has its place and a place for everything' could have been invented for Jo, who has no formal training but caught the decorating bug when she bought her first home to update and re-sell at 21. She now has her own colour-consulting, extension and interior design business, Beautiful Home (a name we here at Home Beautiful are rather keen on!). "I can't draw as such but I designed the floor plan roughly then gave it to an architect," says Jo. "I designed it all from there; the windows, doors, kitchen, bathrooms. I chose all the finishes, paint colours, light fittings and fine-tuned the floor plan. Everything, literally, from the front fence to the back fence."

It's this all-encompassing approach that has seen the home that was in Jo's words "a dump", transformed into a clutter-free dream. Starting life in the early 1900s as a small, two-bedroom home with two living areas and devoid of the detailed wooden fretwork typical of Edwardian homes, it has morphed into an abode with four bedrooms, two formal rooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, a rumpus room and a huge family room. The outdoor areas have also undergone a major overhaul and the pool completes the transformation. "I took the house back to a frame and carved off the back. It was a tiny cottage and the front steps were so rickety you were frightened you were going to fall off!" says Jo.

Keeping only the front two rooms, the four front windows and front door, Jo removed the corner fireplaces in the two formal rooms, "because I like everything symmetrical", replaced and stained the floorboards, replaced the small cornices with large ones and added ceiling roses. She also had "tonnes and tonnes of storage" custom-made to fit sports bags, straw hats and tennis racquets. Even a void under the staircase has been utilised. "I created a wine cupboard, which can hold 800 bottles of wine," says Jo. Her passionate persistence has paid off and the home is now valued at more than four times what she originally paid for it - and she has by no means finished yet. "I spend every spare minute looking on the Internet at houses for sale all over Australia," says Jo. "I love to look at floor plans, just seeing new ideas."