Red Door Project makes beautiful homes. That's our day job. We're a full-service design and construction outfit, specialising in boutique residential projects. Of course, there are lots of architects and designers out there with yellowtrace and fabric swatches, and builders with Big Ideas who say the same thing. So what makes Red Door different?
Well, for one thing, we're an end-to-end service, which means we handle everything in-house: architectural drafting, interior design, finishes and furnishing and all the tricky construction details. Our team of chippies, tradies and designers can tackle pretty much anything short of a cathedral (and we're happy to give that a crack). We've got a track record of beautiful homes with happy clients scattered throughout Melbourne.
More important than what we do is how we do it. Red Door Project is a design and construction firm that values honesty, authenticity and good communication. We're a friendly bunch, and we speak like real people, not judges on cooking shows. (No "journeys" here, we promise.)
Time to meet the team. This won't take long – we're a close-knit little family here at Red Door Project so pull up a plush, leather wingback and get ready to read some bios…
Dan is a 20-year construction professional with one heck of a CV. He's been the leading hand on some of Melbourne's biggest commercial projects, including The Gatwick Hotel, Vue de Monde, The Stokehouse and Port Melbourne's Soap Factory.
Commanding battalions of tradies on TV is fun, but on a day to day basis Dan specializes in high-end residential projects. Settling families into their dream homes. Making sure every detail is millimeter perfect. He's a trustworthy bloke with a big smile, loud laugh and perfectionistic tendencies. Exactly what you want in a builder.
On the daily, Dan can usually be found:
If Dan's good with his hands, Dani's good with her eyes. She's a qualified interior design expert with a lot of experience. Her real talent is problem solving: seeing a space's potential, weighing up variables, juggling a thousand little jobs at once. Reading clients' minds also helps.
Dani's design ethos is clean lines, creative textures and a side of quirk. She knows that the real test of interior design is comfort – there's no point having a magazine-worthy living room if you're too scared to touch anything. Her clients appreciate her honesty, sense of humour and (mild) addiction to spreadsheets. Dani really enjoys spreadsheets.
On the daily, Dani can usually be found:
A lot of designers start with the What. Ash prefers to start with the Why. Her interiors are all about evoking a certain kind of feeling: a spark that brings the whole space to life.
Ash is our Lead Interior Designer, and you'll usually find her in the corner, scribbling feverishly in a little black notebook. She pulls together international trends, random doodles, travel photos, even design anthropology (basically the history of how people and spaces fit together). One look at a blank space and you can already see the mental gears churning. Ash is all about punchy designs, subtle palettes and good, old-fashioned liveability.
On the daily, Ashlee can usually be found:
Carpentry has taken Pete all over the world – from his dad's timber mill in South Gippsland to the mountains of Austria. We're lucky to have him back in Melbourne as RDP's Leading Hand Carpenter, helping Dan and the wider team with all the on-site construction work.
Pete started his apprenticeship in Gippsland and finished in Melbourne. Then he wrapped his stuff in a bundle, tied it to a stick (more or less), and headed off to Europe, working as a carpenter for big resorts in Austria and Sweden. Pete brings a bit of Scandinavian class to the worksite. He's a sucker for Scandi timber cladding and secretly wishes he was born a Viking. Stay tuned for an amazing beard.
On the daily, Pete can usually be found:
There's more to James than meets the eye. Look past the moustache and high-end construction experience, and you'll find a guy with
layers (James is pretty much the onion of chippies). Did we mention he was Victorian backgammon champion in 2015?
James kicked off his carpentry career in the bayside area, building beautiful homes and extensions. After a short hiatus from construction (which presumably involved a lot of backgammon) he took up the tools again, supervising for one of Melbourne's top semi-commercial developers. He joined the Red Door family in 2019. On the design and architecture front, James appreciates a Victorian facade coupled with a Deco interior.
On the daily, James can usually be found:
Say hello to the youngest member of the RDP family: Cooper. He's our bright-eyed, hard-working apprentice chippy. We're chuffed that Cooper has chosen us for his carpentry apprenticeship... (apparently he likes working with a "bunch of grouse blokes". The feeling's mutual.)
Cooper has always liked building stuff with his hands, and now he gets the chance to build architecturally designed homes, with those hands. He's keen to learn, he's a gun footy player, and he can remember smoko orders like you wouldn't believe. We reckon this kid is going places.
On the daily, Coops can usually be found:
If there's one word for Jane's work history, that word is 'epic'. She's dabbled in project management, marketing, FMCG product development and sales (phew), before following her inner stylist and landing a job in design.
Even when she was hustling sales calls, Jane had a soft spot for architecture and design. Whip out a colour wheel and some fabric swatches and – BOOM – she's gone for hours. Jane's love lies in the perfect combination of materials and textures and how they work to transform a space. A big fan of mid-century style, Jane is all about bringing the outdoors in, oh, and anything crazy pave! More importantly, she brings a lot of positive vibes to the RDP team. Jane is our ballet-dancing, colour-coordinating, classical-music-loving ray of sunshine.
On the daily, Jane can usually be found:
As the Red Door business grew and grew, so did the paperwork. It was time to hire an "accounts person", so Dani turned to the best she knew: her mum, Annette.
With a background in bookkeeping and banking, not to mention a motherly eye for detail, Annette is the paper-filing maestro that keeps the business running smoothly. She handles the accounts, makes sure suppliers are paid on time, and makes sure Dan eats his daily serve of vegetables. What are mother-in-laws for?
On the daily, Annette can usually be found: