‘‘Our home is very much lived in; it’s not the flavour of the month type with large open spaces and clean lines,’’ he says of his home of 16 years, a clinker-brick in a leafy 1930s street. ‘‘It has evolved to suit our family’s needs and lifestyle, which is relaxed and always full of kids, friends, our dog Sonic and cat Archie.’’

So inviting was the garden that Burns began to do his best work there. Eventually, he quit his Greville Street office for the garage, now a designer’s retreat full of books, samples and red and black footy memorabilia. Full-length windows look out on juicy botany.

‘‘I can sit and listen to the wind rustling the leaves or I can have the stereo blasting,’’ he says. The 1960s soul soundtrack comes care of itunes, one of the 21st century wonders that have made his favourite room practicable. ‘‘Sitting at my computer with two screens, laptop, ipad and smart phone, I am closer to my clients than I have ever been. This would have been an impossible dream even 10 years ago.’’

When designing rooms for others, he tells them to ‘‘get the body right before you buy the suit’’ and quizzes them about how they use their space. Or lack of space; if our boon is technology, our bane is too much stuff.

His treasures are mementoes of trips to Italy, where ‘‘the design is just sensational, whether you are talking about the Romans, the Renaissance or B&B Italia. In the ’80s I went to trade fairs in Milan that attracted designers and manufacturers from all over the world. You could spend a week and only see one building.’’

Among the souvenirs is a rocket-shaped brooch by Milanese designer Ettore Sottsass, who at 64 kicked off the colourful Memphis movement in 1981 as an up-yours to good taste. A hardback about Memphis and another about Frank Lloyd Wright sit atop one about the Bauhaus architects, and beneath one about Mies van der Rohe, whose utterance ‘‘less is more’’ became the motto of minimalism, and an extraordinary book about the Japanese deconstructivists. The pile sums up the history of every current trend in western architecture – and dreams worthy of Grand Designs.

‘‘I love that show,’’ Burns declares. ‘‘It shows you what you are in for when you build a home. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. But it isn’t, and you need to see as many of the pitfalls as possible.’’

February 29, 2012 | Melbourne Weekly.