If you've ever visited Melbourne, Australia, you'll know its streets are paved with history. The stylish city is brimming with grand architecture, and you'll find heritage buildings on every corner. This home is a striking example of the region's historic monuments that have been getting contemporary makeovers. Designer Hecker Guthrie stripped this period building to create a modern family abode while leaving the ancient details intact. The beautiful high ceilings have been lovingly restored along with the original proportions, intricate cornices, arches, and panelling. The dining room is a sight to behold, and the kitchen is a dream. You'll want to bookmark this page for repeat viewing. A Sleek Dining Experience Shannon McGrath for Hecker Guthrie One Kings Lane ($199) A Room With a View Roll and Hill ($825) Do you like what they've done with this heritage building?From the foyer to the big screen, the founder of Palace cinemas supports Australian films, writes Gabriella

Talk about extreme makeover. The foyer of South Yarra's Cinema Como used to have about as much personality as a railway stationThe new-look Como, being launched on Thursday, is unrecognisable - think bordello meets Gilbert and Sullivan (that's a compliment). "I didn't want that minimalistic look again. certain areas, but not here. Here I wanted chandeliers, I wanted glass, I wanted mirrors," says Antonio Zeccola, head of the Palace Cinema chain, which includes the Como and 15 other theatres across I meet Zeccola at his revamped South Yarra cinema, and he asks me what I think. "Be honest, please," he says, and I get the sense I can be. a gracious man whose passion for cinema and the Australian filmI tell him I really, really like it, even though everything tells me I shouldn't. The colour theme is black and gold, and the style is lavish: giant black columns, black drapes and diaphanous curtains, black carpet with floral details, chandeliers of blown glass as dark as

Intimate clusters of coffee tables, arm chairs and couches are moodily lit by gold silk lamps. The furniture is a harmonious clash of chinoiserie, faux crocodile, sumptuous velvet Dark walls are decorated with antique-style mirrors with glossy black frames - some mirrors are gigantic, others small, creating a warped sense of scale and perspective. It's all a little Alice in I'm not sure I could live with such opulence (Rose Porteous probably could), but as a cinema foyer it works - it's dramatic and theatrical, but there's also whimsy and wit, a humour that saves it from bordering on gaudy. Interior designers Hecker, Phelan and Guthrie, whose credits include the Botanical and Circa restaurants, and the Prince of Wales Hotel, have been playful in a most spectacular way - we've entered the realm of the imagination, of fantasy. The foyer works as a buffer, too - one emerges from the darkness of the cinema into an antechamber that's dimly lit, cocooning and

comforting, rather than being jolted back into reality by a dazzle "Have you seen the bathrooms?" But I'm sure that when nature calls, they too willWhat's a renovation these days without conversation-pieceThe Como is the first Melbourne cinema in the Palacebehind the curtains adultos chain to be refurbished - the Brighton Bay and St Kilda's Georgehookless shower curtain replacement Cinemas are next on the list, part of a $2.4 million upgrade asoval shower curtain rail argos Palace celebrates its 40th year.fiji faux silk eyelet curtains teal

Some may think it a tad crazy to spend that amount of money redecorating and upgrading cinemas when the anecdotal evidence suggests that home entertainment systems and DVDs are siphoning audiences away from the cinema. In fact, cinema attendances have been rising steadily since thejcpenney madeline curtainHowever, over the same period, the number of cinemadagny curtains green screens has increased dramatically, so the fight for audience sharefireproof curtains walmart has become fierce, especially for smaller operators such as The "majors" - Greater Union, Hoyts and Village - dominate the cinema market, accounting for more than 1000 screens, or more than half the national total, and generating about 70 per cent of the

To compete, Zeccola needs to be clever with programming (striking a balance between mainstream Hollywood fare and broad-appeal art films often sourced from Europe), and create an environment worth leaving home for. "There is that necessity nowadays to rejuvenate or reinvent yourself, and that's exactly what we're doing," Zeccola says. It's remarkable to think how far Zeccola has come since he started screening movies for the local Italian community in a public hall in Noble Park more than 40 years ago. love of cinema has long been a family trait - Zeccola's father, Giovanni, used to screen movies in a church hall in his native Italian town of Muro Lucano. In 1956, Giovanni migrated to Australia, and his family, including the 14-year-old Antonio, followed a year later. though in Italy he'd studied Latin and Greek, on arrival here the young Zeccola didn't speak a word of English, and to his embarrassment was placed into grade 3.

"This sort of thing happened to a lot of us at the time. complaining - it was a great experience." "Well, it made me go out and go to work at the age of 14," he says with a laugh. Work he did, holding down three jobs, one as a baker, another delivering groceries, as well as managing a shoe store in Noble Park with his girlfriend (now wife), Karen. screening films in Noble Park. Today, as well as Palace Cinemas, Zeccola also runs distributing arm Palace Films and is a keen investor in the Australian filmHe's co-produced films including the Paul Goldman-directed Australian Rules and Rolf de Heer's Zeccola laments the worldwide domination of Hollywood and believes the Australian Government must do more to support the local film industry, not just with funding, but with appropriate "I sincerely would love to see a stronger Australian film industry, because I believe that it's as important as the wine industry has become, as the olive oil industry will become, as all