We spent 3 weeks in Michelle flat in Balaclava. It is in a nice red-bricks building, surronunded by a colorful garden. The apartment has a charming European touch and is full of interesting books, unfortunately the hygienic condition on the arrival was not optimal (especially in the bathroom).
Michelle has been helpful expect on the day we left the: we asked her if we could leave the luggage in the apartment for few hours (we had to leave at 12pm and we asked her to store the stuff till 5pm) while grabbing the keys for the next place we rented. She replied to leave "immediately" in quite a nasty way in our point of view.
We left flowers on the table.

However, the apartment is in a very handy area, well connected with the city centre and in the shops down the roads you can find whatever you need.
if you are there don't miss the St. Kilda Botanical gardens, a few minutes walk.