This property is in East Brighton, which is a nice
bayside suburb of Melbourne and it has a lovely north facing rear elevation.
My name is Simon Perkins, I'm a principal at Pleysier Perkins Architects.
We're the exclusive architects and interior designers for InForm Projects.
I worked on this project with one of our interior designers Georgina Oakley.
In this instance, Daniel and Amber we're really keen on a sort of mid-century inspired approach.
It suits the Australian lifestyle really well and our climate, that informal open plan living,
strong relationship between the inside and outside, lots of glass,
emphasis on protection, solar protection, with lots of horizontal soffits and eaves.
The brief was for a really nice family home and there was a strong emphasis on the fun element,
there was a lot of laughter and humour in the meetings, with the anticipation of good times
to be had here. From the outset the palm springs influence seemed to make a lot of
sense on this project, with the four palm trees on the nature strip in front of the property,
which is very unusual in this area, but perhaps meant to be.
On the ground floor there's a massive front pivot door that opens up to a really generous wide
entry hall and a vista straight down the end of the property to the back of the garden.
On one side of the entry hall is the parents bedroom,
which enjoys beautiful views out to the front courtyard. It's got a lovely large walk-in robe
and a really luxurious ensuite, including a free standing bath and a steam room.
The ensuite was a really important room for the clients in this house. They were really interested
in dialling up the sense of luxury in this space. We did that through the use of materiality with
terrazzo, paired with the steel doors and we've run that throughout the entire space.
In the early stages of the interior design process,
Amber and Daniel made it quite clear that they were interested in mid-century style.
Aspects of this design style are simplicity, bold materials and also natural materials and that's
carried through from both the architecture, with all the beautiful stack on brickwork
and we've actually carried that across into the interiors as well, with the
central spine brick wall up against the staircase and throughout the living area as well.
It was really important to mimic what was going on architecturally, mainly through the use of curves,
so we've incorporated that in the living room curving that into the stack on brick wall behind.
The island bench was a really important aspect to this design and incorporates
two forms of materiality; the honed natural stone, which reflects some beautiful light,
as well as the slatted timber battens beneath that as well, which mimic
the line work that runs throughout the house in both the joinery and the steel balustrade.
The overall palette of this home is really neutral; lots of whites but lots of textures
as well and the material restraint throughout this home allows for a really serene, calm,
soft atmosphere. We chose a neutral colour palette for this house because we felt that
that would do the best over a long period of time. The basic white background allows
for our artwork to pop and we wanted to bring in a lot of different colour,
like the green front door, like the wooden floorboards and timber finishes throughout.
All good residential projects are the result of a really good collaboration between client,
architect and builder and this works particularly well with our unique relationship with InForm.
They provide us with IP back of house that includes estimators, project managers,
construction detailers and documenters, so these resources early in the design stage of a project
really enhance the outcomes, allow us to focus on design priorities and manage budgets effectively.
The house flows beautifully for receiving guests and entertaining. The outdoor loggia enjoys lovely
garden pool aspects views back to the house. Upstairs at the top of the staircase, there's
nice frame views looking down each end of the property and a void highlighted with the circular
skylight, accentuating the sense of space and providing a connection between the levels.
On either side of that central spine there is three bedrooms
and a rumpus room that enjoys a north-facing balcony out towards the garden and pool.
At this point in our lives with a young family, this house is perfect for our needs. The outdoor
indoor area provides a great opportunity for socialising, both with our direct family and
also with our broader friends, so we look forward to enjoying more times like that in the house.
We're really proud of the outcome here and with the inflection of some of those
mid-century and palm springs influences, there's a lovely continuity and seamlessness between
the palette and the materiality and the detailing on the outside of the building and the inside.