Everything Old is New Again

Just uploaded a few new photos to my online folio on Houzz - In particular this beautiful Edwardian/Californian Bungalow for which I re-worked the external colours earlier this year. I was keen to give the clients a colour scheme that was contemporary yet referenced what would be appropriate to the Heritage of the house.

What a gorgeous old house - and it looks even grander now with the new colours (if I do say so myself)!

Front Door Blues

This is a fabulous external colour scheme I worked on last year where the client was brave enough to go with the bold blue colour I suggested for the front door. You can see more pics from this project on my Houzz folio. 

Inverloch Project

Front Entry - Image by RBID

Last week I took a day trip to Inverloch to see a completed project. It was a wet & wild day and took over 2 hours in each direction so I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I got home, but it was well worth it to catch up with the lovely clients and see their beautiful beach home complete. My photos aren't amazing - it was a pretty overcast day - but the exterior images turned out really well. Interior images in a post to follow...

Rear Elevation - Image by RBID

Stone Fireplace - Image by RBID

Entertainers Alfresco Area - Image by RBID

Canberra Colour Cookoff

Recently Ive been working on a kitchen renovation in Canberra. The house is a fabulous 1960's Bill Batt designed home, largely in original condition. I wasn't familiar with Bill Batt prior to taking this job and there is little about him online, but he was the University Architect at ANU sometime around 1959 (please do shoot me an email if you have any additional info about Bill Batt as myself and the clients would be keen to learn more about him). The clients were keen to rework the kitchen to retain several of the key characteristics of the original interior design such as the beautiful timber lined ceilings and timber paneling in the entry, which I was more than enthusiastic about. As we were working remotely (i.e. me in Melbourne, the clients in Canberra) I used photoshop to render up my ideas for design and finishes. This is a great tool to communicate your 'vision' for a space and makes it easy to tweek the layout and materials as the design process unfolds. We did lots of options on this job and even though we were just working with freehand sketches, the clients found it really easy to picture the suggested colours and materials in their space. 

Stay tuned for completed pics in the next month or two...

Fine & Dande

Up-cycled pallet furniture at Dandenong Market

I was recently downloading some photos and came across these shots I took on a visit to Dandenong Market one Sunday in March. We took a trek down there for a Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event and really enjoyed the variety of stalls and the food available on the day. What also caught my eye were these up-cycled pallete feature walls, planters, stools and tables and the fun colours they were painted with. They really gave the market a groovy inner-city vibe that was fresh and edgy - and they were very well utilized on the day. Great idea for a pop-up cafe or shop - Design food for thought...

Pallet feature wall, Drinks crate planter box, Pallet stools & tables & Great colour combos!

Laundry & Bathroom Renovation Elwood

A client recently emailed some photos (thanks PH!) of a completed laundry and bathroom renovation I worked on late last year so I thought I would share them on the blog.

The client's brief was to turn the pokey laundry/toilet into a powder room & secondary bathroom as well as a laundry space - a tall order from a room measuring just 2200mm x 2400mm!! They also wished to extend their existing family bathroom into the hallway to give them enough space to have a separate bath & shower as well as a toilet & vanity. I've included some plans to show how we reworked the spaces. The house is late Edwardian and the joinery style, colours and materials were chosen to give a nod to the era of the house but with some contemporary flavour.

LAUNDRY / POWDER ROOM 

This room had some very shallow impractical storage and for guest using the facilities, it really did feel like the toilet had been plonked in the corner of the laundry. The clients were keen to give the room more of a 'powder room' feeling also incorporating a shower so it could be used in conjunction with the family bathroom.

Powder & Bathroom facilities in Laundry

Beautiful & Functional - Powder Basin / Laundry Trough

 FAMILY BATHROOM

The bathroom had an existing pedestal basin and medicine cabinet on the side wall - no bench space and no where near enough storage for a family of four! It also had a tiny 1200mm bath with a shower over the top - compromising both the ability to relax in the bath or enjoy the shower. We overcame this by having a shower open to the bath on one side, making the room feel much more open and allowing both a full sized bath and a walk in shower. 

Bathroom BEFORE SHOT

Walk in Shower & Hob Bath

Bathroom Vanity with Medicine Cabinets Above

Bathroom Before & After

Well its taken about 6 months but our 50's bathroom renovation is finally complete!  As I previously mentioned on the blog, I decided to keep the original lilac bath tub as it's the perfect size for a small person and keeps some of the homes original personality.  I contrasted it with charcoal and chalk porcelain tiles, shiny new chrome tapware and an Oak Timber vanity unit to bring it up to date.  I also added a mega-sized mirror to the right hand wall to make the room feel larger and to reflect the beautiful embossed feature tiles on the left hand wall.

Oak Vanity Unit & Sleek Black Towel Rails - Mega Mirror on the right

Original lilac bath set in new hob - charcoal floor tiles & embossed chalk wall tiles bring the colour up to date.

Bath hob extends into shower to become a shelf

BEFORE shot - Ugh!