Having served many years as a family home, it needed to be reimagined for its next phase.
A beloved family home for many years, this house was beginning a new chapter as the owners’ children had moved out, and it was in need of a refresh. Joanne Kelly, creative director at Think Contemporary, explains that “The main parts of the house were very dated and had not been renovated in a long time. Even though the home is large, the kitchen was very small and the open plan area just didn’t function well. It also lacked storage and functionality in most areas, so this needed to be addressed.” The owners were looking for a space that felt modern, yet also cosy and welcoming.
In order to achieve this, an existing extension was removed and a new one was built, which forms the new open plan living space. “They lacked connection to the garden in the old extension so this was really important to them,” Joanne explains.
“The new extension has a very large slider opening out onto an elevated terrace and a beautiful picture window showcases the garden in the kitchen area. We also fully renovated the entrance hall, home office, master suite and bathrooms. We turned one of the smaller bedrooms into a new dedicated walk-in wardrobe.”
When it came to choosing colours and materials, a neutral palette was chosen for main elements of the design. “Pale timber floors in a mix of herringbone and plank are carried through most of the ground floor, with a terrazzo tile in the kitchen area,” Joanne says.
“This is contrasted with chocolate brown oak on the bespoke joinery elements. We offset this with autumnal tones in greens and oranges and we also introduced blue tones in some of the spaces which contrasts really well with the darker tones of timber.”
This also contributes to the sense of continuity and flow throughout the home, helping each space feel distinct yet connected. A great example is the feature wall in the living area. While the timber joinery is a link to the rest of the joinery in the home, it feels perfect for this particular room. “The curved detail on the joinery really softens the space and the contrast between the darker oak and the marble is striking,” Joanne points out.
Overall, it’s now a home that feels calm and contemporary, one that definitely fulfills the brief. Memories of the previous dark extension are firmly in the past. “The connection to the garden is amazing,” Joanne says, “it really allows for that indoor outdoor living that we all strive to achieve.”
Photography Shauna Lally