Inspired by the features of a typical Queenslander, this family home flips the tradition. While most Queenslander homes are weatherboard with battens underneath, this Brisbane abode sports the complete opposite. “The house has battens on the upper level to protect the home from the sun and provide extra privacy, whilst the weatherboard lower level now sits on a darker base below,” says architect and owner Tim Stewart.
The house from the street
Home to Tim, his wife Sarah and their four children, the original single storey home was built around five years ago and expanded recently when the family outgrew it. “We added this renovation to gain much needed space. From the outside, the external screen acts to tie the old and new together by presenting a new façade to both,” says Tim of the home that sits on just 400 square metres.
Master bedroom
From the outset, the renovation had a fairly simple design brief that included plenty of space for everyone, a robust set of materials and a laidback feel. Tongue and groove flooring, wall and ceiling cladding, burnished concrete floors and a terrazzo kitchen island bench are all highlights of the home. “The materials give the home a warm but casual family feel,” says Tim.
Lovely furniture features throughout include one of the Tim’s favourite items – a dining table designed by South Australia’s Timberwolf Design. “It’s beautiful quality, Australian made and was brilliant value.”
Kitchen and diningLiving room
The living room connects seamlessly with the backyard courtesy of stacked glass doors while crazy paving, landscaping and a lap pool complete the scene. “The biggest splurge was the custom steel fabricated pool fence which was much more expensive than glass but it’s so much more elegant and functional,” says Tim.
Backyard. The pool can be seen on the right.
The home is adjacent to a bike path and the public edges of the park and bike path influenced the layout of the home. “The living, dining and kitchen area is a gathering space that can interact with neighbours and the community. As a completed entity, the home gives beyond the family and out to the surrounding neighbourhood.”
Once again, brands and tradies have donated all the labour, land and materials for Henley and Villawood’s annual Good Friday Appeal house, and whoever buys this gorgeous new build will have the bonus feel good factor of knowing the proceeds go to The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Now open for inspection, the spectacular Vogue 34 by Henley (on land donated by Villawood) goes to auction with no reserve on 15 April 2022.
Comprising of five living areas, four spacious bedrooms, and an impressive master suite, the 34 sqm home comes fully furnished and can be a wonderful forever home with Henley’s 50-year structural guarantee.
Master bedroom with ensuite
Beautifully constructed on a 448m2 block over eight months, the house includes a separate theatre, study and leisure areas.
Study room
One of five living areas with soft furnishings and decorative pieces
Its gourmet kitchen showcases a glass splashback with feature window, Caesarstone benchtops, rear bench pot drawers, SMEG appliances, and even an expansive butler’s pantry.
A special addition to the full landscape package is the uniquely designed mini soccer pitch with goal.
“We’ve selected a prime site at our Redstone community in Sunbury, in the middle of Melbourne’s burgeoning north and western growth precincts. It’s close to our amazing Club Rathdowne, a sophisticated town centre, extensive parks and open space and it offers a great lifestyle,” says Rory Costelloe, executive director of Villawood Properties.
This year’s Charity House Auction represents Henley’s achievement of three decades building and donating homes, building the 43rd charity home for the Good Friday Appeal to date. It is the 13th year of Villawood generously donating land.
The house is open for inspection every Saturday and Sunday (11-to-12) and Wednesdays (6-to-7pm), at 12 Sacred Drive.
The Best of Houzz 2022: Australia’s most popular architecture and design – The Interiors Addict
Every year, Houzz.com.au announces its annual people’s choice awards where the Houzz community highlights the renovation and design professionals with the most popular designs and top ratings. From a stylish…
It’s a familiar tale – family wants a larger and more functional home but is attached to a particular suburb, and can’t find anything suitable to move into. Thus a renovation ensues. This was exactly the predicament that Janyne Moore and her family were in before they engaged interior designer Penny Middlemiss of Anju Designs to overhaul their Castle Hill home.
Kitchen and dining
The family had lived in the house for 11 years before deciding to renovate but aside from being tired and dated, the family loved many aspects of it, including its swimming pool, entertaining area and block size. “The client trusted me to arrange the whole rebuild, design and furnishing. By only increasing the footprint by 40 square meters over two levels and removing most of the internal walls and reconfiguring the spaces, we were able to create what they needed,” says Penny.
Bedroom
Amazingly, Penny managed to deliver the project from her base in Brisbane, just as the pandemic hit. “Unfortunately, the project started just as Australia went into lockdown with COVID. My location definitely caused a few challenges, but working with an amazing client and team along with many Zoom meetings, everything went well,” says Penny.
Bathroom
And while the project cost $400,000, the home now not only looks unrecognisable from the original but it has two living areas, a multi-purpose room, games room, four bathrooms and a large office. The relocated kitchen features a butler’s pantry and laundry, and the nearby alfresco and pool areas were upgraded too.
Lounge room
Boyd Blue furniture and homewares feature throughout the home
“The owners are a very busy family and wanted a home that was their retreat where they can enjoy life and each other in their home but it also needed to function well for them to work from home too. I wanted to create a home that was current, timeless and relaxed,” says Penny.
Laundry
The owner, Janyne, is beyond thrilled with the end result, particularly as it come in just under budget, allowing her to spend a little more on furnishings – many of which were sourced from the furniture and homewares store Boyd Blue. “I didn’t have the first clue about renovating so I knew I needed help, but the benefits of having a designer surpassed my expectations.”
Melbourne terrace renovation shows monochrome need not be boring
Proving that a monochrome scheme needn’t be boring, layers of white on white create a tranquil, stylish feel in this new Melbourne terrace renovation by Pierce Widera. Located in Fitroy,…
Tucked away in a cul-de-sac in Melbourne’s northern suburb of Northcote, Maxwell House is a high-tech eco-friendly home built for a young family of five, plus their dog Otto, a miniature schnauzer.
The Maxwell residence rethinks traditional suburban dwelling by allowing the occupants to indulge in a deeper connection with nature via biophilic design. From internal courtyards to large windows, the well-balanced home centres around wellbeing and enriching the family’s health.
A collaborative effort between architectural practice Melbourne Design Studios and the owners, with interiors by The Stylesmiths, the house is a contemporary triumph completed in 2020. Split over two levels and consisting of four bedrooms, two internal courtyards, pool, fireplace and large living areas, the home is the embodiment of healthy and sustainable living.
The Stylesmiths were handed a blank canvas to create an interior that worked in harmony from where the architects left off, by respecting the original values and balancing robust materials such as polished concrete floors, American oak paneling, large windows and slate. Maxwell House, also known as Biophilia-Slate Home, won Best Sustainable Design in Australia, Design Matters Award and is an National Association of Building Designers (NABD) winner, recognised widely for its sustainable and innovative design.
Building on the original brief – to create a family home that inspires, relaxes and calms busy minds, with beautifully crafted spaces, natural materials and an endless dialogue with nature. Each space offers intimate views and engagement with natural surroundings and vegetation, be it from courtyards, gardens, green roofs, or planters. Natural light, ventilation and direct sunlight gives a profound sense of seasonal rhythms, blurring the reality of the suburban setting.
With that, The Stylesmiths were set to embark on an interior design journey that was centred around wellbeing. Timber warms the spaces throughout, creating contrasts against the dark stone, terrazzo, brickwork, marble and glazing. Texture played a vital role in enhancing the interior material palette. Through the use of soft furnishings, textures were selected based on their tactility – boucle fabrics, hand woven rugs, felt folded cushions, chunky weaves and wallpaper. Tactility helped form an emotional response to each room thoughout the home.
The owners were open to exploring new ideas – and were particularly keen to support local home-grown design, so many of the pieces throughout the home are sourced and manufactured locally. Lead designer Silvia Roldan (the Stylesmiths) believes that the use of colour which has been applied in every room is key to creating calming spaces that are warm and inviting. Thought the home the colour palette continues to develop as you move throughout the house allowing for unexpected surprises in every room.
Photography by Fiona Susanto | Lead designer: Silvia Roldan
When interior stylist Jessi Deakin (formerly of Black Arrow) let us peek inside her stylish, light-drenched home recently we thought it would be rude not to share. “My house is…
House tour: Step inside this beautiful Byron Bay abode
One half of the Byron Bay interior styling and staging duo Alida and Miller, Margaret Scholley has the kind of magazine-worthy home that looks straight out of a film set.…
Beautiful aesthetics combine with functional design in this Hamptons-inspired new build for a young family of four in Melbourne.
A charming vegetable garden sits behind the picket fence, leading to the front of the residence. Contemporary design meets country style living with the barn style garage door and vintage style wall sconces.
From the light and bright façade of the exterior panelling and contrasting matte black windows, the home invites you to a generous entrance via the French doors. The entryway features a mud room with a tiled accent wall.
The two-storey home maximises space with an open plan kitchen, dining and living area. The space is both stunning and practical, with a carefully executed flow between common spaces and the five bedrooms.
The bathrooms are all pretty gorgeous too!
Expansive bi-fold doors bring the outside in, revealing an outdoor kitchen and a stunning pool area at the rear of the house.
It was designed and built by Construct Melbourne, family-owned and operated residential builders. They specialise in luxury custom homes, and also offer major renovation or extensions and residential design services.
Kmart has added many more pieces to its Online Exclusives range, comprising of affordable larger-sized home solutions not previously available in store. Announcing more than 100 new styles for the home, they’ve already begun arriving online and will continue to drop in the coming weeks to form part of their ongoing range.
The Thorne entertainment unit
Kmart’s move to broaden its online-only offering started last year, with plans to continue to expand their offering and provide customers with greater access to homewares all year round. Styles were released as a test and learn during the initial launch, and the range now comprises of products within furniture, bedding, rugs, nursery products, fitness equipment, and outdoor play equipment.
“We promised we had more to come in the larger furniture range and we are so excited to now be delivering on this. We love the solutions and hope our customers do too,” said, Callum Smith, Kmart’s general manager for general merchandise. “We want to offer our community a complete solution for their home so as families grow or families downsize, they have access to great designs at the most affordable prices.”
This two-tone cot is an eye-catching addition to any nursery
Augmented Reality (AR) to visualise your purchases
Kmart are offering 48 products through Augmented Reality (AR) to see for yourself how they might look in your home. With an AR-compatible smartphone, you can scan, place, move, zoom in and out, or rotate, to view the product from all angles.
The new range also includes several exercise machines, such as this stationary spin bike
Got any questions? You can ask the KBot assist. The AI conversational chat assistant can answer product-related questions, recommend complementary products that are viewable in AR straight away, and can turn your thoughts into reality.
Kmart’s head of digital marketing, Melissa Wong said: “We launched KBot late last year and it has been received incredibly well and that is why it was the perfect time to extend this immersive engagement for our Online Exclusives range. It elevates the customer’s shopping experience by getting close with our products virtually and offering AI conversational assistance along the way.”
This desk with storage complements existing pieces in the Kmart range.
Visit www.klabs.com.au to enter the immersive product experience and explore, play and shop the new Online Exclusive range.
Kmart’s online exclusive range is available to purchase on the Kmart website.
Today’s blog post is all about showing you how it’s the little touches that can take your home to the next level and how sometimes you may need a bit of expert help to really breathe life into your space and make it all work together. Cohesion, commonly called “flow” can be an elusive thing when decorating.
Interior designer Sarah Yarrow added cohesion, warmth and personality to this home and she shares her tricks
Interior designer Sarah Yarrow illustrates this beautifully in this short video about what she did with a recent client’s home for their young family.
Sarah has kindly walked us through what she did and how you could do the same in your home…
The design brief for this home was largely, to make the spaces feel cohesive and inviting. Before the update, the home lacked any sort of specific style; there were no distinguishing features or key focal points to draw the eye around each room. The spaces looked okay, as in, there were no glaring acts of design faux pas, it was more that it lacked warmth, personality and the scale of many existing furniture pieces and accessories were all wrong.
My first step was to really nut out the desired aesthetics the clients were after (contemporary coastal), then it was all about sticking to that style and constantly referring back to the agreed concept before making each selection.
The final result really answered the brief in terms of ensuring cohesion and flow throughout the spaces. I did this by keeping the colour base quite neutral with cool whites then added warmth using dusty “dirty” pinks, warm greys and olive into the palette.
I added interest by creating a focal point in each space so there was something to anchor and draw the eye into. For example, the black pendant light in the kitchen catches your eye in the tall ceiling and then naturally guides you down to the hardwood timber shelves which are lovingly stocked with soulful treasures and practical wares.
AFTER kitchen
Kitchen shelf details
BEFORE kitchen
The tiny study, once a nothing sort of area, now has a fun but very simple wallpaper which completely changes the feeling. Cladding the fireplace horizontally in VJ boards counterbalanced the dominating scale and really added some comfort to the previously bland facade.
AFTER study
BEFORE study
Repeating these principles throughout the whole home helped me connect each space and ensure there was an overall flow throughout.
It’s the little touches which give the home its character and personality though. Given the ceilings were very high at over three metres and the base colour palette of wall paint and kitchen finishes were all cool whites, it was imperative to add lots of texture to help ground and deliver warmth.
Furnishings full of cool colours, with no pattern or texture would have left the home feeling cold and cavernous. Instead, I added sheer curtains to soften the large wall of glass, incorporated wool textured rugs and throws, patterned cushions and of course, the personalised accessories, were ways I was able to achieve the desired feeling.
AFTER Sheer curtains and textured homewares soften the room and the glass
My clients love to travel so many of the chosen accessories reflected that passion: books, collected vintage wares and family photos. While I started the ‘story’ for them in terms of the accessories, I was also conscious of leaving empty spaces for them to fill out the shelves with more special collected pieces as time goes on. That way, it becomes an ever-evolving memory display of their lives together as a family. That’s what a home should be in my opinion!
AFTER dining
BEFORE dining
At the end of the day, my goal is always to leave my clients with a home that’s entirely reflective of them, not what’s in the showroom or the magazine or what the Joneses have up the road. Take inspiration from those sources of course, but the only way to truly have a home with soul and style, is by being YOU! Be true to that and follow those key design techniques, and you’ll end up with a truly cohesive home that makes you feel good.
Located 100 metres from the beach in the well-heeled Perth suburb of Swanbourne, this colourful family abode ‘LittleBIG’ is home to two doctors and their blended family that includes five children.
Lounge, dining & kitchen
“Three years ago, we were interviewed by an amazing determined young doctor and mum holding her and her husband’s new baby (number four) along with a folio of images with a mid-century vibe and a clearly defined design brief. They wanted something robust and flexible and built to a modest budget and tight schedule!” says the home’s architect Suzanne Hunt who recently won a commendation for the home in the ‘Interior Architecture’ category of the 2019 WA Architecture Awards.
Kitchen
With more than a casual nod to mid-century design, the home embraces individuality, colour and lovely connection to the garden.“Our clients’ brief was for a modest, flexible forever family home that would be beautiful and still robust enough to accommodate her busy family of five young children, two working parents that couldn’t use a drill, a menagerie of animals, and most importantly her love of colour, vintage second hand furniture and ceramics,” says Suzanne.
Lounge room
Entry
“The interior and exterior materiality palette for LittleBIG was designed for loads of kids and their friends who, let’s face it, have no respect for delicate architecture and interior design and their parents who have no interest in maintenance. Sustainability, low maintenance, minimalism, colour and a playful feel were the key design drivers,” says Suzanne.
So much colour!
Child’s bedroom
“Integrating their collections from life so far was also a priority as was integrating the owners’ continuingly growing collections. The owner has a wonderful eye for reimagining and a very handy knack for finding the most amazing furniture and fittings online. I look and find nothing!” says Suzanne.
Master bedroom
Backyard
Built on an 845 square metre wedge-shaped site, the home sits uncomfortably between six large houses in a small cul-de-sac which provided a challenge for Suzanne. “We had to think outside the box but the home takes advantage of the many positives of its location including strong early sea breezes, long distance views and the sound of the waves crashing on the sand,” says Suzanne who took care to maximise every square inch of the property for the large family.
Green and blue glazing is separated by panels of taupe and chocolate brick
As for her favourite part of the project, Suzanne loved working with a client that was realistic with regard to budget and the site’s specific constraints. “My client realised it would require some compromises with materiality and area – there’s no wasted space, modest bedrooms, shared kids’ bathrooms and more durable teak-look Laminex rather than veneer. The house is above all else a beautiful and functional family home.”
The backyard is now the perfect entertainer's space
After a decade of living in this Melbourne character home, its owners Maria and Troy McGlone decided it was time to renovate to suit the demands of their growing family. The ultimate aim was to make the home more suitable during their kids’ teenage years and beyond and the result is a stunning architectural space that is truly a forever home.
BEFORE: Front of the home
AFTER: Front of the home. Quite the transformation!
“We knew we needed a larger living room, a bedroom each for the kids, a pool and a basketball area. These were all on our ‘must-have’ list. Troy and I work from home, so the front living room needed to remain our office. And with our growing kids, better storage was a priority,” says Maria.
AFTER The expansive rear living space
The original structure is a 100 year old Californian bungalow that already sported a less than perfect extension. “The original home has great bones but it also had a renovation added about 30 years ago that we wanted to change. We needed to completely remove this part of the house and begin again with the original house layout,” says Maria who engaged architect Lyndal Williams, of My Architect, for the project. “We knew we wanted to use an architect. We work in the design industry and understand the value a quality architect brings to a project. We liked the way My Architect’s structure works, allowing us to remain in control, rather than being locked into a contract with a large design/build company,” says Maria.
AFTER: Kitchen. I love those sea foam coloured feature tiles.
After the renovation, all that remains of the original building is the two front rooms that house the main bedroom and living room. “Everything behind that was gutted. We then rebuilt a new back half of the house, remodelling some of the original layout, enlarging the original front living room and keeping the main bedroom the same size. We then added a second storey, including three bedrooms, a living room and two bathrooms,” says Maria.
BEFORE: Rear of the home
AFTER: Rear of the home
Standout features include the brick feature wall in the lounge room and outdoor area – it brings so much warmth to the space and was constructed from bricks from the old driveway and backyard paving. Another highlight is just how large the main living area now feels. “We kept the original ceiling height of the front of the house but since the block slopes down, Lyndal designed the new half of the house to step down by three steps, so our main living room and kitchen ceiling height is a generous 3.6 metres. This creates an amazing volume and sense of space in the back half of the house. We love it and everyone always comments on it,” says Maria.
AFTER: Where old meets new
And while the home sits on just 500 square metres, the design has maximised the space with a fabulously designed backyard too. “We have used every centimetre of the outside to fit in a pool and spa, whilst making sure we have a big enough decking area leading out from the main living area, as we eat outside and entertain a lot. We installed a small basketball court for our kids which is proving to be a very multi-functional play area too,” says Maria.
The backyard is now the perfect entertainer’s space
“We plan on being here for the next 20 years, so we put a lot of time and effort into the project. We splurged on a few things, like the green tiles for our bathroom, the amazingly soft carpet in our main bedroom and the marble benchtops in the kitchen, knowing we will enjoy them for many years to come.”
Taking inspiration from Queenslander and Hamptons architecture, this beautiful home in North Balgowlah on Sydney’s Northern Beaches is a contemporary beach house with serious style.
“My dream house is Queenslander meets Hamptons,” says owner Elizabeth Webb. “I’ve always been drawn to crisp lines, clean white and peaceful blue colour palette, and gorgeous natural materials.”
Working closely with architect Adam Presley from All Australian Architecture and her building company Beaches Building, the home spans across two levels with five bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a large kitchen and living area with feature fireplace.
One of the most important items on any renovator’s wishlist is often increasing the amount natural light in their home. According to Elizabeth, the main challenge to achieving an airy interior from a design perspective was that the property’s dimensions were very shallow.
“We wanted to create an expansive space, but had limited land,” she says. “We decided to build vaulted ceilings with exposed beams and use large glass windows and doors to extend the visual sightline and make the space feel much larger.”
On the first floor, French doors feature across the entire back wall of the living room, allowing the adjoining deck and back yard to become an unobstructed continuation of the main living space.
A neutral colour palette and a mix of raw materials throughout the home create a serious Hamptons feel, while the weatherboard exterior fulfils Elizabeth’s wish of paying homage to her childhood Queensland home.
We love the use of bi-fold windows in the kitchen, which are always a popular design choice for entertainers!
Capturing the sea views from the second floor, large double hung windows were installed which offer practical ventilation. To complement the exterior and Hamptons look, colonial-style glazing bars were applied to the windows and doors.
“The windows and doors from Stegbar not only seamlessly merge the indoor and outdoor spaces, but they also enhance the beautiful raw materials and mid-century craftsmanship traditionally used in Hamptons construction,” says Elizabeth.
Love this light-filled family home? Head on over to the Stegbar website for more on their window and door solutions
Finding the right balance between style and practicality is a challenge many parents face at some point when it comes to their home interiors. When The Block and Reno Rumble favourites, perennial home renovators and Beaumont Tiles ambassadors, Kyal and Kara, welcomed their first child into the world, they had to come to terms with making some changes to their interior ideas. “Having a baby doesn’t have to mean you need to forgo your personal style and home comforts. Quite the contrary, you can style your home with baby in tow, and while doing so make your life easier, cleaner and safer,” said Kyal. “It’s amazing how many toys and accessories you accumulate once you have a baby. We became parents last October when Ziya our gorgeous baby boy entered the world. He has definitely made our lives and our home better,” said Kara.
7 home styling tips for families
1. Tiles tiles baby – When choosing finishes for your new home or renovation, remember, tiled floors are a great option with kids. In addition to being able to stand up to the harsh conditions dealt out by children and their toys, tiles are also much easier to clean when the inevitable spill (or worse) happens. They are also better than some other forms of flooring when it comes to allergies – an important point to consider when an estimated 20% of children having asthma and 10% have hay fever.
2. Toasty toes – Something to consider for those cooler months ahead is under-tile heating. It keeps a tiled room warm and is a child-safe option with no exposed heaters so little fingers won’t get burnt.
3. Removable covers – Removable, linen covers for sofas are perfect for families with young children. Relax a little knowing that if covers are soiled, they can be thrown in the wash!
4. Try to avoid any slips or slides – Bamboo bath or shower floor mats are a great idea for providing a non-slip (and stylishly neutral) surface for little ones to exit the bath or shower.
5. Sticky fingers – When considering your options for kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, matt-finishes are less likely to show fingerprints and marks than high-gloss finishes. Also keep this in mind when selecting tiles for your home. Definitely something to consider with young curious hands in the house!
6. Online research – With a baby, online research is your new best friend. Instead of pounding the pavement looking at all your options, there are a huge number of home decorating and renovating companies with their products online for you to leisurely look at. Do your research at home, before you head to the shops!
7. Out of arms reach – Floating wall shelves out of little arms reach are a great option for displaying ceramics, small indoor plants and ornaments. Making the most of vertical wall space has the added benefit of often making a room feel larger.
How your home is designed can radically impact how it feels, and how you feel in it. Families grow and change, and a home that is designed well can accommodate years of love and growth, whilst loving you back.
So how do you design a family home that really works — now and always? Here’s seven tips to help you.
Tip 1: Become a sun worshipper
Taking note of how the sun moves across your site and home is the single biggest thing you can do to create a home that works and feels great. Why?
Research shows that our health and wellbeing improves with access to natural daylight on a regular basis. Not only that, using what is available for free (natural sunlight and breezes) to heat and cool our space means lower energy bills long-term. Often we forget about the ongoing costs in running our home when spending on a new build or renovation.
With young and growing families, our busy lives often mean being able to get daily tasks done whilst kids can be supervised or entertained. As kids get older, creating the opportunity for casual connection can help with regular communication. Some of the ways to do this are:
Great views of the inside and outside from your kitchen.
Create a study nook near the kitchen to supervise computer use casually.
Design casual areas where people can congregate easily whilst everyday activities keep happening. A big island bench is a great example.
Don’t forget (in a bid to get audio privacy between zones of the home), that being able to hear as well as see can be handy.
Tip 4: Useful is beautiful
You may not have all the space in the world, but you can make the space you have do lots of jobs so it’s always functional:
Simply shaped rooms will mean they’re easy to furnish.
Draw furniture on your design plans to be sure it fits, and locate doors and windows to accommodate.
Use the edges and corners of your rooms to create more intimate spaces within larger ones.
Design your movement through and between rooms so furniture doesn’t get in your way.
Tip 5: Get it right with space and flow
It is easy to get seduced with gorgeous images of magazine-worthy homes. However, what really impacts how you live in your home, is the space and flow of your home.
Bigger is not better when it comes to your home. Design makes the difference. Quality over quantity will change your everyday life every time.
Include a butler’s pantry in your kitchen design to hide away those messy activities and appliances.
If you don’t have room for a butler’s pantry, consider putting some bench space inside a cupboard. Doors can open to reveal it when required, and be shut when a quick tidy up is needed.
This works for other storage too. Review the regular activities of your lifestyle – particularly leaving and arriving at home. Create storage solutions that help hide this from view. Put power points inside cupboards for charging all those devices out of view.
Tip 7: Sweet dreams for everyone
Remember your kids are little for less time than they’re big! They may need to sleep near your room only for a short time and then you’ll want some separation between their bedroom and yours.
A good size for kids bedrooms is 3.2×3.2m (plus their wardrobe) to fit a single bed and desk whilst they’re younger, and a double bed when they’re older (some parents like this option).
And remember … Your forever home may not be forever
A newly built or renovated home is an amazing opportunity to shape it exactly how you want it to be. However, you can also create a home that has general appeal whilst making it uniquely yours. Designing a functional, durable family home that will be loved by many families will help you sell well and quickly, if and when the time comes.
Tastes and trends change over time – even yours – so go for neutrals in the items that are more fixed and permanent, or are very expensive to change. Add your personal touches in your finishes and soft furnishings.
So much of the success in designing a home comes with the order you make your choices in. Prioritise your choices with this framework, and you’ll be creating a home that not only helps you survive, but helps you (and your family) thrive. And isn’t that what we really want from our homes?
— Amelia Lee is an architect, a serial renovator and the founder of Undercover Architect, a business helping homeowners create a home that makes their life better; whatever their dreams, location or budget.
Interior stylist Tahn Scoon, author of New Vintage: the Handmade Home, is running a workshop on 1 March called Decorating Kids’ Rooms and Family Spaces.
Photo by Anastasia Kariofyllidis
Learn tips and tricks for how to create gorgeous interiors for children and families on any budget.
Next year’s IKEA 2014 catalogue will have a real focus on living with children. Have a look at this quick video for an idea of what’s in store (or going to be!).
An IKEA spokesperson said: “This year at IKEA we’re turning our focus to the most important people in the world; children. Throughout the year, we’ll have tips and ideas about how families can spend more time together supporting the year’s theme, Living with Children. And we’re starting with the 2014 IKEA Catalogue. We’ve kept the same structure and we’ve packed it with the exciting stories behind our products and new ideas to help people love their homes even more. There’s also more engaging extended content available through the IKEA Catalogue app.
Melanie and David Hardwick, who run furniture and homewares brand Hardwick & Cesko, have lived in this Annandale terrace since marrying six years ago. These days, they share it with daughter Evie.
They’ve created a stylish yet practical family home with plenty of storage. It helps, of course, that David is a furniture designer and a dab hand with a toolkit. Melanie’s advice is: “Don’t rush in, wait for the right piece and develop your spaces over time. Also, have a plan, even if it’s a loose one, to stop you falling in love with something in a shop that’s not right for your home.” So true!
She adds: “We believe it is all about quirky storage space, like turning the fireplace into a bookshelf, or toy space, or even a trip to Ikea can inspire for kids storage solutions.You can’t be too precious with your pieces as kids get their fingerprints and food on everything. We find we use our walls a lot with shelving, mirrors, Evie’s artworks and hooks: they can look cute and are practical at the same time.”
Today I’m delighted to share with you this recently completely project by Point 2 Design with bright, open plan living and plenty of marble. Almost 2 years in the making, interior designers Sarah Gavan and Jessica Enander were involved in the planning of this waterfront property in Sydney’s Inner West from day one.
“The neutral palette, open plan living and stunning views make this an exceptional family home that ticks all the boxes,” says Point 2’s Sarah Gavan. “We were engaged by the client when they first met with the architect to develop the plans for their new family home. The property is positioned on the waterfront at Rodd Point. The family love to entertain and the house was to be designed to allow for entertaining.”
He did, indirectly and unintentionally however, turn me into the house proud neat freak I am today. He was here visiting from the UK last week and it got me thinking how our attitudes to home and how we live are shaped by how we are brought up as children. Don’t you think so?
Me and my dad
I grew up in a single parent family: my dad, my younger sister and I. As the eldest of two, I couldn’t help, once I became a teenager, but take on the female role of housewife, being neither wife nor adult.
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