Armadale Residence
Our clients had a clear vision for the renovation and rear extension of their Victorian Hawthorn brick home in Armadale. The brief prioritised functional family living and entertaining, paired with a clean, contemporary aesthetic that respectfully engages with the home’s original character. Beyond the refurbishment of the existing front rooms, the scope included a new master suite with walk-in wardrobe and ensuite, a children’s bathroom, study, laundry, pantry, kitchen, dining and living areas including a bar. Externally, the project required a generous rear outdoor living area. I was designed to have strong visual/physical connection to the interior. Off-street parking and hard landscaping were added to the scope.
Set on a long, sloping site, the design explored a series of stepped levels and articulated volumes to respond to both the terrain and planning constraints.
The clients aspired to a generous open-plan living space with an emphasis on high ceilings and expansive glazing to strengthen the relationship between indoors and out. This created the opportunity to form a large north-facing living, dining and kitchen volume, where the ceiling became a key design element. To avoid the atrium-like void often associated with double-height spaces, the ceiling was conceived as a feature in its own right. Drawing on the clients’ appreciation for heritage coffered ceilings, the grid-based language was reinterpreted in a contemporary manner, integrating ambient lighting and acoustic panelling to enhance both spatial quality and acoustic comfort. This grid extends externally, informing the oversized pergola to the terrace, which carries the sightlines into the garden and is designed to support a future green canopy of climbing vines.
A preference for a clean, timeless aesthetic informed a palette of soft, layered textures, with depth achieved through the interplay of light and dark tones. The base palette comprises warm Dulux White Duck walls, Oyster Linen joinery, Taj Mahal quartzite, travertine tiles and oak finishes, contrasted with blackened oak veneer joinery, black metal detailing and Antique Brown leathered granite. Materials are employed as key design features throughout the home, with quartzite forming the primary statement. Custom-designed Corian vanities were integrated into all three wet areas in warm marbled tones, while soft pink Cristallo Rosa quartzite features prominently in the master ensuite shower. This material is also paired with Corian in the powder room vanity and used as a splashback and benchtop surface to the bar.
The creamy tones of Taj Mahal quartzite are further expressed in the kitchen benchtops, wrapping the island, and as a contemporary fireplace surround in the living room. Subtle moments of colour enrich the otherwise neutral interior, with Porter’s Paints ‘Explorer Blue’ introducing a warm, dusty blue to the Victorian front sitting room, and a layered finish of ‘Valkyrie’ French Wash over a ‘Victoriana’ base in the powder room, responding to the Cristallo Rosa vanity.
