The Interiors Addict

Open House Melbourne comes back bigger and better for 2022
Before & after: Hunting for George’s latest transformation
Catherine Martin’s new carpets are as stunning as her film sets
Dated Sydney Hills District home given new life

Open House Melbourne comes back bigger and better for 2022

Posted: 29 Jun 2022 06:00 PM PDT

After two years of being online-only due to the pandemic, the Open House Melbourne (OHM) Weekend makes a much-anticipated return to physical form on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 July. This year's program invites audiences to encounter and engage with the city's most iconic, well-designed and much-loved heritage buildings, places and spaces – many of which are not usually open to the public.

Architecture, design and social history lovers will once again be able to enjoy over 150 in-person events, guided tours and talks at favourite locations and places, as well as the opportunity to discover spaces and perspectives that are new to the program in 2022.

This year's event them, Built/Unbuilt, encourages a citywide discussion about the agency of architecture, landscape and urban design to create better futures through the lens of the most pressing issues facing cities today, including listening and learning from Indigenous knowledges, access to affordable housing, ecologically responsive design and adaptive re-use and design for accessibility, inclusion and care.

The centrepiece of this year's Open House Melbourne Weekend is a brand new initiative – a curated exhibition in partnership with Monash University titled Take Hold of the Clouds and featuring cross-disciplinary and responsive creative works that are distributed over seven different buildings and sites across the city. The project's concept is created by Tara McDowell, director of curatorial practice at Monash Art, Design and Architecture and is co-curated with Fleur Watson, OHM's executive director.

The exhibition features two seminal works by renowned international practitioners, Forensic Architecture's Cloud Studies (2021) and Cauleen Smith's Sojourner (2018), together with five newly commissioned, responsive works from local and national creative practitioners (to be announced soon). Drawing on high-impact, sustainable production values by using the city itself as an exhibition space, the seven sites will host a series of thoughtful encounters in which the creative practitioners reveal the previously invisible connections, stories and issues implicit in well-loved corners of the city.

Last year's OHM festival favourite This is Public, a speaker series presented at The Capitol in partnership with RMIT University, will return to launch the weekend on Friday 29 July with a live audience underneath the theatre's spectacular ceiling designed by Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin in 1924. This year, This Is Public will feature illustrated presentations and conversations by leading spatial and creative practitioners exploring the theme of Built/Unbuilt and the ideas behind the curated exhibition Take Hold of the Clouds.

Additional festival highlights for 2022 include the annual Heritage Address presented in collaboration with the Heritage Council of Victoria (HCV). This year's address will be delivered by Katrina Sedgwick OAM, newly appointed director and CEO of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation, who will reflect on the concept of 'future heritage' for the precinct. Additionally, HCV and OHM will launch the latest edition of the short film series Modern Melbourne, showcasing the life and work of award-winning architect Peter Elliott and including a special screening and panel discussion in partnership with ACMI.

OHM is also offering a new series of talks and tours curated by architect and housing advocate Tania Davidge called Making Home. It shines a light on social and affordable housing and unpacks the issues that influence the provision of social and affordable housing in Australia. It also addresses the importance of the delivery of housing as part of a broader infrastructure of care and looks at how architects, housing providers and government are working to make a difference.

Several new and award-winning additions join the tour program, including the Melbourne Quakers Centre, designed by Nervegna Reed Architecture and pH architects; the Victorian Pride Centre, Australia’s first LGBTIQ+ purpose-built centre designed by Brearley Architects & Urbanists (BAU) and Grant Amon Architects; Broadmeadows Town Hall's adaptive re-use transformation designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects', along with a special 'behind-the-scenes’ guided tour of the Koorie Heritage Trust designed by Lyons Architects.

These new tours and programs join long-time public favourites like 1880s Italianate mansion Villa Alba Museum, with its gilded decoration by renowned Scottish-trained interior designers the Paterson Brothers (also a site for a creative work for Take Hold of the Clouds); and La Mama Theatre, recently rebuilt after a devastating fire, with restoration design by Meg White in consultation with GJM Heritage. Both of these very special spaces will throw open their doors for Open House Weekend to share their interiors, stories, creators and people.

Keeping the virtual spirit alive, many buildings continue to refine and offer self-guided, virtual tours via the Open House Melbourne digital archive, bringing the best of local design and architecture to new audiences further afield.

Fleur Watson said the weekend offers an opportunity to reconnect with and celebrate the buildings and spaces of the city while also reflecting on how to best shape its future.

"This year's theme, Built/Unbuilt, celebrates the contribution and impact of good design on the city while also exploring diverse scales and systems – the urban, civic, public, landscape and interior; as well as those spaces that are 'unbuilt' and in-between – the unseen, porous, and inter-connected.

“It's never felt timelier to deeply consider how, as citizens, we have the agency to advocate for better outcomes for our built environment and a more accessible, inclusive and responsive city for everyone," she said.

For more information on Open House Melbourne

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Before & after: Hunting for George’s latest transformation

Posted: 29 Jun 2022 02:00 PM PDT

The talented duo behind Hunting for George, Lucy Glade-Wright and Jonno Rodd are back with another series of Reno Goals – a renovation series they launched in 2020. This time they’ve taken on the transformation of a 1930s weatherboard beach shack in Victoria's Lorne and they’ve produced an amazing result.

Located along the Great Ocean Road, the duo restored the ageing home while adding a new extension – it’s now a five-bedroom, five-bathroom beach house with expansive entertaining areas and today we’re focussing on the character-filled kitchen.

"We wanted to retain the nostalgic warm charm of the existing beach house, whilst applying a modern touch throughout the interiors. We combined both warm and cool tones throughout the house to create a neutral base to work from and then accentuated with pockets of eucalyptus green. The kitchen needed to feel nostalgic whilst at the same time being modern and functional," explains Lucy.

While Lucy and Jonno are no strangers to renovating, this project was different to their last in that it involved a full rebuild and renovation of a large home designed to accommodate a busy and growing family. Creating different spaces to accommodate three generations certainly had its challenges!

"Building during COVID, it was difficult to get products, materials and deliveries on time and not to mention the labour shortage. As we weren't building in a major city, we had limited access to skilled trades and had to do quite a lot of jobs ourselves," says Lucy.

Kitchen — AFTER: Complementary materials make for an interesting result

They also gave the laundry a complementary look when they renovated it.

Design tips: creating a kitchen that lasts

Given Hunting for George’s renovation experience, we reached out and asked them for their top tips on how to create a future-proof kitchen.

1. Think about the purpose
Anything you select for your home needs to be able to fit the needs of you and your family. We are housing three generations (and growing!), so kitchen cabinetry needed to be functional – for now and for the future. To maximise storage, we ensured the base cabinetry wrapped around the entire kitchen island and opted for an integrated Electrolux dishwasher to achieve a seamless finish.

Integrated dishwasher — The kitchen contains an integrated Electrolux dishwasher

2. Don't forget about size, space and capacity
Make sure to choose appliances that will suit you and your space beyond the next five years. Are you only catering for only two people, or do you need to consider the potential for a bigger family down the track? Think about space, size and capacity that is appropriate beyond just now. The original oven in the kitchen was tiny, with no head height or room to function effectively. We decided to open this up into a cavity, extending both the width to fit a 90cm freestanding cooker, and the height of shelves in order to keep the original feature but make it more functional.

3. Invest in quality appliances that will stand the test of time
A saying we always think about when it comes to appliances is ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. Appliances are always an investment area for us, while we can save money in other areas of the renovation, like painting ourselves. Make sure to choose appliances early in the design process so when it comes to install, you have exact measurements to support seamless integration into cabinetry for a timeless look.

Lucy Glade-Wright in the kitchen — Hunting for George’s Lucy Glade-Wright in the gorgeous new space

Photography: Jonno Rodd | Interior design & styling: Lucy Glade-Wright for Hunting for George

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Catherine Martin’s new carpets are as stunning as her film sets

Posted: 28 Jun 2022 06:00 PM PDT

After the runaway success of her two rug collections, Designer Rugs presents the first Axminster carpet collection from Oscar winner Catherine Martin – Majorelle. An eclectic collection of premium carpet designs, Majorelle is inspired by her love of tropical flora and fauna whilst drawing on influences from Middle Eastern design.

The film, stage and interior designer with four Oscars, five BAFTAs and a Tony Award to her name, is famously married to Australian film director Baz Luhrmann. To the millions around the world who have seen the movies, Catherine is known as the woman who made Nicole Kidman resplendent in red in the costumes for Moulin Rouge!; for making us want to shimmy our way in beaded dresses through the lavish party scenes in The Great Gatsby; and most recently for the visually resplendent biopic Elvis.

This latest Axminster collection references Jardin Majorelle, Yves Saint Laurent's enchanting retreat designed by living legend Jacques Grange in Marrakesh, famed for its sophisticated and exotic interior, brilliant blue exterior and magnificent gardens. The collection also pays homage to Catherine's French heritage and love affair with French culture, design and interior architecture. Photographed in partnership with long-time collaborator, textile brand Mokum, these designs embrace a maximalist approach to interiors and create a sea of bold pattern underfoot.

"Celebrating my love of mixing discordant textures and patterns into extravagantly contrasting but nevertheless visually enticing combinations, I seek, in this collection, to find a style where being baroque is elegant and modern," says Catherine. "Marrying animal print and embellished tropical designs and an exuberantly luxurious palette, this is a collection that is meant to be both glamorous and playful."

Embracing the capabilities of Designer Rugs’ in-house design and production teams, this collection also extends the potential for the customer with the possibility of customisation in pattern repeat, colour ways and scaling.

"Creating unique designs for Axminster carpet is a natural progression for us as a luxury rug brand – the flexibility of design and colour, and the renowned high quality of this type of carpet production has made it a very successful venture," says managing director Yosi Tal.

Consisting of five striking designs, the collection is made in a durable wool and nylon blend, and would be equally at home in a federation style home as an opulent hotel, and everything in between.

More information on Designer Rugs

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The post Catherine Martin’s new carpets are as stunning as her film sets appeared first on The Interiors Addict.

Dated Sydney Hills District home given new life

Posted: 28 Jun 2022 02:00 PM PDT

Located in Sydney's Hills District, this family home was renovated and extended recently with interior designer Robyn Hawke of Inspired Spaces at the helm. "The house is home to a family of five with teenage kids. They loved the area, community and location and this renovation and extension resulted in their forever home," she says.

The project included a complete overhaul of the entry, bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, living and dining room and a new extension has created substantially more liveable space. The extended part of the home has resulted in a larger kitchen with butler's pantry, more oversized bedrooms, a mud room, an enclosed indoor/outdoor entertaining area and larger garage.

Street appeal
Hugely impactful, the home's dated exterior was completely overhauled using render to replace dated brown bricks. New windows and doors helped to amplify the street appeal too. "Due to the nature of the block, we couldn't extend the living areas to the rear," says Robyn who, in an unusual but necessary move, made the home wider instead.

AFTER front elevation — AFTER What a face lift! The renovated home is significantly wider.

The entry was modernised with new engineered timber flooring, a new front door, timber cladding on the wall and new lighting. A clean colour palette of blues and neutrals offsets the warm timber details.

Kitchen
The original kitchen was dated and lacked storage – it was difficult to keep decluttered and it was quite an inefficient space overall. "With the focus on lifestyle and entertaining, the new Hamptons inspired kitchen has a large island with ample storage," says Robyn who also added an expansive butler's pantry. The extra kitchen space has a separate sink, drawers and shelves that run to the ceiling. "As a result, the kitchen presents tidily, hiding the dirty dishes in the pantry away from view.”

Dining/living
Previously two separate spaces, the dining and living rooms were opened up for a much more modern feel. "We removed the wall between the existing dining and living and were able to create an open and airy space," says Robyn who reused the room's white bookcases and dining room table post-makeover.

"We don't believe in clearing the home of existing furniture or other items that mean something to the client. Here we have reused the white bookcases and dining suite," says Robyn.

Bathrooms
When it came to the home's bathrooms, there simply weren't enough of them. "The distinct lack of bathrooms was a major concern so two extra ensuites and a main bathroom were configured into the floor plan. These are perfect for a growing family and offer privacy for the parents," says Robyn.

The home's reconfigured floorplan allowed for an ensuite to be added to the master bedroom. Additionally, the second bathroom is now unrecognisable with its new monochrome scheme that includes hexagonal tiles alongside a black bath and matching tapware.