Photography – Alex Reinders

Cole House

Another renovation to an original Federation style home. Our clients were keen for a very practical, hard-wearing and timeless addition to the rear of their home where the relationship between indoor and outdoor was critical, as they liked to entertain and enjoy the outdoors.

As they have a young family and two dogs, we selected a concrete floor with a hardwearing ‘Mentone Mix’ ‘polished’ finish. To add warmth and a casual ‘Bayside’ character to the new rear section of the house, we used a Messmate timber throughout for all the joinery. We combined the natural timber with natural concrete look ceramic panels for the benchtops and kitchen splashback (the new ceramic panels come in a large sheet size and thickness, are heat proof, hard wearing and stain resistant). Black was used as an accent colour for the large door frames out to the garden, on the kitchen and bar area walls and some cupboards, as well as for the dining chairs and bar stools to contrast with the timber and the floors.

Our clients were happy to explore new materials and products with us which allowed us to use beautiful hand-made tiles in the ensuite bathroom combined with bespoke Anchor Ceramic light fittings. We had a little fun in the powder room with an unsual hand basin and cloth wall paper. Our clients wanted to be involved every step of the way and we worked collaboratively with the builder and the client, to achieve a very detailed and considered renovation.