Lane Cove Residence

‘Amiens c.1918’ Residence is a Californian Bungalow located in Sydney’s Lower North Shore. This classic and gorgeous home with architectural features lacked the additional layer of personality and depth that it really deserved. Our clients, hard working lawyers in Sydney’s CBD, engaged Mi Designer Styling to create a unique, individual and customised home to suit their busy lifestyle, maximise space and honour the historic style of the home.

The master bedroom has had a complete overhaul in finishes, fittings and furnishings. Starting with inspiration from ‘Round & Round the Garden’ Anna Spiro wallpaper, we used a striking ginger jar blue colour in the paint finish below the chair rail. This allowed us to emphasise the architectural features of the chair rails, picture rails, cornices and ceiling roses with a bright contrasting white. Our client’s have a passion for pattern, colours and texture. This resulted in an eclectic mix of furnishings using Coco Republic’s ‘Sloane’ Armchairs sitting on a gorgeous Caitlin Wilson rug nestled next to a brass and marble side table from Café Lighting. To top this off, we added in Coco Republic’s Jonathon Adler ‘Globo Box’ on the side table. Opposite the reading zone is the location of the bed. Texture, colour and pattern is emphasised by the ready and custom made scatter cushions by John Robshaw, Westbury and Warwick fabrics. Keeping in with the style of the home and the brass features, the bed is centred between tall gold lamps from Regency Distribution to honour the original features.

Seamlessly transitioning off the master bedroom is the deluxe, classic and luxurious walk in wardrobe. This repurposed room had the perfect amount of space to create an enormous amount of storage with the addition of a window seat upholstered in a Zepel. The robe contains a ‘his’ and ‘her’ side complete with many of the functional features that ‘Hafele’ hardware has to offer. There has been no compromise with the design integration of adjustable shelves, pull out trouser racks, pull out tie racks, allocated compartments for bags and shoes, two tier drawers with section dividers and pull down hangers so that even the highest amount of storage can be utilised. This walk in wardrobe has it all, finished in a deep textured Polytec Ravine timber look finish with custom bone and pewter handles designed made by Mood Australia plus the addition of LED lighting in the custom joinery. We’ve allowed our clients to mix and match the custom eclectic range of cushions from the master bedroom to the window seat that sits underneath the colour lead light window. The selection of finishes allow this traditional 20th century home to gracefully move into the 21st century.

The master bedroom flows off to the boastful grand hallway that needed reimagining as the 100 year old tessellated tiles were coming un-stuck and cracked in certain areas. This was also a generously wide hallway where we introduced a feature piece of custom joinery for displaying belongings and storing school bags for their 3 children. We custom designed a beautiful piece of joinery with integrated lighting, finished in a Polytec Belgian Oak material and Laminex brass trim to match the brass handles and fittings throughout the home. A black and white handmade encaustic tile was laid down the hallway to respect the detail and quality feel that the tessellated tiles once held, illuminated by stunning brass Boyd Blue pendant lights hanging in the hallway.

Mi Designer Styling increased functionality by repurposing an under utilised formal living room at the front of the home to become the master bedroom suite. In doing this, we connected this room to what is now a custom, luxurious and functional walk in wardrobe that leads into the elegant ensuite. This impactful change resulted in a 120% increase of space and flow for the parents retreat. The hallway is now also 120% more functional and has a beautiful aesthetic that brings the space into the 21st century whilst harmonising with the historic style of the home. As a result. this Californian Bungalow has been uplifted and restored to it’s former glory through the use of stylish, sympathetic and enchanting designer elements.