Welcome behind the scenes of the stunning transformation we made at our Dural Project!
We’ve recently completed the renovation of this expansive country home, where our clients wanted to elevate their tired and dated spaces into a warm, inviting forever-home, perfect for entertaining friends and family for years to come.
Our clients’ brief was clear, they wanted a home that felt warm, grounded, a little special and ‘without the razzamatazz!’ as charmingly put it. They also wanted a seamless connection between their home’s interiors and their gorgeous, sprawling garden.
With that direction, we curated the ‘Contemporary Luxe Farmhouse’ design style, blending classic with contemporary finishes, fixtures and furnishings to evoke a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere!
For us, good design goes beyond just creating beautiful homes, it’s about creating nurturing spaces where our clients feel inspired and uplifted! In our Dural Project, we transformed not just the look but also the feel of their home… Injecting soul and a sense of warmth and cosiness, and ensuring that even the large spaces feel inviting and intimate.
The scope of this project was extensive and included …
- Selecting general finishes and fixtures such as the colour palette, flooring, lighting and window treatments throughout
- Designing the kitchen, butlers’ pantry, wet bar and laundry areas, along with selecting all the finishes
- Re-designing 3-bathroom layouts and finishes
- Living room details such as the feature fireplace, joinery design and ceiling details
- Alfresco entertaining area and outdoor kitchen
- Furniture selection and artwork curation
So come behind the scenes and enjoy the epic before-and-after transformation photos, along with how we designed this spectacular home.
Kitchen and Butlers Pantry
The original kitchen was dated and gloomy, plus it was tucked away into a corner space, cutting it off from the main living space. It certainly needed a style refresh and once relocated to the center of the open plan living space, it changed the atmosphere of the entire living space, and allowed the kitchen to become the central space for gathering and connecting.
We set out to design an entertainer’s dream kitchen that felt worthy being the centerpiece of this home…. It had to feel generous, bright and welcoming …. somewhere guests would gravitate to with a coffee or a wine!
The palette included warm white, soft oak timber and brass accents. We created a grand 4-metre long island bench, but paired it with soft, warm and inviting selections.
And with the kitchen relocated and no longer in the original poky corner – we found the perfect spot for the butlers’ pantry!
Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to make layout changes to the floor plan if it maximises your space and aligns your home with modern day living.
Kitchen After
Butlers Pantry After
Kitchen / Butlers Pantry Before
Dining Room
The dining space was flipped with the living room to bring it closer to the kitchen, creating a strong connection to the beautiful new kitchen. To achieve that we made a few important design decisions…
- Selected a grand pendant light that was elegant and contemporary, to anchor the new dining space.
- Designed a custom bar and coffee/tea station to make entertaining easy and joyful for our clients, choosing a deep blue-grey tone for the bar and dining joinery, grounded the space and helped differentiate it from the kitchen.
- Surrounded the space with soft sheers to really deliver the warm and inviting vibes.
- Swapped the mirror for a beautiful original artwork to ensure the space felt unique and special
Pro Tip: Joinery is an excellent way to customize the design of your hom,e as well as adding excellent storage solutions. You can be creative with your joinery finishes, such as selecting a stunning feature colour, that adds a special and unique touch to your space!
Dining and Bar After
Dining Before
Living Room
The existing living and dining areas were separated by a bulky freestanding masonry fireplace that dominated the space and cut-off the views to the gorgeous gardens. Removing it allowed light to stream in, enhance the connection to the outdoors, and improve the flow between the spaces.
The existing spaces were full of awkward angles, heavy window treatments and cold tiled floors that lacked soul, but with the central fireplace gone and the spaces opened up, we were able to inject fresh new energy. This included a beautiful new fireplace and entertainment unit (to complement the dining room joinery), paired with a stunning pitched ceiling featuring v-groove paneling and a central exposed beam. This stunning space now fully suits the epic proportions of the home and connects beautifully to the alfresco area and lush gardens.
Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to use colour to highlight design features in your home! We used Porters Paint Toy Soldier for the fireplace and joinery – which carried through from the dining room – to create an impactful feature.
Living After
Living Before
Bathrooms
With three bathrooms to renovate, we wanted to ensure the bathrooms felt cohesive with rest of the home, whilst maintaining a point of difference from each other. Using the same floor tiles and brass tapware in all provided that connection, with feature wall tiles and lighting providing each a unique quality.
Main Bathroom After
Main Bathroom Before
Second Bathroom After
Second Bathroom Before
Guest Bathroom After
Guest Bathroom Before
Laundry
Refreshing the laundry was the finishing touch on this renovation! Carrying the warm colour palette from the butler’s pantry through to the laundry with same clay tiles and brass accents whilst adding lots of practical laundry solutions such as the hanging rod, built-in laundry baskets and a generous bench space. Doing the washing is no longer a chore here!
Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to use the same finishes in some rooms in your home – like we did here in the Butlers and Laundry. Having that continuity, which especially works across the hardwearing ‘working rooms’ in the house, can create a beautiful sense of flow.
Laundry After
Laundry Before
We loved giving this large-scale family home a new lease on life and transforming it into a luxe contemporary farmhouse home for our clients!
I hope you enjoyed coming behind the scenes and seeing how we transformed all the spaces, creating a nurturing and unique home (that doesn’t look or feel like a showroom home!). By embracing the ‘Contemporary Luxe Farmhouse’ style, we delivered on our client’s vision, designing a home that’s warm, grounded, and tastefully elevated. The result is a spectacular, highly liveable home that is now seamlessly connected to its stunning surroundings. To see even more photos of this gorgeous home, click here.
If you’d like to go behind the scenes of some of our other renovation projects, with tips and advice for your upcoming project, click here, here and here.
Or if you’d like some support with your interior design or decoration project, then please get in touch with us by clicking here to book a complimentary 20min Discovery Call.
If you’d like some clever and practical ideas to plan a home that reflects your style and is highly liveable, download our FREE guide to create a home that nourishes your soul here.
Anna x