Brighton East – Ensuite, Robe, and Kitchen

The owners of our Brighton East home wanted to convert their two existing bedrooms, ensuite and office space in their contemporary, architecturally designed home into a generous master suite, ensuite and robe area with modern finishes and fittings. With an eye for colour and beautiful materials, our clients also created their dream kitchen with smarter BATHROOMS+.

For our clients, it was about better allocating the spaces and making better use of the aspects and viewpoints.  

There were several challenges with the structure of our client’s home. There were some restrictions with trying to reposition the plumbing, the roostructure required significant engineering as internal walls needed to be removed to create the desired open space and there were also challenged faced with some of the cabinetry design and finishes originally specified. As such, our designer learnt some good lessons on the limitations of some materials, but in the end the final design and result was much better in every way. 

The design of the space was influenced by two main things: The first being the style of the original home which had references towards a “Palm Springs” style of the 60’s and early 70’s and the second influence was the marble selected by our clients. The marble was Cipollino Ondulato Rosso from Signorino – an amazing expressive marble with pinks, greys, browns, creams and even some smaller green elements thrown – it had this prehistoric, petrified tree trunk undulations in the grain – truly an amazing style of marble.  It was important to incorporate the marble in a tasteful way that did allow it to shine but not dominate the space.  We also wanted to pick some of the colours from the stone and incorporate it into the rest of the space but not challenge it either.     

The client’s large open area was re–configured with more floating elements that promoted better flow around the space and optimal positioning for aspect.  The client’s bedhead and bench seat which sits on the opposite side is an upholstery by Heatherly which is a silvery grey/green that perfectly picks off those elements in the marble. The clients had bed side tables custom built in too. The robe area features a styling station where outfits can be hung and coordinated prior to dressing. The cabinetry in Polytech Black Wenge Venette finish plays a subtle backing role to the main feature of the area in the massive marble clad island drawer unit.  

In the ensuite, two pillars clad with the Cipollino Ondulato Rosso Marble stand are a striking feature of the space and cleverly divide the wet and dry areas of the bathroom.  They are accompanied by twin Como pillar basins by Concrete Nation in Dusty Pink – once again subtly playing off the colours in the feature marble but not competing against it.  Grohe Essence New tapware and Phoenix Radii accessories are featured all in a brushed nickel finish, beautiful in their own right – but just one of the many elements playing a supporting role to the hero of this renovation – the marble. 

The client took the opportunity during the renovation to update much of the homes smart wiring and electrics that also enabled us to incorporate some extravagances like TV monitors in the bedroom that disappear into the ceiling, recessed blinds to the windows, multi white lighting to the makeup station, recessed cabinetry lighting throughout and even a waterproof TV in the shower! 

At the end the project was such a success through the enthusiasm of the client, their willingness to embrace powerful materials and trust in the decisions being made to pull those elements together in something coherent and ultimately beautiful.