Houzz Tour: A Luxurious Open-plan Penthouse in Sydney
A total renovation combines natural wood and white walls with sociable spaces to create a contemporary home perfect for enjoying retirement
There are worse ways to spend your retirement than living a life of leisure from a penthouse overlooking a beach, but before the future owners of this gorgeous property handed over their hard-earned money to buy their dream retirement home, they sought advice from the designers at C+M Studio. Fortunately, the apartment had great potential to become a wonderful home that made the most of its location, and the couple went ahead and bought it.
Before they could move in and enjoy it, however, it needed a complete makeover. As it was, the apartment was a rabbit warren of disconnected rooms that failed to make the most of the stunning views.
‘The strongest motivation for the clients was to create a beautiful, coastal home in which to retire,’ says C+M Studio co-director Christopher Glanville. ‘They wished to create a home to house their large visiting family, with inviting living spaces for entertaining, a big kitchen as the heart of the apartment, a rumpus room and guest room to house the grandchildren, as well as a long dining table for family dinners, without compromising their private living spaces with the master suite and study.’
The designers saw this as an opportunity to juxtapose the warm, open living spaces with smaller, more tranquil private spaces. Using some clever engineering to remove the majority of existing walls, they used a crane to bring in large steel beams to lengthen the spans and create an open, free-flowing living/dining space.
‘The client was immensely happy with the project,’ Glanville says. ‘The finished product was exactly what they had asked for: a simple, beautiful, unique coastal home, with the perfect balance of open, public and tranquil, private spaces.’
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here A couple looking to enjoy retirement with family and friends
Location Sydney, Australia
Designer C+M Studio
Size 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Renovation cost £300,000
Before they could move in and enjoy it, however, it needed a complete makeover. As it was, the apartment was a rabbit warren of disconnected rooms that failed to make the most of the stunning views.
‘The strongest motivation for the clients was to create a beautiful, coastal home in which to retire,’ says C+M Studio co-director Christopher Glanville. ‘They wished to create a home to house their large visiting family, with inviting living spaces for entertaining, a big kitchen as the heart of the apartment, a rumpus room and guest room to house the grandchildren, as well as a long dining table for family dinners, without compromising their private living spaces with the master suite and study.’
The designers saw this as an opportunity to juxtapose the warm, open living spaces with smaller, more tranquil private spaces. Using some clever engineering to remove the majority of existing walls, they used a crane to bring in large steel beams to lengthen the spans and create an open, free-flowing living/dining space.
‘The client was immensely happy with the project,’ Glanville says. ‘The finished product was exactly what they had asked for: a simple, beautiful, unique coastal home, with the perfect balance of open, public and tranquil, private spaces.’
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here A couple looking to enjoy retirement with family and friends
Location Sydney, Australia
Designer C+M Studio
Size 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Renovation cost £300,000
Following the curve of the wall leads you to the main living space, with views out to the ocean visible between the floating linen curtains from Simple Studio.
The ocean views from the apartment are nothing short of spectacular.
The room is furnished with dark brown cowhide rugs over the sisal flooring, a long, tan leather sofa from Staples and Co, and two linen lounge chairs from Jardan.
On the wall above the sofa is a large-scale underwater photograph by Mark Tipple from Otomys.
The copper and brass E15 Habibi tables are from Living Edge.
As you head towards the kitchen, you pass a reading nook, with a limited-edition, all-black Eames Lounger, E15 Backenzahn timber side table, and Lean floor lamp. The full-height white poly-joinery conceals the building services and houses the TV unit on one side and a concealed bar on the other.
The open kitchen has honed stone floors in a pale grey.
The immense kitchen island dominates the space, and a custom-designed 4m-long American oak dining table is big enough to accommodate a crowd.
Check out some more stylish kitchen islands
Check out some more stylish kitchen islands
The kitchen island hosts the hob, and a built-in exhaust drops down from the ceiling. The island surrounds are built from Mafi timber boards to match the feature wall behind.
A number of doors are concealed within the feature wall. Two open to pantry spaces, and another hides the entrance to the family room – a private space to house the grandkids and to relax away from the busy entertaining areas.
The family room, with custom curved oak joinery and floating sheer curtains, is furnished with a beautiful Milo sofa from Jardan in grey, blue and green felts. More artwork from Otomys sits above the sofa, which is littered with cushions from Sydney company Line on the Side.
A Hay Peas rug in grey, from Cult/Corporate Culture, is layered over the sisal carpet.
As you follow the wall around out of the kitchen, you enter a hallway with more concealed doors that lead through the timber walls into the tranquil guest room on one side, the rear bathroom utility space ahead, and through a white panel door into the master suite in the other direction.
A pivot door opens to the master suite and study.
The master suite has timber along the length of one wall, and a timber feature headboard and built-in bedside light along the other.
See 10 cool ways to use wood cladding
See 10 cool ways to use wood cladding
One of Glanville’s favourite features is the open design of the en suite, enclosed only by a Simple Studio sheer curtain, as used throughout the project to add privacy and soften the spaces.
‘It was initially a point of contention with the clients. However, after spending time in the boutique hotels of southeast Asia, they were happy to move forward with an open-plan master suite design.’
‘It was initially a point of contention with the clients. However, after spending time in the boutique hotels of southeast Asia, they were happy to move forward with an open-plan master suite design.’
The curved curtain hides a bathroom of marble and round penny tiles with timber joinery that draws warmth into the space.
The study is hidden behind a white pivot door, off the master suite.
The biggest challenge for the designers in this project was working with the cluttered existing layout and a strangely shaped building to create a warm and inviting space, as well as dealing with the legal restrictions when it came to form and finish.
‘We overcame these issues by using them as an opportunity to change our perspective on the design and explore a range of different options,’ Glanville says. In the case of the shape of the building, it allowed them to explore the use of curves, which became the strongest feature of the design.
‘We overcame these issues by using them as an opportunity to change our perspective on the design and explore a range of different options,’ Glanville says. In the case of the shape of the building, it allowed them to explore the use of curves, which became the strongest feature of the design.
The guest room features custom oak joinery and an open floating shelf with a curved stainless-steel rail above and space to keep sisal baskets for storage below.
A simple studio curtain floats behind the headboard with Louis Poulson lights from Living Edge dangling above Jardan marble side tables.
The guest room is home to a Trevor Mein painting from Otomys.
The utility room at the rear acts as both a bathroom and laundry space, with Corian cabinetry and white penny tiles with white grout throughout. The shower sits above a freestanding bath, while the joinery along the back wall houses the laundry.
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The curved timber wall came about because legal requirements meant timber floorboards weren’t an option. ‘We decided we would place them on the wall instead and, using the pre-grooved Mafi boards, we were able to wrap them around the curves of the wall,’ Glanville says. ‘The wall became the focus of the project, and is the major source of warmth and texture in the space.’