A Wollongong interior design firm has earned national recognition for its work on a show-stopping southern Illawarra home, with the kitchen and bathrooms in the house taking out a national design award. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading Known as the Hai Lang Residence, the two-storey multigenerational house was designed by JIH Building Design.
Built over two blocks in a new development area, it was finished at the end of last year, with the interiors designed by Wollongong's Birdblack Interior Design . Owner and principal designer of the 10-year-old interiors firm Sarah Nolen said the project was "the epitome of luxury" and had a "nice healthy budget" which allowed her and co-designer Stuart Gibson to take a unique approach. The architecture and interiors is inspired by the clients' heritage, with "Hai Lang" translating to "wave" in Mandarin, which is apt for the beach front property.
"This project really pushed the boundaries of what we've seen in Australia in the way of design and engineering, so I think that's really exciting that it's here in the Illawarra," she said. "We're not looking at some big inner city Sydney or Melbourne project, and I think that's really special that the Illawarra is really being put on the map for design." Last week, the bathroom and powder room won the national round of the Trend International Design Awards, which means Birdblack will now go on to compete on the world stage.
The kitchen of the home previously won its category in the same design awards. Ms Nolen said Birdblack took a restrained but luxurious approach when designing the fit-out, with the interiors complementing the unique wave-style architecture of the home. "There's lots of curves in the home, and there's a lot of concealed beautiful lighting to accentuate that architecture," she said.
"The main bathroom is part of a primary suite - so this level of the home is dedicated to the husband and wife homeowners, and it's got a really a beautiful flow-on effect from the bedroom, the walk-in robe and the bathroom. "We wanted the bathroom to feel like you're stepping into this space of respite, a safe haven with really warm, soft tones." To do this, the walls and ceiling are clad in micro cement with real gold and silver flakes thrown into it, there are timber finishes in soft tones and the dressing table and vanity unit are covered in a liquid metal copper finish.
"The centrepiece is the stone - Azul Roma marble - which like a piece of art sitting behind the bath, rather than hanging something on the wall, and then the bath in itself is quite amazing because it almost like it looks like it's been made a pottery spinning wheel, with layered, linear lines to it," Ms Nolen said. She said could be was tempting in a high-budget project to go all-out, but the success of this design had come from knowing when to hold back. "When you've got a nice, healthy budget to work with in such a beautiful architecturally designed home, it takes restraint to not put in every new material and make it crazy and blingy," she said.
"We've gone for pared back appeal, which is about highlighting the shape and the the form of the space." "The more you stand in that room, the more you see all these little details." The powder room in the house was also recognised at the awards, and Ms Nolen said Birdblack used striking wallpaper with a gold finish and design of birds and the moon to make it stand out.
"This is where we did want to add a bit of pizzazz because powder rooms, in our opinion at Birdblack, are that is a space where you can go a bit more fun and more wild," she said. "It's a space that your guests use, so you can have a moment of like, 'Whoa, this is really cool, I wasn't expecting to see this behind the door.'" There's also a striking washbasin in the powder room, which has an elongated Italian ceiling spout instead of a traditional tap.
"Again we went for elements that look like pieces of art or sculptures, so there's that wow when a guest walks in almost like, 'Oh, what is this? Where's the tap? Oh, maybe it's this thing that's hanging from the ceiling'," she said. "The lighting is also a big component of everything we've done in this home - so you don't really see any light fittings, and it's all hidden lighting so when you turn the switch on you've got an illumination of spaces rather than seeing any LED strips visibly." Ms Nolen said more and more of Illawarra clients had started to push the boundaries in the design of their home in recent years.
"We are seeing lots of people requesting this sort of design, which is fantastic for us because that's what we love to do," she said. For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit. More from Latest News.
