With its sprawling beaches, wide open spaces and relaxed lifestyle, it makes sense that coastal inspired design is popular among Perth home owners and designers alike. More people are refusing to accept cookie-cutter homes. Gone are the days of row upon row of rendered, neutral-coloured angular properties in building estates.
Instead, they are being replaced by private sanctuaries which reflect a culture of growing up in the beautiful and relaxed city that Perth is.
People are more interested in versatile, textural and eclectic finishes and big businesses are responding by adding hand-made or natural products to their ranges.
Homes with designs inspired by the world famous, affluent American beachside suburb of the Hamptons are popping up all over Perth, featuring products such as hand-made bricks, painted cladding and decorative architraves.
The trend, which allows home owners endless opportunities to mix and match finishes to create truly unique spaces, is relaxed but sophisticated at the same time.
Hand-made bricks are a great option for creating a rustic and timeless feature on a home’s exterior, says Midland Brick’s Sean Adomeit.
The bricks are not extruded like regular bricks. Instead they are made using individual moulds meaning each batch is slightly different.
“Hand-made bricks with their rustic finish and striking colours create a truly individual look and we encourage customers to come and personally select their own product,” Sean says.
“I really think people are tired of the ultra-contemporary look and they want to go back to basics with textural surfaces which are hand-made where possible.”
The popularity of timber shutters has sky-rocketed in recent years, probably due to the fact that they are now more affordable than ever before.
When used in conjunction with other products such as timber flooring and stone feature walls, shutters can help to create classic and stylish beach house design.
Shutters can be used to create striking visual effects within the home and they also increase a property’s street appeal.
They lend themselves very well to the beach house look because they are a natural product and they offer great protection from the sun.
Rod Holm from Access Timber Flooring says wooden floors have always been popular in Western Australia but these days there are more options to choose from in terms of the look and feel of the product. He says timber floors are perfect for beach-house themed design because they were fuss-free, organic and warm underfoot.
“Recently, we have definitely had more people approach us looking for Hampton’s inspired floors,” he says.
“Generally what they are after is the French Oak or American Oak and normally they stain them a darker colour. Parquetry is also a good fit for that type of look.”
Timber flooring adds value because it is timeless and elegant.
“We often hear that people want to pull up existing flooring and put down timber because it just works so well in Western Australia,” he says.
Another standout feature of Hamptons design is an internal abundance of natural light.
Big windows and skylights are the perfect way to bring more daylight into any home.
Beautiful Velux skylights are often high on the priority list for new home owners and renovators because they are a design feature in themselves. Velux’s Kim Blanchard says his company offers a range of different products to suit different needs and budgets but all are extremely aesthetically appealing.
“Skylights provide ventilation as well as extra light and they definitely make the space seem bigger and more appealing in general. They suit the Hamptons style well because they also help integrate the house with the natural surrounds,” he says.
“There is nothing like lying in bed and watching the stars through a skylight in the roof.”
