INSIDE: Mt Martha Residence by Studio Esar
Studio Esar’s transformation of this Mount Martha residence has elevated it from dated to delightful. Drawing inspiration from the coastal colours and textures of the Mornington Peninsula, Studio Esar sprinkled its magic over every inch of the house with new materials, textured furnishings, a new kitchen and bathrooms to create a light, warm and layered contemporary home.
Built in the early 2000s, the four-bedroom house had a great layout with generous spaces, high ceilings and beautiful ocean views. But rooms felt cold and dull with a tired and unimaginative palette: grey-tile floors, stark white paint and timber-look wallpaper and laminate surfaces. (You know what we’re talking about, we’ve seen it all before. And don’t need to see it again.)
The clients engaged Studio Esar to rejuvenate and modernise their house. They wanted a place they felt proud to call home and recognised the value in investing in quality materials and updating joinery to a contemporary design. With very little structural modifications required to the interior, Studio Esar elevated the beauty and functionality of spaces with a soft- white, textural and natural palette.
Entering the home, the rhythmic mix of herringbone-timber floors and shiplap-lined walls creates a sense of movement down the hallway and sets the tone for the tactile journey to come. The timber floors continue on the split-level staircase to the living spaces upstairs and bedrooms downstairs. Natural light filters through the new timber battens, enhancing the openness of the stair and ground-floor landing.
On the upper level, the open-plan kitchen, dining and living zones have been kept free of any window furnishings to amplify the natural light and ocean views and let the new joinery and design take centre stage.
Extending the kitchen beyond the central column housing the microwave and coffee machine created a more harmonious and unified space, providing a beautiful, functional backdrop. The striking Fior di Pesco marble on the benchtops, splashback, island and rangehood is the hero of the kitchen, its apricot tinges and brown undertones tying in with the warm pink in the herringbone floors and the soft-white 2pac joinery. The fluted timber wall behind the shelves adds texture and rhythm and closes off a redundant highlight window. Curves introduced to the island benchtop and landing wall smooth transitional spaces and soften the angular edges typical of this era of build.
Down on the lower level, the new design and ambience continues in the bedrooms and bathrooms. The main bedroom is now a serene retreat with extra-chunky loop pile carpet, textural sheer curtains, an upholstered bedhead and frame and hanging pendant lights. Natural stone vanities in the main ensuite and two bathrooms are complemented with bronze tapware and timber veneer joinery, creating an interplay of natural finishes. The existing floor and wall tiles were regrouted, and reeded glass installed to the shower screens to enhance the texture and diffuse the light.
This Mount Martha residence is now unrecognisable from its original incarnation. With a refined and tactile selection of materials and finishes, the mundane has become magical, and the bland is now beautiful.
"The original home is completely unrecognisable. There is not an inch of this 4 bedroom home we didn't touch.” Silvia Roldan, Principal Designer of Studio Esar.
BEFORE
About Studio Esar: An Interior design, decoration & styling studio led by Silvia Roldan; Studio Esar is a practice rooted in emotion and mood. With a talent for distilling a clients individual style, Silvia embraces variety and the unexpected as she revels in colour, texture, materiality and details.