twin peaks

The use of heritage brick to clad the central kitchen and living area, highlights this as the hub of the home while ensuring the scale of this form didn't compete with the villa. Inside, the new forms play out through pitched ceilings which help to orient rooms and make for more dynamic interior spaces. The original villa has very ornate plaster ceilings in a couple of key rooms so the new forms operate as a sort of a contemporary hat-tip to those florid designs. The use of the brick outside informed the material palette inside with warm walnut and brass cabinetry reflecting the rustic tones of the brick cladding.

Resene Double Alabaster provides the perfect foil for these rich natural hues and allows for light-play throughout the day to take centre stage in the volumes of the new spaces. Within the villa rooms, colour takes the lead creating depth and interest in the sitting room and snug. In the children's rooms, soft fresh tones provide a lighter, more playful touch.

The client and designer were both keen to see some colour in the home. Villas take colour really well – like marzipans in a sweet shop. The children's bedrooms are in soft, playful hues freshened with ceilings, trims and doors in Resene Double Alabaster. Resene Dawn Pink in the bedroom is especially soothing. The sitting room was to be a restful space. Resene Hit Grey delivers a sense of tranquillity and provides an elegant counterpoint to the ornate plaster ceilings in Resene Double Alabaster that bedeck this space. In the snug, Resene Steel Grey creates a sense of intimacy and makes the space an inviting place to retire at the end of the day. By contrast, white wraps up walls and over ceilings in the new part of the house where modulated ceilings make for more dynamic interior spaces.

Resene SpaceCote was used for interior wall linings to provide a soft, yet serviceable, matte finish, while Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel provides a durable hardwearing finish for doors and trims.

The interior detailing in the original part of the villa is quite special. Ceilings in two of the rooms are in a very ornate plaster motif. To highlight these features a 'white' white was chosen so that the texture of the pattern would read true. The use of colour in the rooms provides a great contrast and also helps to give each space its own distinct character.

This project won the Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Colour Award. The judges said "a breath of tranquillity washes over this home, with a restrained yet undeniably beautiful colour palette. Darker colours are cocooning in more intimate areas leading to lighter hues in shared social spaces. An elegant palette interpreted with modern living in mind. A masterful lesson in how to weave tranquil colour into a home."

Architectural specifier: MAUD
Building contractor: Devo
Landscaping: Babylon Gardens
Stylist: Alice Lines
Photographer: Sam Hartnett
Winner: Resene Total Colour Residential Interior Colour Award
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2020