Rejecting the traditional aesthetic notions of the coastal abode, Coastal Home instead expresses the personality and storied art collection of its client. Decus Interiors combines elements from the existing heritage home through a contemporary lens to anchor the home’s past in the present.

Bridging the original heritage-listed home and its indelible ornate features and history with a contemporary approach, Decus Interiors together with Tim Wright Architect injects a present relevance. Instead of the traditional and anticipated coastal aesthetic, the interiors take vision from the owners’ art collection and combines this with inspiration from the home’s history. As a reflection of the clients’ own past, the art collection connects to place, people and occasion, so expressing this through the engrossing home in which it resides became the natural approach. The resulting home combines an ingrained sense of quality and luxury, while also connecting to an expression of craft and contemporary refinement.

Located adjacent the beach in Perth, Coastal Home is surrounded by established indigenous vegetation and is home to a large family. As both a place of residence and a place to gather, the home is an invitation to entertain and the renovation and extension works are imagined as a reflection of this. The three-story extension physically adds to the original heritage home and creates space for an ease in planning of the compact brief. Unlike many contemporary extensions, Coastal Home embraces its past by implementing traditional cornices and period mouldings in the addition, as well as preserving these details in the original. This boundary is further blurred where, conversely, contemporary elements filter into the original home to effortlessly bind the old and new.

The influence of the art collection is felt in the approach to finishes, materiality and colour throughout. Although showcases in themselves, the architectural response is based on the pre-existing collection as the context around which everything else pivots. The resulting palette proposes a design language that combines earthy, natural tones with textiles that add texture and richness. The use of darkened timber is contrasted against white-painted ornately-detailed walls and ceilings, lush floor coverings, and rich furnishings.