Decorating & Design
April 25, 2016
Go Inside A Colorful Australian Home
With summer approaching, it’s time to embrace all the colors from the great outdoors and bring them into your home. Take a cue from this stylish Melbourne, Australia bungalow, featured in the book Kaleidoscope: Living in Colors and Patterns, which masters the use of color. Originally built in the 1960s, rich teal, greens and golds maintain the retro feel while playing off the lush Australian surroundings. Click through to see inside the vibrant space that will give you a major dose of color therapy.
When Katie Graham, owner of Australian home decor store The Family Love Tree, first bought her one story Melbourne bungalow, it was “quite Liberace.” In seven weeks the gaudy wallpaper and gilt chandeliers went and she re-did the space in a rich, contemporary palette.
In the principal bedroom, a feature wall in bright blue injects some life into the room. It feels sumptuous and grown-up thanks to the layered shades of blues, browns and greens in the textiles.
Elsewhere in the principal bedroom, dramatic drapery — carried over from the narrow window above the bed — combines with the dark floor covering to make an impact. Keeping the furniture light and within the same palette as the art saves it from being busy or overwrought.
The dark feature wall doesn’t feel grim thanks to the surrounding white walls and the warm tones of the furniture. It’s just dramatic enough without being overwhelming.
Katie embraced the old parquet flooring and added some visual interest by creating art with pale wood inlaid in patterns, giving a fresh update to the dated floors.
“Based on the garden views, each room was awarded its own color scheme: teal, olive, green, tobacco and gold.” Outside, all those colors are brought together in perfect harmony, embracing natural elements and materials.