Photography: Martina Gemmola / Styling: Belle Hemming
Feeling a kinship with your interior designer is surely the first step to a successful project – and the owners of this Mt Buller apartment didn’t have to look too hard to find a connection with their designer, Kate Walker.
“The apartment in question was one that my fiancé and I had looked at purchasing, so I had an intimate knowledge of the interior, and of the potential,” says Kate. “We didn’t have the chance to purchase the apartment, so the joy I derived vicariously by being able to deliver the owners their dream ski home was immense.” In addition, the homeowners’ tastes and vision for the property aligned perfectly with Kate’s own. “It was definitely a passion project,” she says.
Designing a weekender is an opportunity to have fun with interiors – when it’s not your permanent home, you can be bolder than you otherwise would while, in theory, skimming over some of the mundane practicalities. In that sense, this project was a unique challenge because the ski-mad homeowners use it full-time for a large chunk of the year, living and working here for weeks on end, with their young children. “It was very important for us to design a home away from home that wasn’t just a weekender,” explains Kate.
Living area
The owners wanted a boundary-pushing space, with pops of colour and playfulness. “The whole apartment envelops you with colour – sultry blues, inky charcoals, purples, oranges, chartreuse, navy and hot pink,” shares Kate. The result is delightfully contradictory: cocooning yet invigorating, luxurious but ultimately warm and welcoming.
Walls in Porter’s Paints Dark Newport Blue set a moody tone in the living area, where daring hues stand out against the deep backdrop and reflect the homeowners’ enthusiasm for bold colour.
Sleek ‘McClain’ picture lights from The Montauk Lighting Co, on either side of the fireplace, illuminate deer prints from Cromwell.
Dining nook
The dining nook is a truly multi-functional space: cosy enough for dinner en famille, able to seat up to 10 people when entertaining, and used as a comfy work-from-home zone during the day.
The nook is framed in the warmth of brass, with a Kelly Wearstler ‘Utopia Linear’ pendant overhead, Aerin ‘Iva’ wrapped sconces on either side (all from The Montauk Lighting Co), and the bronze-toned hammered resin base of the Hamilton Conte ‘Ines’ dining table.
Upholstery delivers colour, with Gubi ‘Beetle’ dining chairs from Surrounding upholstered in royal purple, and space-savvy banquette seating in Jerry Pair orange leather and pinstriped velvet ‘Stella’ fabric from Pierre Frey.
Kitchen
“The kitchen is multi-purpose, and so beautiful. By day it’s a light and inviting family kitchen, and by night it becomes a moody bar,” says Kate.
“The magnificent result shows how incredibly inspiring and transporting a space can be when you commit to colour.”
Kate Walker, interior designer
Bunk room
As well as the holiday home essentials, the owners also needed a WFH space that would be flexible enough for them to work in relatively close confines with each other and their children. To solve this problem, the largest bedroom was turned over to the kids and reinvented as a bunk room-meets-rumpus room, giving the family a secondary living space for the children to play in. Meanwhile, the parents have their choice of workstations, with built-in desks in the bedrooms and a dining nook that can be turned into a spacious desk.
The children’s room doubles as a rumpus and TV room. Custom joinery is key: bunks, a built-in bed/sofa, oodles of cabinets, plus under-bed storage. “This space planning decision was an absolute game changer in terms of the functionality, turning what was a three-bedroom apartment with a small living space into a three-bedroom apartment that includes a bunk room with a three-sleeping capacity that doubles as a rumpus room,” says Kate.
We love… multifunctional spaces
Main bedroom
Kate mixed patterns in the main bedroom, with the ikat bedhead in Pierre Frey ‘Pitaya’ fabric balanced out by cushions in Ralph Lauren ‘Dudley Glen’ fabric and carpet in a tartan pattern from KWD&Co.
Bedroom
The residence required no skimping on the storage, too. “With my experience of alpine life, I know what is required in terms of ski gear storage,” says Kate. “It is very bulky and requires specific care with adequate drying cupboards.”
The bedroom storage is abundant – there’s no living out of a suitcase here – and lockable cupboards mean the owners can lease out the apartment, if they so desire, without removing their own gear.
With the homeowners working from the apartment, Kate integrated desk spaces into each of the bedrooms. In one of the home’s bedrooms, an ‘Arch’ vanity chair from Snelling Studio serves as a boudoir-worthy office chair – the warm hues link back to the bedhead in Lee Jofa ‘Leyland’ fabric.
Laundry
Located at the entrance, the laundry needed to look great as well as being practical.
Interior designer: KWD, katewalkerdesign.com.au, (03) 5974 1800.
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