Reflecting the grandeur of the Victorian era, the newly imagined kitchen and bathrooms in this historic terrace house are a fitting “exposition of colour, ornamentation and detail.”
Pompei is the fourth project that Carter Williamson has designed for the same clients. The couple, with two young children, had a round marble dining table in their previous house that became pivotal to the design of their new home, a Victorian terrace in Sydney’s Inner West.
The terrace was formerly a bed and breakfast, and consequently had an awkward floor plan, compartmentalized rooms and two staircases. The clients engaged Carter Williamson to rationalize the floor plan and create a light and open contemporary home. “The Victorian period was an exposition of colour, ornamentation and detail. This became the basis of our approach to Pompei,” says principal architect Shaun Carter.
Brick steps and a steel archway define the threshold between the old and new sections of the house, with the kitchen, dining and living area now one large space opening to the side courtyard and backyard. The clients’ muchloved dining table, with its round marble top, sits in front of the entrance, with curved joinery along the wall mimicking its form. “The joinery visually embraces and holds the table in its space and gestures how you move around the table and the room,” says Shaun.
The joinery stretches into the kitchen, with the benchtops and splashback formed of the same marble as the dining table. Curves soften the ends and corners of the kitchen island benchtop, and half-dowel timber wraps around the scalloped base, which allows space for people to sit at the bench. Another bench curves around the living room, providing additional seating and morphing into the storage and display unit.
“The clients wanted a warm, light palette that also had a uniqueness about it; a personal touch that they could own,” says Carter Williamson interior designer Julie Niass. The design team used natural materials: timber, marble, brass and light-grey terrazzo flooring with pinks, blushes and yellow-ochre aggregate. A tiled frieze and pink-ochre wall are a modern take on traditional panelling, with the thin vertical tiles adding texture and rhythm as they reflect the light.
Retaining the internal wall between the main bedroom and former study helped conserve the budget and created a large ensuite in line with the historic grandeur of the Victorian terrace. Overlooking the back garden and swimming pool, the bathroom has a luminous quality, with Ming green marble wall tiles fanning up to the datum line to evoke traditional wainscoting, and brushed brass tapware adding a tactile metallic accent.
01 Brick steps and a steel archway mark the threshold between the existing terrace and the new kitchen, dining and living rooms.
02 A white, timber panelled joinery element hugs the curves of the round marble dining table.
03 The kitchen and dining areas share a lofty open-plan space with the new lightfilled living room.
1 Entry
2 Lounge
3 Powder room
4 Dining
5 Kitchen
6 Living
7 Pool
8 Laundry
9 Bedroom
10 Bathroom
11 Study
12 Ensuite