Clever connections: Toorak House

The original Tasmanian oak timber floorboards of Toorak House were hidden beneath carpet and vinyl for two generations. Now a focal point of contemporary alterations, the Tasmanian oak floor stitches together historic and contemporary finishes through the extensive renovation of a treasured family home. The transformation, directed by architect and interior designer Melanie Beynon, improves the home’s liveability for the next generation by tuning rooms to a contemporary way of life.

The kitchen was key to improving the connection between the ceremony of mealtime and the gathering of family and friends in this central social space. A dividing wall was removed so that the kitchen could be permanently open to the sitting room – and both rooms could be open to natural light and garden views. New skylights and timber-framed windows and doors have dramatically improved natural light levels while creating stronger connections to the sky and landscape. Bringing visual cohesion to connected spaces, Tasmanian oak is used for the floors, and its contemporary counterpart, Tasmanian oak veneer, is used on the joinery and island bench.

Visual interest is delivered by clever details that bring variety to the timber applications. Special moments come in the repetition of solid timber battens, which introduce a vertical rhythm to the tall pantries and the curved end of the island bench. The curvature, Melanie explains, “establishes a sense of arrival and creates a place where friends are welcomed and invited to linger at the end of the bench.”

While timber remains the hero of the social rooms of the house and is expertly balanced by muted finishes in white, the private spaces of the ensuite and bathrooms find energy and expression in the bold graphics and colour of ceramic wall and floor tiles. Cool tones and rippling textures are achieved in the ensuite with the watercolour wash and scale-like finish of the wall tiles. In the adjacent powder room, retro geometries of purple and red tiles reverberate on the pink walls of this small and exuberant space.

According to Melanie, good design calls for a clear spatial strategy and the inventive use of local materials. At Toorak House, the creative use of timbers and tiles – simple, available materials – brings beauty and visual interest while enabling the spatial strategy of opening and connecting spaces to be more effectively realized. The careful and subtle manipulation of volume, light and material finish is respectful of old while being invigoratingly new.