INTERIOR DESIGN
Reimagining your home – five ideas for purposeful peace
WORDS: Interior Designer, Sonia Simpfendorfer, Nexus Design PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied
Away from the outside world, our homes are our sanctuaries – they should be peaceful and purposeful. Having designed the interiors for hundreds of homes, my design philosophy is rooted in simplicity. Through a deep understanding of how you use your home, considered use of colour, light and space-planning can create spaces that transform how you feel in your everyday life.
- Opening up the space
From removing walls and ceiling plasterboard bulkheads to changing doorway locations, modify your space so that the pathways work for how you want to use the space. This can range from opening up an enclosed kitchen into your main living area to creating more height in the ceiling or moving a bedroom doorway to align with a window, letting light pour into a previously dark corridor.
- Creating unity
Consider using the same materials, colours and finishes throughout your home that relate to and complement its natural surroundings. Unified flooring, tiling and joinery throughout will make it feel less cluttered and more open, creating a greater sense of flow and spaciousness. Maintaining a subtle colour palette will support this, while bursts of colour can be thoughtfully injected into fixtures and fittings.
- Creating points of interest
Consider how the spaces relate to each other. Standing at different points in your home, what can you see from where, and are you drawn to those places? This means paying attention to often overlooked transitory spaces. Do you have a window that looks out to a beautiful view? Consider placing a chair there. Do you have an empty wall at the end of a corridor? Consider placing some inspiring visual or sculptural art there.
- Integrating storage
We all have lots of stuff; whether it be practical or sentimental, it should have a home. Consider including integrated and functional storage systems. This approach reduces visual clutter and removes stress because you know where to find things. A floating shelf in an entrance hallway, for example, performs the function of a table but removes the visual bulk. Meanwhile, in other areas, full-height wardrobes help you best utilise the space available. Incorporating multi-functional items of furniture such as wooden benches that can be used as desks or breakfast nooks can also help you to optimise the functionality of your space.
- Bringing the outside in
Consider expanding your living area to extend outdoors. This can be done through adding glass doors to your balcony or garden, and adding an alfresco dining option to enable you to see and engage with your location. As part of this, consider taking a light-handed approach to windowcoverings. Sheer curtains for example can softly diffuse light, whilst not dominating or obstructing the view outside. Being honest about what matters to you most will help ensure you get the fundamental elements of your home right.
After all, our homes can and should create a sense of ease, simplicity and calm — a sanctuary to which we can return to in our daily lives.
About the author
Sonia Simpfendorfer is a Co-Director of Nexus Designs – an Australian-based multidisciplinary
design studio. Committed to transforming homes and the lives of those who live in them, Sonia
draws on her thirty years of industry experience to determine the creative direction of every
Nexus Designs interiors project – creating distinctive, enduring and highly personal spaces.
