Displaying posts labeled "Mid-century"

The Baxter, an iconic 1950’s apartment building in Bellevue Hill, Sydney has been given a new lease on life. With interiors by SJB Interiors there are a number of renovated 2 bedroom apartments for sale. I, of course, am drawn to the one with the harbour views and the amazing curved windows. The simpler apartments just don’t seem to cut it after that. Lucky I’m not in the market for a 60 year old apartment for just under $1 million AUD. Still I love the kitchens and bathrooms… and the retro furniture. Real estate stalking display units on a Saturday. Links here and here while they last.

An old apartment given a fresh new “do”. Vintage furniture sits happily with polished concrete floors while lighting old and new defines the different zones. It’s bright and fresh, bursting with personality and a just little irreverent. Love the wall of Tretchikoff and David Lynch ladies. Secretly though I would sell my soul for the blue Murano dragon’s tears chandelier. Sigh! A fun apartment makeover by interior design studio Anatomy Design. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa the design duo of Andrea Kleinloog and Megan Hesse has hit just the right balance between high kitsch and high style.

I must admit before I go on that I did not find this fantasy time capsule of a home. Oh no there are other hard core real estate stalkers out there in the internets who email, tempt me, show me things I shouldn’t see. (Thanks Alison!) Welcome to a retrolicious dream home. Oh my! How OTT! How bad taste! How perfect! Like stepping back into an uppers/downers and martini fuelled technocolour, freak show trip. Lattice patterned mirror walls, wall to wall synthetic carpet, a sunken conversation pit that would be right at home in Palm Springs, a stone bathroom and a kitchen that just leaves me gasping. There is even an electric organ! This place is so hot thank goodness there is a pool to jump into to cool down. Even better it’s not for sale. It’s for rent… furnished… move right in… just bring the booze and the Pucci bell bottom pantsuit. I feel an uncontrollable urge to back tease my hair, slather on the eyeliner and slide into my marabou slippers. Perhaps Elvis will drop round when he is finished his shift at the 7-Eleven. See I’m rambling! This lovingly refurshibed 70’s home in Caulfield North, Melbourne is obvious the lair of a retro collector and it could be yours, if just for a little while. Link here if you want to sign the lease.

Minimalist and modern. Two spaces by Berlin based architectural firm bfs design. Retro riffs and textural wall treatments for a modernist glass atrium house or a sparsely elegant interior fitout in an historic apartment. Sophisticated and oh so German cool.

Photos by Annette Kisling

Gissling House, Wahroonga, Sydney. Described as a modest domestic work by Harry Seidler. Untouched by time and fads, developer or the market. As perfect as the day it was completed in 1972. Definitely not modest. To me a suburban jewel of modernism. For sale. I wish I could be so lucky to call this home. Link here while it lasts.