Interior Design
See Incredible Homes Shortlisted for the Interior Design Awards
The finalists of the 2023 Australian Interior Design Awards have just been unveiled – step inside some of our favourites
The Australian Interior Design Awards, now in its 20th year, celebrates the very best in interior design and decoration across the country. The shortlisted projects have just been revealed, giving you an opportunity to see not just the work of our incredible local talent, but where design shifts are heading in the near future. We invite you inside a few of our favourites in the Residential Design and Residential Decoration categories.
Designer: Kate Nixon
Project: Sugarloaf
Location: NSW
Photographer: Maree Homer
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Panoramic vistas and rambling native secret gardens inspired the transformation of this Harold Smith-designed 1940s brick-and-tile cottage on Sydney’s lower north shore.
Project: Sugarloaf
Location: NSW
Photographer: Maree Homer
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Panoramic vistas and rambling native secret gardens inspired the transformation of this Harold Smith-designed 1940s brick-and-tile cottage on Sydney’s lower north shore.
The reconfiguration, refurbishment and furnishing required intricate details and elegant finishes with an intimate understanding of the client’s way of life.
Designer: Carter Williamson Architects
Project: Rosso Verde
Location: NSW
Photographer: Pablo Veiga
Shortlist for: NSW Residential Design
Project: Rosso Verde
Location: NSW
Photographer: Pablo Veiga
Shortlist for: NSW Residential Design
Designer’s comments: An alteration to an existing warehouse conversion, Rosso Verde is quality over quantity personified, whose name is inspired by the bold palette of warm and natural materials throughout and the return of green space to the project by removing close to a third of the roof.
Designer: Inarc Interior Design
Project: Gathering House
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Timothy Kaye
Styling: Madeline McFarlane
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments:
The project is designed as a welcoming place for friends and family to gather, where flexible spaces expand or contract to suit a myriad of family activities. The bold and graceful forms create a place where art, architecture and the landscape exist in symphony.
Project: Gathering House
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Timothy Kaye
Styling: Madeline McFarlane
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments:
The project is designed as a welcoming place for friends and family to gather, where flexible spaces expand or contract to suit a myriad of family activities. The bold and graceful forms create a place where art, architecture and the landscape exist in symphony.
Designer: Neil Architecture and Simone Haag
Project: Weeroona
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Tom Blachford
Shortlisted for: Simone Haag for Victoria Residential Decoration; and Neil Architecture for Victoria Residential Design
Simone Haag’s comments: Engaged to bring decorative elements that respond to renovations by Neil Architecture, Simone Haag curated the furniture, artwork and objects.
Weeroona dovetails a gallery experience with the undeniable notion of home, with bold expression at the front and rear, while everything in between is a gentle coalescence of styles.
Project: Weeroona
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Tom Blachford
Shortlisted for: Simone Haag for Victoria Residential Decoration; and Neil Architecture for Victoria Residential Design
Simone Haag’s comments: Engaged to bring decorative elements that respond to renovations by Neil Architecture, Simone Haag curated the furniture, artwork and objects.
Weeroona dovetails a gallery experience with the undeniable notion of home, with bold expression at the front and rear, while everything in between is a gentle coalescence of styles.
Neil Architecture comments: Weeroona is a modern adaptation of the traditional Queen Anne house. Extending beyond the heritage exterior, a contemporary extension evolves the original detailing through subtle integration of the original form and new additions.
The final design creates a cohesive whole by delicately balancing the heritage-era home and contemporary additions.
The final design creates a cohesive whole by delicately balancing the heritage-era home and contemporary additions.
Designer: Michiru Higginbotham
Project: Hargrave Cottage
Location: NSW
Photographer: Nic Gossage
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Hargrave Cottage navigates the relationship between its heritage context, tight urban site and the progressive lifestyle of its young professional occupants, their wishes for privacy, prospect and love of entertaining.
Project: Hargrave Cottage
Location: NSW
Photographer: Nic Gossage
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Hargrave Cottage navigates the relationship between its heritage context, tight urban site and the progressive lifestyle of its young professional occupants, their wishes for privacy, prospect and love of entertaining.
The project adds a contemporary layer to the traditional, taking cues from the period expression, crafting into the new.
Designer: Madeleine Blanchfield Architects
Project: Nine-Square Bondi
Location: NSW
Photographer: Anson Smart
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Nine-Square Bondi is a breakaway project curating space, memory, place, experience and objects.
Project: Nine-Square Bondi
Location: NSW
Photographer: Anson Smart
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Nine-Square Bondi is a breakaway project curating space, memory, place, experience and objects.
A challenging brief results in a series of uplifting, light-filled volumes that engage in a playful way with the vibrant local community and the family’s evocations of recent years in Hong Kong.
Designer: Melbourne Design Studios
Project: Hütt 01 Passivhaus
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Maitreya Chandorkar
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Bright, comfortable and playful, Hütt 01 Passivhaus showcases a better way of building and a more sustainable way of living in a net-zero energy home.
Project: Hütt 01 Passivhaus
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Maitreya Chandorkar
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Bright, comfortable and playful, Hütt 01 Passivhaus showcases a better way of building and a more sustainable way of living in a net-zero energy home.
Designed for a young family, the layout provides interior/exterior connections across all three levels, creating a relaxing inner-urban oasis within a tiny footprint.
Designer: YSG Studio
Project: Home and Away
Location: NSW
Photographer: Anson Smart
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Grounded by hybridised Spanish Mission and Moroccan riad elements with flashes of Egyptian splendour, this casa both nurtures with sanctuary-like appeal and inspires with fictional flair.
Project: Home and Away
Location: NSW
Photographer: Anson Smart
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Grounded by hybridised Spanish Mission and Moroccan riad elements with flashes of Egyptian splendour, this casa both nurtures with sanctuary-like appeal and inspires with fictional flair.
A sociable Palm Springs breeze wafts throughout, given fluid connections to the tropical garden and pool, plus the newly built cabana.
Designer: Arent & Pyke
Project: Salsa Verde
Location: NSW
Photographer: Anson Smart
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: After years abroad, our client yearned for a place to settle, a home uniquely theirs, reflecting their experiences travelling and passion for art and entertaining.
Project: Salsa Verde
Location: NSW
Photographer: Anson Smart
Shortlisted for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: After years abroad, our client yearned for a place to settle, a home uniquely theirs, reflecting their experiences travelling and passion for art and entertaining.
Applying a language of detail and texture throughout, a comforting and embracing glow is artfully balanced with bold, bespoke design, creating a forever home.
Designer: CG Design Studio
Project: Paddington Residence
Location: Queensland
Photographer: Brock Beazley
Shortlisted for: Queensland Residential Design
Designer’s comments:
On a steeply sloping site, an extensive build is perched beyond a classic cottage facade, where contemporary curves are underpinned by mid-century lines.
Project: Paddington Residence
Location: Queensland
Photographer: Brock Beazley
Shortlisted for: Queensland Residential Design
Designer’s comments:
On a steeply sloping site, an extensive build is perched beyond a classic cottage facade, where contemporary curves are underpinned by mid-century lines.
Repetition of bold patterns and texture are contrasted by the fresh white brickwork and lightweight construction, referencing the airy essence quintessential to Queensland homes.
Designer: Edition Office
Project: Mary Street House
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments: A continuous motif of undulating textured brick walls define the social spaces of the Mary Street House, shaping a sequence of indoor and outdoor rooms that emerge from a restored Federation-era home.
Project: Mary Street House
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments: A continuous motif of undulating textured brick walls define the social spaces of the Mary Street House, shaping a sequence of indoor and outdoor rooms that emerge from a restored Federation-era home.
Private retreats are universally lined in deeply toned spotted-gum plywood, creating immersive spaces of quietude and sanctuary.
Designer: Alexandra Kidd Interior Design
Project: Woollhara House
Location: NSW
Photographer: Prue Ruscoe
Shortlist for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Woollahra House is the transformation of a cold, dark and dated three-bedroom Victorian terrace in Woollahra, NSW, into a warm, light-filled and contemporary home, renovated to last for generations.
Project: Woollhara House
Location: NSW
Photographer: Prue Ruscoe
Shortlist for: NSW Residential Design and Residential Decoration
Designer’s comments: Woollahra House is the transformation of a cold, dark and dated three-bedroom Victorian terrace in Woollahra, NSW, into a warm, light-filled and contemporary home, renovated to last for generations.
Woollahra House is a modern, beautiful project that puts the exceptional talents of creative Australian women front and centre.
Designer: Kennedy Nolan
Project: Somers House
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Shortlisted for: Victoria
Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Somers House is a weekender and summer house. The house provides a dignified and visually gentle approach to universal design, and is a large dwelling that doesn’t oppress with the sense of empty rooms.
Project: Somers House
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Shortlisted for: Victoria
Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Somers House is a weekender and summer house. The house provides a dignified and visually gentle approach to universal design, and is a large dwelling that doesn’t oppress with the sense of empty rooms.
The spatial arrangement supports privacy and separation but makes coming together effortless and celebrated.
Designer: Finnis Architects and Interior Design
Project: Ten Asling
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Damien Kook
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Ten Asling Street utilised refined detailing combined with price-sensitive materiality to create a considered and timeless approach to a multi-residential setting.
Project: Ten Asling
Location: Victoria
Photographer: Damien Kook
Shortlisted for: Victoria Residential Design
Designer’s comments: Ten Asling Street utilised refined detailing combined with price-sensitive materiality to create a considered and timeless approach to a multi-residential setting.
A highly considered set of spatial conditions influenced the architecture through an interior-centric approach that maximised yield across the six bespoke three-storey townhouses.
Your turn
Which of these beautiful spaces most inspires you? Tell us in the Comments below and join the conversation.
More
Want to see more Australian homes currently shortlisted for major awards? Check out this story: Paintbrushes Poised! 2023 Dulux Colour Awards Finalists Are In
Your turn
Which of these beautiful spaces most inspires you? Tell us in the Comments below and join the conversation.
More
Want to see more Australian homes currently shortlisted for major awards? Check out this story: Paintbrushes Poised! 2023 Dulux Colour Awards Finalists Are In
Project: 123 House
Location: WA
Photographer: Traianos Pakioufakis
Shortlisted for: WA Residential Design
Designer’s comments: The house and its interior were designed with a melting pot of the client’s own life stories and that of the suburb, in a celebration of the specific place in which the house and its interior are located and are a reflection of the lives of people who inhabit the spaces.