Soft Layering – Weave House by Hugh-Jones Mackintosh

Inwardly focused, Weave House layers in elements of personalisation and textural richness to transform the interiors of an existing abode. Hugh-Jones Mackintosh draws from a warm and diverse palette to create a soft and calming home, filled with light and openly connected to its Sydney Harbour views.

While not every home is able to be transformed structurally, or extended in terms of the overall footprint, Weave House is an ideal example of restraint and working internally to increase useable space. In focusing inward, the alterations of the home have been contained to the interior and are about optimising the existing architecture. Bringing light into the otherwise dark home, Hugh-Jones Mackintosh opens up and lightens the various spaces through colour, texture and a muted and cohesive palette. The result ensures the spaces act as a portal to calm, while maintaining a connection to the surrounds through an unchanged exterior form.

Through a more contemporary interpretation of warmth, the new steers toward lighter elements and opening up connects to encourage flow and movement.

Enviably located with views overlooking Sydney Harbour, Weave House previously conveyed a heaviness through its interior make up, with the main aim of the new works to give imbue the existing home with a new identity. Responding to how the existing materiality and connection to spaces felt shut off from the surrounds, an opening the home both spatially and to natural light enabled more meaningful connections to be established. Through a contemporary interpretation of warmth, the new steers toward lighter elements and opening up to encourage flow and movement. Bringing the essence of Sydney’s outdoor lifestyle and connection to the ocean was also key, reinforcing textural and colour direction.

The four-bedroom home elevates its existing conditions through layering of interesting textures and tactile elements, seeing furniture, artwork and lighting all create moments of curiosity. Mixing with a coastal warmth, tones of blush, terracotta and mustard further add softness. A clean white base allows the added elements to feel celebrated and offers a sense of balance in the process. As one of the main interventions, the creation of a wine room converts a previous playroom into an adult’s retreat, elevated through the use of stone and connected to the living spaces through steel and glass doors.

Bringing the essence of Sydney’s outdoor lifestyle and connection to the ocean was also key, reinforcing textural and colour direction.

Through a carefully considered approach, Hugh-Jones Mackintosh’s Weave House emerges connected and open to its context through an internal approach, enriching the experience and allowing for a unique personalisation.