Beneath the blue-pink tones, there is an uncanny stillness in this home that anticipates the promise of “everyday eventfulness,” a concept that is indivisible from Hockney – and delightfully surprising.
— Ying-Lan Dann, Houses Magazine
In the final stage of the renovation of the Ivanhoe House the primary living spaces were reconfigured to better connect to the garden.
The Living Room bathed in northern and western sunlight and with big views to the garden and pool takes colour cues from painter Isca Greenfield-Sanders and David Hockney’s depictions of swimming pools and the suburban wonderland of these, so often depicted in LA and Palm Springs movie scenes.
The character of the decorative two-dimensional ceilings present in the older rooms of the house – in particular the Gin and Movie Rooms – were re-interpreted here in the form of three-dimensional sculptural ceilings, decorative in form as opposed to surface.
The Kitchen and dining space, relocated to a former billiards room, sits facing the garden under a pink lid. Full of light, the ambition for this space was for it to feel sun kissed, and somewhat theatrical – a setting for the theatre of cooking, eating and celebrating life to take place.
The existing symmetry space, a rectangular space with a centralised fireplace and symmetrical French door openings, guided the layout and arrangement. The resulting spatial design became Wes Anderson like in its symmetry, painterly tones and layering of foreground/background spatial sequencing.
The pink warmth of the geometry of the folded lid ceiling helps the space feel intimate and contained. A large island bench, solid, sculpted and continuous in appearance, delineates the kitchen from dining areas. The rear kitchen elevation is once again arranged symmetrically with clear functional zoning – cooking on the left and washing on the right.
A custom over scaled lamp – somewhat reminiscent of a street lamp in form – helps to define the island bench as a gathering space. Its scale is intentionally large occupying the void between the bench and ceiling, helping to express the height and precious quality of the untouched ceiling.