Styling Our Brookhaven Display - How Did We Do It?

Our Brookhaven Estate Display Home, featuring the Hayman 280, is known for its warm & neutral tones, and plenty of textures throughout. 

We sat down with our Interior Designer, Elise, who was responsible for selecting all of the colours, fixtures, finishes and styling elements to chat about how she approached the interior design for this home.

What inspired the style for the Brookhaven Display?

Beige, beige and more beige. I am a big fan of the warmer tones, especially in a home, and I wanted to showcase how these can combine to create a little haven. The display feels warm, inviting and it feels like home as soon as you set foot in the front door. 

What was your vision for the home and where did you start with your selections?

There were two things that I knew I wanted to incorporate in the home and together, they set the tone for everything else to flow from there. These were Polytec's Moss Grey cabinetry (I just love this colour) and the Convex Profiling from Easycraft's Silhouette Range. These two products combine to create warmth and texture and I think that theme is carried out throughout the home with the various selections - from the flooring to the fixtures, finishes and styling pieces.

The home utilises a lot of textures and a relatively neutral palette throughout. Why did you take this approach? 

As I mentioned above, I love beige in a home and I knew I wanted to incorporate texture with the convex profiling through key features such as the rangehood, feature walls and ensuite cabinetry. But I also know that a lot of homes, and display homes in particularly, use a lot of colour, wallpapers and heavy styling. I wanted to showcase that you can create something beautiful without needing to use a lot colour and how using texture can create warmth and depth through natural tones. 

We also knew we wanted people to see each space for what it really is and get a true feel for the layout and design without being overwhelmed by colour and over styling. This is why I took the less is more approach with regard to styling to create a minimalist look, allowing the key design elements and features of the home to do all of the talking. 

Styling a home can be expensive. How did you go about selecting the various styling pieces, all while sticking to a budget?

Things can absolutely add up quickly so that is why you need to decide what your hero pieces are going to be and then other areas where you can potentially save on. For example, we invested in the living and dining room features because they are typically where you spend the majority of your time in the home. While we went with standard Polytec cabinetry in the kitchen, we had a custom rangehood built to reflect the convex profiling that was prevalent throughout the home. In the bedrooms, we chose to use European pillows to build up height instead of bedheads and utilised the half-height Easycraft feature wall in the master bedroom to double as a headboard to save on costs. And never rule out stores like Ikea - they have affordable styling elements, from their bedside tables to textiles, that you can pair with the more expensive pieces that you choose to invest in. 

What is your favourite feature of the display home? 

There are way too many, how am I supposed to only choose one?? I think the flooring plays a big part in setting the tone for the home so it would be remiss of me not to mention the engineered timber flooring and the carpet. 

With the timber flooring, I knew I wanted a slightly darker tone as opposed to the natural oak flooring that is popular at the moment. I went with Lachlan from Australian Select Timber's Aurora Range because it was light enough to keep the space feeling open but it had enough depth to the colour to provide warmth. We have talked a lot about the textures in the home and the carpet was a play on this. I opted for the Andes Peak solution dyed nylon loop pile in Patilla from EC Carpets to achieve this and it did not disappoint. Growing up in New Zealand carpet is a must in a bedroom so I have always been a lover of carpet. I think it can often be underestimated but this carpet is a perfect example of why it shouldn't be! 

Visit our Brookhaven Display in Bahrs Scrub to see these selections and styling elements in the flesh. Can't make it in person? Take a virtual walkthrough or view our display showreel here.