Designers Anna Pipkorn and Jane Kilpatrick launched their Melbourne firm by applying a minimalist-luxe look to a custom houseboat built for three-generations of a family to gather on Lake Eildon, Victoria, Australia's answer to Lake Powell in Utah. (And no, this example isn't anything like any of the others, most of which, Kilpatrick tells us, "are fairly daggy.")
Discovered when a neighbor took interest in Kilpatrick's own home renovations—"I think she was attracted to the textured natural materials and clean lines in our house"—the design duo, both 36, were entirely new to nautical work. But they had been colleagues for years in two prominent Melbourne interiors firms and ready to chart their own course. Working with a father and his three adult daughters, all of whom have been vacationing on Lake Eildon all their lives, Pipkorn and Kilpatrick were in on the creation of the 45-foot boat from its inception at Anchorage Houseboats in Eildon: "We were given the size of the fiberglass shell, and that was about it." Applying a serene Scandi palette to the interiors throughout, they saw to it that even the most compact corners have an expansive feel. And there's no chance of ever losing your bearings: Every room has a clear view of the water.
Photography by Christine Francis via Pipkorn & Kilpatrick.
Above: Climb aboard; the railings in the entry are marine-grade stainless steel. Designed for large gatherings, the boat has two levels, plus a roof deckand is divided into public and private zones. Shown here, the library lounge with a landscape by Greg Wood, part of the boat's collection of contemporary Australian art. "When possible, we sourced local materials, such as Victorian ash paneling, that are reflective of the surrounding landscape," says Kilpatrick.
Above: The designers created a sense of expansiveness courtesy of all the windows, and also by "convincing the builder to raise ceiling heights beyond the usual and to eliminate claustrophobia-inducing bulkheads by burying the services between the ceiling joists."
Above: "The ground floor was designed as a free flow of lounge, dining room, kitchen, and helm," says Kilpatrick. The kitchen is one of two (there's also a small galley upstairs) and in each, all of the details are built-in, trash bin and hidden microwave included, so that, as the designers say, "everything has its place and every inch utilized without it being obvious." The counter is silver travertine—"We had weight restrictions and had to be very careful with the stone," says Kilpatrick, explaining that they counter-balanced the kitchen bulk with a big sofa on the other side.
Above: The design deftly straddles the line between formal and inviting.
Above: One-way dining: Muuto's Adaptable Table in oak with a soap finish is surrounded by Hans Wegner PP58 Chairs with leather seats. The hammered copper light is Original BTC's Stanley Pendant.
Above: The dining area is open to the main lounge.
Above: Integrated closets, drawers, and bedside tables make the sleeping quarters feel generous. There are four bedrooms total: the master suite, shown here, on the ground level and three upstairs. The painting is by Pipkorn.
Above: One of two kids' bunk rooms. The boat's linens are the Citi line from Abode of Australia. (See some of our own favorites in Editors' Picks: Luxury Bed Linens.)
Above: Even the bathrooms, one upstairs, one down, have wide-open views. The designers detailed them with one-way glass in the shower, and all of the windows have motorized roller blinds concealed behind the pelmets that wrap around the entire perimeter of the boat.
Above: The bathroom vanities are Australian stringybark, a solid eucalyptus, with blackened steel legs. The cube basin is from Australian bath company Caroma and has a Brodware City Stik wall-mounted tap. The basket is used in lieu of a drawer—"it's a holiday boat, so we didn't need to insert a lot of bathroom storage," says Kilpatrick.
Above: Penelope Durston cushions and an Original BTC Hector Clip Lamp in a dream bedroom.
Above: Even the hallway to the bedrooms is bright thanks to a skylight, a space-changing detail that Pipkorn & Kilpatrick convinced the builders to insert: "It was a huge push to get it over the line, and thank god we did. So many similar boats we saw were dark and very pokey."
Above: World's best Butterfly Chair with a view? The chair's marine-grade Stainless-Steel Frame came from Angelucci 20th Century of Victoria, Australia, and Kilpatrick supplied the leather seat, a souvenir from her vacation in Sri Lanka.
Above: "It was built in a shed in Eildon and then transported to the lake on a large semi-truck, a very nerve-wracking day," says Kilpatrick. "On the outside, it has the boat builder's signature look."
Above: The floor plans detail the boat's ample lounge areas, and the masterful division between public and private rooms. The interior is 110 square meters (approximately 1,1084 square feet). See more of the designers' work at Pipkorn & Kilpatrick.
We have a weakness for houseboats. See two more of our favorites: A Mother and Daughter Afloat in Paris and The Modern Urban Houseboat, a vacation rental in Berlin.
More Stories from Remodelista
from Remodelista http://ift.tt/1HO6oCD
via
IFTTT
