Five Favourite Projects: 2020 AIDA Residential Decoration Shortlist

Following our 2020 AIDA Residential Design shortlist wrap, we’re turning our focus to Australian designers and stylists who’ve impressed in the Residential Decoration shortlist.

From heritage transformations to contemporary homes, we’re casting a spotlight on projects that have excelled for their unmatched styling and superior curation. Making this year’s list is the inspired Armadale Residence by Studio Tate, published on est late last year, alongside works from est design natives Madeleine Blanchfield Architects, Golden, Decus Interiors and Studio CD. Outside of these nominations, we’ve earmarked five favourite projects, not yet seen on est. This kind of excellence in Residential Decoration is sure to spur a rethinking of your own personal space.

Budge Over Dover by YSG (formerly Amber Road)

We’re excited to unveil one of the first projects from Amber Road co-founding principal Yasmine Ghoniem, who launched her own practice YSG late last year. Taking the name Budge Over Dover, the project is marked with Yasmine’s signature bold and characterful approach to home design. Bringing the same tactility and rich colour palette, Yasmine and team have completely transformed this five-bedroom family coastal home with a not-so coastal aesthetic, through custom furniture and finishes and structural nooks.

Orchard House by Chelsea Hing

Orchard House by Chelsea Hing sees the designer make our AIDA highlights round up for the second year in a row. In 2019 Chelsea’s Yarra Valley project saw her signature vivid use of colour wrap the home’s kitchen and bathroom in delectable terracotta tones. This year, taking a softer, more pared-back approach, Orchard House evokes a sense of relaxation, described by Chelsea as a balance of ‘bold and subtle’ elements. The home’s neutral background puts the avant-garde furniture and art selection on a pedestal, playing on scale and the layering of these objects to create deliberate tension.

Brighton Residence by Golden

We were fortunate to share a number of Golden’s projects on est last year – from a skin clinic, to a wellness destination, Albert Park terrace renovation. That’s without mention of their work inside a popular inner-city cafe featuring on est earlier this year; proving Golden sure have a handle on bringing an infectious sense of creativity to all of their designs. Making two appearances in the AIDA Residential Decoration category, the design firm’s brand-new Brighton Residence takes its place in the shortlist for its transcendent layering of materials for a family who loves to entertain.

Art House by Studio CD

Studio CD founder and principal Claire Delmar was listed as one of our top stylists of 2019. In 2019 Claire also scoured the halls of Maison & Objet and Paris Design Week for est, sharing all of her design finds in est magazine issue #34.

Claire brings this inherent design DNA to the Art House, which has evolved from a traditional residence into a contemporary, vibrant home that celebrates art in all of its forms. Floor-to-ceiling murals, exaggerated sculptural lighting and tactile materials are combined harmoniously against a muted palette.

Tidal Arc House by Simone Haag, with Woods Bagot and Hecker Guthrie

No stranger to dressing a dark space, Simone Haag turned heads with her moody and mysterious Fitzroy North home in last year’s AIDA shortlist. With interior design by Hecker Guthrie, the home is framed in exposed timber beams, also seen in their unique Shou-sugi ban Home in Toorak.

Challenging the stereotypes of the quintessential Australian beach house, Tidal Arc House in Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula references the home’s surrounding ominous cliffs, playing on a spectrum of charcoal and anthracite tones throughout. Simone Haag, with Woods Bagot and Hecker Guthrie have flipped the traditional coastal home completely, without compromising on design, form or function.