Decorating a modern home is a form of art, and if you do it right it can turn out to be quite a masterpiece, but if you do it badly it can resemble a school grader’s painting. It is no wonder then that artists make the best designers. James Powditch, a celebrated mixed media artist and his partner graphic designer Diana Adair, has proven that claim to us with their re-purposed warehouse home. The couple had help from their architect friend in converting the 3,500-foot warehouse into a family home with an internal courtyard, a lush garden, and an art studio.
The modern home decor is an extension of James’s own creative practice, bringing to the table the modern aesthetically features combined with a rich sense of history and nostalgia. The interior of the house is a textbook example of how eclectic decor should really look like, neither chaotic nor subtle, but of the ideal proportions.
Living/Dining Area
The open concept of the living/dining area Perfectly Reflects All the Treats of Modern Decor. Besides being open to each other the living and dining room are fully opened to the internal courtyard and the rest of the house via mezzanine. The steel industrial dining table sits on the opposite of vintage 1950’s blue lounge, and it is an image of the perfectly done eclectic decor, mentioned previously. The wall is filled with logically arranged works of art, but what stands out are the two posters on the stairwell – ‘Once Upon a Time there was the West II’ by James Powditch and 1967 Italian poster for ‘2001, a Space Odyssey’.
TV Lounge Room
The TV lounge room resembles a concrete bunker, but it is made warm and appealing with a shaggy white area rug. Here we again see the mix of modern and vintage, with a grey streamlined sofa and a nostalgia-inducing 1960’s bubble chair. The wooden coffee table binds these two together. The wall is decorated with a portrait of James by Sydney based artist Julian Meagher, 1968 original ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ poster and paintings by Paul Ryan.
Kitchen
Extending from the dining area, the kitchen blends the old and the new with off-form concrete suspended benches, dark kitchen drawers, oven, and range and modern appliances. As every other room in the house, the kitchen also features artwork, this time by Ton Timmers and Graham Rendoth.
Studio
James’s studio features an industrial drawing board and a set of steel industrial plan drawers repurposed into a desk. Such alternatives to a traditional office desk are easy to find and repurpose, but it is essential for them to be of the proper height (you have to be able to comfortably put your hands on the table in a straight angle).
The Bathroom
The main bathroom looks at a closed terrace, with wooden flooring and a table. A white free-standing bathtub stands beside dark form-work ply cabinetry, with plenty of storage units. There are many benefits of free-standing tubs, a vast choice of materials and distinct design, among them. Above the door to the deck, stands a wooden plank re-purposed into a towel holder in this small space modern bathroom.
The Bedroom
The master bedroom combines white and wood on the walls, both decorated with artworks (by Rodney Simmons and Ton Timmers). The bed is covered with patterned coverings resembling Russian headscarf (as seen on matryoshka dolls), while above the bed we can see an Asian lantern.
Upstairs Mini-library
In the corner of the upstairs mini-library, there is a bookshelf corner with vintage book collection. In the backdrop of this charming mini-library, there are two displayed artworks James’s ‘Lolita’ and Rodney Simmons’s watercolor.
Exploring this house is an actual treasure hunt, being that it is full of unexpected things, like the ‘handmade’ coin machine and original movie posters, and we could go on forever praising the creative work of this amazing couple, but for now, we will leave you to enjoy the pictures.
Image source: The Design Files
