Modern Luxury Living, Bantry Bay

Designer: Veena Kalsi
Bantry Bay

This large modern home sits perched on the mountain with uninterrupted views of the ocean. The architects, Kim Benatar and Sian Fisher, approached me with a very restrained palette of natural materials.
Mindful of respecting their line of thinking, I matched the kitchen backdrop to the off-white walls. The seamless wall of furniture was perfectly suited to incorporating our stunning pocket doors to great effect, thus hiding the sink and coffee area. This allowed the unique bulthaup b3 monobloc island to stand alone, as a sculptural piece in its own right. As the day progresses the light bounces off the island’s aluminium finishes creating its own mood. The different light levels diffuse off the surface to bring out varying characteristics of the bronze aluminium; sometimes glowing, sometimes becoming darker.

The bar area was a real triumph of mixing finishes in a simple yet effective way. By using the bulthaup b2 bench I kept the materials very ‘honest’ – the stainless steel and solid walnut work wonderfully against the monolithic concrete wine wall and the shuttered concrete. The joinery behind this wall was very simple, with a walnut niche to house a wonderful collection of spirits and bar accessories, and there is even a subtle doorway into a storage area.

The result is a fascinatingly modern home full of shifting light patterns and mosaics created by nature’s interaction with the best use of modern materials.