Miriam McWilliam had a long list of references in mind when renovating her family home in Blackwood, a small town near Trentham.
As the creative director of her own design studio, Studio Mimi Moon, she realized the power of having a good mood board that could be the guiding light for a project. “A lot of the references I was collecting were Japanese homes and mid-century designs using wood and vintage objects,” she says.
Bringing this vibe to their existing property was a challenge that required the expertise of her friend and local interior designer Caitlin Perry of Setsquare Studio.
When the family first bought it in mid-2020, the 1990s brick building was quite dark with a few dated quirks, from the pink tiles in the beige bathrooms, to the old wood kitchen. “We wanted to keep it simple and get rid of the ’90s touch,” she adds. “He had great bones but it definitely wasn’t our style!”
“The house had low ceilings and many lost opportunities to connect with the vast landscape beyond,” Caitlin says. “We set ourselves the task of correcting some of these errors through simple and cost-effective design interventions.”
While their initial plans were to expand the living and dining area, they decided that the most economical solution was to rework the floor plan in ways that would “expand the perceived size of the house as a whole.”
The kitchen remains in place as the heart of the home, which now includes a new, intimate bar inspired by family memories of dining experiences in Japan or New York. “Both are places close to our hearts,” Myriam adds.
The bathroom also takes cues from Japanese baths and forest bathing rituals, using floor-to-ceiling green tiles to create a peaceful feeling of calm. Taking further inspiration from Miriam’s mood board, existing wood finishes were adopted wherever possible, with new wood flooring throughout to unify the interiors.
“Finding the balance between earthy and luxurious was very important to me,” Myriam points out. “I wanted to create something that reflected the woodland landscape surrounding the house, and the Blackwood Mountains.”
Natural colors and textures are woven throughout the welcoming rooms; In the bright green kitchen tiles; Walnut carpentry. Myriam’s collection of antique teak furniture. Meanwhile, warm accents of red nod to the quartz rocks that can be found on bush walks around the city.
One of the most transformative changes is turning an old dresser into a bench for the dining nook. The cozy nook was decorated with adorable seaside-themed memorabilia, like shell dishes and antique ceramic fish, and has since become one of Miriam’s most sentimental places in the entire house.
“I wanted to bring something that referenced my long love affair with the sea, but in a way that was appropriate to our non-marine surroundings through the dining area,” she adds.
Now, Miriam loves hosting friends at this table, huddled under Morgana Celeste’s treasured painting—aptly titled “Love Letter to the Beach.”
