Completed Project

Marble & Teak

A residence worked in two materials — figured marble and solid teak — from the entrance door through to a terrace lounge laid in stone and grass.

The Design Story

This house is built on a single restraint: two materials, used everywhere, in different proportions from room to room. Figured grey and white marble carries the floors and the larger wall planes; solid teak carries everything that is touched, opened or sat against. Once those two are fixed, the variation between rooms comes from proportion and light rather than from introducing a third and fourth finish.

The living room sets the ratio. A textured white relief panel runs the length of one wall — the same tone as the ceiling, so the room reads tall — and is interrupted by a short run of floating teak shelves at eye level. Against it sits a low beige sectional, with a single red swivel chair as the only saturated colour in the room. The ceiling is a shallow cove holding a continuous concealed line, with a cluster of slim pendants dropped over the seating rather than centred on the room, so the light follows the furniture.

Upstairs the marble becomes the feature rather than the ground. One bedroom takes a full wall of split-face stone behind the bed, set into an arched cove ceiling that curves down to meet it; another sets a slab of green marble into the ceiling itself, above a tan leather sofa in the corner. The wardrobes throughout are solid teak with the grain run diagonally across the shutters, so a large closed plane still has direction and does not read as a flat board.

The bathroom is the one place the palette shifts, to a bronze-clad wall behind frameless glass — a small, deliberate departure in a room nobody else sees.

The terrace closes the house the way the entrance opens it: a checkerboard of stone slabs and planted grass, a timber deck, rattan swing chairs, and a line of pendants at the edge of the slab.

01 — Design Intent

Two materials, held everywhere. The discipline is what makes the house feel considered rather than expensive — the variation from room to room comes from how much of each is used, and where the light falls on it.

Living room with a textured white feature wall, floating teak shelves and a beige sectional sofa — The living room sets the ratio

02 — Living

A shallow cove holds one continuous concealed line around the room; a cluster of slim pendants drops over the seating rather than the centre of the floor, so the light follows the furniture. The television wall opposite is marble, broken by vertical teak battens.

Living room with a cove-lit ceiling, a cluster of slim pendants and polished marble flooring — Pendants placed over the seating, not the room

Marble television wall with vertical timber batten panelling — Marble broken by teak battens

03 — Stone Overhead

In the bedrooms the marble stops being the floor and becomes the event. One room takes a full wall of split-face stone behind the bed, met by an arched cove ceiling that curves down towards it. Another sets a slab of green marble into the ceiling above the corner seating.

Bedroom with a split-face stone headboard wall and an arched cove ceiling curving down to meet it — Arched cove meeting the stone wall

Bedroom with a green marble slab set into the ceiling above a tan leather sofa — Green marble set into the ceiling

Bedroom with a curved cove ceiling above a stone feature wall and a study desk — The cove curved to follow the wall below

04 — Teak Joinery

Every wardrobe shutter runs its grain diagonally. It is a small decision with a large effect: a two-metre closed plane acquires direction and stops reading as a flat board. The study returns are cut from the same boards, and the display shelving is backlit from within its own carcass.

Solid teak wardrobe and study unit with diagonal grain, beside a patterned window panel and marble cladding — Grain run diagonally across the shutters

Backlit teak display shelving framed by a marble surround — Shelving lit from inside its own carcass

05 — Details

The entrance and internal doors are made from teak laid as a parquet, each leaf a field of short blocks set against the plain marble jambs on either side. The bathroom is the one place the palette shifts — a bronze-clad wall behind frameless glass.

Teak parquet door leaf set between plain marble jambs — Parquet leaf, plain marble jamb

Bathroom with a bronze-clad wall, frameless glass shower enclosure and a marble bench — The one departure from the palette

Teak parquet entrance door meeting a stone threshold — The same parquet at the threshold

06 — The Terrace

The roof is treated as a room. Stone slabs and planted grass alternate as a checkerboard, a timber deck takes the seating, and rattan swing chairs sit under a line of pendants dropped from the slab edge — usable in the evening rather than only photogenic at noon.

Terrace lounge with a checkerboard of stone slabs and planted grass and rattan seating — Stone and grass, alternating

Timber terrace deck with rattan swing chairs beneath pendant lighting — The deck, lit for the evening

Design Highlights

The decisions that shaped it.

01A two-material discipline — figured marble and solid teak — held across the whole house
02Textured relief panelling in the ceiling tone so the living room reads taller
03Teak wardrobe shutters with the grain run diagonally to give large planes direction
04Split-face stone headboard wall met by a curved arched cove ceiling
05A green marble slab set into the ceiling above the corner seating
06Backlit teak display joinery framed in marble
07Bronze-clad bathroom wall as the single palette departure
08Terrace laid as a checkerboard of stone and planted grass

Next Project

The Panelled House

Full Home Interior

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