One thing to love about our digital lifestyles? The way technology can bring a dream team together. Kate Connors, director and designer of Connors & Co., and Karen Wilson, bespoke joinery designer from Q Concepts, first found each other on Instagram and started working together when Kate relocated from Sydney to Brisbane a few years ago. And, it was an online connection that also brought the owners of this house, a professional couple with a young child, to the interior designer.
Having recently moved from Sydney themselves, the couple were drawn to Kate’s signature style that mixes comfort, colour and effortless cool, engaging her to bring her decorating flair to the first floor of their newly renovated home. With a brief for plenty of beautiful built-in joinery to be included in the new interior, it was time to cue Q Concepts.
“Connors & Co. worked with the clients to inject a relaxed, coastal style to the space to suit their new lifestyle in tropical Brisbane, while Q Concepts handled the design and installation of all of the brilliant bespoke joinery throughout,” explains Kate.
Spanning the length of the room, the custom joinery forms a multi-functional unit that includes storage for media and toys, floating shelves and a bench seat for the dining zone.
“This level of custom, built-in joinery was high on our clients’ priorities from the get-go,” says Kate. “It needed to be multi-functional given the open-plan space and reflect the existing joinery in the home – specifically the classic style that already features in the adjoining kitchen.”
Accordingly, Karen designed the joinery to change function across the length of the room to suit the zone it’s servicing, seamlessly connecting dining and lounge areas.
Q Concepts used 2pac polyurethane in Dulux Vivid White satin, with Polytec Casino profile doors finished with mesh inserts for accessing AV (which Karen says is her favourite feature). Hand-painted floating shelves with custom-made shelf supports highlight the Queenslander’s original VJ walls, while soft-close Blum drawers and Kethy knobs complete the classic yet on-trend design by Q Concepts.
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“Our clients absolutely love the storage within the unit, but more so how it brings the whole space together as one continuous piece,” Kate says of the finished centrepiece to the living and dining zones.
For Connors & Co., the interiors brief was for a coastal-inspired scheme to suit the light and airy Queenslander style, but with pops of colour to inject some fun and depth. “We discussed including some Moroccan motifs, and eventually settled on a palette of blues and greens with pops of pink,” Kate adds.
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The dining suite boasts a large timber table offset by duck egg blue woven dining chairs, while Kate’s love of textiles comes to the fore in the window seat, which has been dressed with hot pink patterned Anna Spiro bolster cushions. “I have to say this is probably my favourite nook in this whole space,” says Kate.
It’s a great example of how to bring functionality and youthful fun into a classic Queenslander home, enhancing the inherent beauty of these dwellings and updating them for modern family life.
“By layering colour, texture and pattern with a touch of whimsy, we have created a timeless home that really reflects our clients’ personalities,” says Kate.
Photography: Hannah Puechmarin
