A Fashion Designer’s Modernist-Inspired Home In Queensland
Interiors
Inside the Currumbin Valley home of Megan and Wade Ziems.
Float Sofa and Isola Side Table by ELLISON STUDIOS.
The sunken living room was designed around the 70s-inspired sofa.
An enchanting floating fireplace. La Bobine Table Lamp by ELLISON STUDIOS.
Fantasma Floor Lamp by Tobias Scarpa for Flos. Glove Occasional Chair by ELLISON STUDIOS. Vintage 1970s beanbag by De Sede.
The floor to ceiling windows bring the outdoors in.
Arch Leather Dining Chairs by ELLISON STUDIOS.
The kitchen flows directly to a paved terrace.
Pierre Counter Stool by ELLISON STUDIOS.
The textural ceiling fills the home with warmth.
The cosy study.
The rammed earth walls anchor the home in its natural surroundings. Luca Console by ELLISON STUDIOS.
Float Sofa and Radius Inverse Rug by ELLISON STUDIOS.
Isola Coffee Table, Isola Side Table, and Float Sofa by ELLISON STUDIOS.
The luxurious bedroom. Bell Floor Lamp by ELLISON STUDIOS.
A striking natural stone slab creates a partition for the ensuite.
Fin Dresser by ELLISON STUDIOS.
Earth Outdoor Bench, Earth Outdoor Dining Table and Arch Anywhere Dining Chair by ELLISON STUDIOS.
The view across the swimming pool.
Lush ferns add a sub-tropical feel to the gardens.
An outdoor shower.
The house was designed to feel connected to nature.
Grace Loves Lace founder Megan Ziems knew she had found something special when she came across the sprawling Currumbin Valley acreage that has since become her family’s dream home.
The idyllic landscape featured over one kilometre of creek frontage, with multiple swimming holes. There was also an old barn, a guest house, and an original main residence with ‘fussy’ gardens that didn’t really ‘feel like us’, the fashion designer says — referring to husband Wade, and kids Tallow (7) and Luca (11).
‘We wanted a one-storey home that could let the outdoors in. Sustainability was a big focus, as was blending the property in with the landscape.’
They removed the existing home in order to create a new residence that would properly celebrate nature, engaging award-winning Byron Bay architects HGA Studio and builders MACTECH for the mammoth project.
‘Earthy, peaceful, down to earth luxury were some of the key words [in the brief],’ Megan says. ‘We then spent close to 2 years refining the plans.’
Much of the inspiration came from Megan and husband Wade’s love of open-air entertaining — now often sharing the property’s guesthouses with their extended family — and their travels overseas.
Modernist architecture in Portugal and Brazil’s mid-century modern homes also helped influence the home’s scale and sculptural angles.
Rammed earth and natural stone walls give the home a grounding, textural quality, enhanced by the spectacular timber-lined ceilings and expanses of glass frame pastoral views.
When it came to the interior curation, Megan turned to high school friend ELLISON STUDIOS. founder and CEO Leigh McKeown.
Having grown up together, Leigh and Megan were perfect collaborators. Leigh immediately understood that the home needed to feel warm and ‘interesting’, but most of all, it needed to capture the family’s relaxed personality.
‘The entire sunken living zone was designed around the Float Sofa, and we dressed it in a textural camel-toned fabric to ensure it delivered on the cosy criteria needed for the kids (and dogs),’ Leigh adds.
Behind the plush couch, a palm tree and indoor garden beds with lush monsteras tie in perfectly with the green carpet. Other key pieces from ELLISON STUDIOS. include the Arch Leather Dining Chairs centred around the enormous dining table, and the Yoko Bed in rich walnut.
Mixing and matching with vintage pieces for that perfectly layered look, Leigh also sourced a 1970’s patchwork leather beanbag by De Sede and an original Brazilian Rosewood Costela chair by Martin Eisler and Carlo Hauner.
When it got down to the pointy end of the build, the Ziems moved into the barn so Megan could oversee the final touches in person: ‘I could be on site testing samples, colour mixes, material finishes as we went.’
Five years in the making, the finished home — called ‘Finca Tulluca’ — is everything the family dreamed of, and more.
‘We spend every night and every weekend cooking, playing music, having everything open, sitting around the table or the outdoor fire pit eating and spending quality time with people we love,’ Megan adds.