At Platinum Homes, we pride ourselves on being one of the best custom home builder / luxury home builders in Perth. So when we’re asked to build a custom built home or luxury home for our clients, our New Home Designer; Parisa Soltini puts a lot of thought into the design of the home and she quite often encourages clients to bring along a scrapbook to her meetings; a collection of images from spaces and places that they are fond of, places from childhood memories, notable trips abroad, retreats, houses and gardens that they have seen and loved. This collection serves as a blueprint, a grid for the designer’s creativity to tap into, in order to design the client’s dream space. That comfortable place where one could truly call home.

Here is an insite into one special luxury custom built home by New Home Designer Parisa Soltani.

From the beginning, meeting Donna and Mike was a delightful experience, as Donna revealed a beautiful collection of her favourite rooms, each page filled with delightful and charming spaces, each space a window that revealed their wishes and aspirations.
The theme was character, to build a house that seemed to have been there for decades, to use varied materials and distinct features such as weatherboards, colonial posts and decorations, bull-nose wrap around verandah, feature decorated highlights to windows, etc.
Donna expressed her wish for a quirky house that I translated later into a series of eccentric and original spaces, gathered around the main living space, with the Kitchen acting as the heart and centre that brought everything and everyone together.

The site is nestled on a small hill with delightful views of parklands, with many beautiful trees that must be retained. The peculiar shape of this unique site provided a framework that shaped the collective. It’s somewhat triangular shape narrowed towards the street front and the main challenge was to provide great aspect towards the street, from Kitchen, office and the main bedroom, as requested in the design brief.

Given that an older character style was sought after, a positive design response was achieved by placement of the garage entry to the side of the property, with a driveway that ran along the side of the main front elevation, this design approach freed the main façade which further expressed the federation revival style with a wraparound bull-nose verandah and period features; this approach prevented the negative effect that placement of a double garage at the front may have caused, as older houses from the past century did not have double garages at the front. The garage positioning also aided in the parting of the zones, with children’s bedrooms and activity lounge being located at rear of the house, and a wonderful master’s retreat, Ensuite, walk-in robe and a generously sized study placed at the front, with direct access from the main entrance.

The bull-nosed verandah, was a must have on Donna’s wish list, wrapped around the master suite and aided in privacy. A raking ceiling and arched highlight window above the verandah ensured that ample light reached this space as light filled open and bright spaces were a perquisite in the design brief.

Being an expert in wedding cake decorating, the Kitchen was very important to Donna. The design outcome was a large and spacious Kitchen that was semi- separated from the main living and dining spaces with an ‘L’ shape design configuration. The scullery became the link between garage, main passage and the Kitchen, with the children’s study connected to the Kitchen via decorative windows, allowing Donna to observe and assist the children during their studies.

The main Study was also close to the Kitchen to act as a home office. The Kitchen cabinets included a custom built glass cake display; custom panel-work and decorations framed the Kitchen entrance. The panel work and decorations were to be carried out on all cabinet door faces and on detailing of the main island bench, to ensure that consistency in detailed design is carried out on all levels throughout the residence.

From the Kitchen, views to the street and distant North-western views to the hills beyond and towards the rear of the residence are visible. The free form living and dining with access to outdoor living area also benefit from the hills aspect, whilst the majority of extensive glazing and French doors face north towards future pool terrace and mature existing trees; the covered outdoor living provides protection from the Western sun. High raking ceilings continue to outdoor living space and a tall arched window frames the view. A corner fireplace creates atmosphere and warmth. There are plenty of blank walls in the living zone to house furniture and artwork.

Full length linen and walk-in storage is provided in the two main passages of the children and parent’s zones. The passages have unique features, a bay seat near the main entrance, and a square shaped lobby area in children’s passage, with a feature skylight. The generously wide passages merge into the main living space with doors that can be closed off to better manage the room temperature in separate zones. A pair of French doors visible from the main living area open into the children’s lounge room, a multi-functional space that could act as an overfill for large parties and a space that can be used as a TV room, or an extra lounge/ sitting area.
The children’s rooms are large; Courtney’s room, being the only girl, is more spacious, with a large walk-in robe, built-in window seats with drawers underneath, side cabinets and shelving wrapping around the large window panes, while plantation white shutters add the finishing touch.

This plan is happily sited amongst exquisite landscaped gardens and very mature trees that are to be kept, along with a generous space dedicated to an established backyard chicken coop, home to a bunny, and many healthy beautiful hens that provide plenty of organic eggs, as required for Donna’s delightful cakes. A lovely cubby house wraps around a mature tree alongside the existing shed and coop. The overall feeling is of a beautiful custom built home, with a happy family at heart.

Hopefully the new build will bring countless happy days for this enchanting happy family, to enjoy for many years to come.