Talking Modern Coastal with Louise Roche from @VillaStyling

We recently spoke to Louise Roche from Villa Styling to get her tips and insights on Modern Coastal Style and the design process that leads her to achieving her vision.

Villa Styling is a creative styling and photography studio capturing the essence and story of brands and beautiful interiors. Louise creates homes that are not only memorable, and inspirational but evoke that holiday-at-home vibe.

Louise’s had the task to design a moodboard and then create a vision of how she wanted her dream façade to look. Louise found the moodboard helpful in narrowing down her material choices and found it gave her clarity when her vision appeared in form of a render.

Modern Coastal

Tell us a little bit about the Modern Coastal style and what are key features?

LR: Modern Coastal style is simply all about the beach and creating that feeling of summer all year round at home! Natural light, swaying palm trees, soft organic tones, clean lines, layered linen + jute textures. Modern Coastal takes hints from natures colours; soft sandy earthy tones, fresh greens, and hints of cool blues or muted aqua tones inspired by turquoise oceans to round out the palette.

What do you find most difficult when designing a facade?

LR: Designing a facade can be challenging when there are major provisions in pivotal design areas that just cannot be shifted eg.Air conditioners for an example.

Working with tight access areas can also limit what could be achieved design wise if there is not enough room for trades to easily access.

The Vision

What is your vision for this home?

LR: The vision for this home has always been 70’s beach shack style, a relaxed but modern, coastal tropical take on it!

We holidayed on the Gold Coast growing up all the time and we often stayed in cute beach front shacks before all the high rises came along, we had so much fun then, my own home has always been about bringing that vibe and those fun times back.

What are your 3 top tips when pulling together the vision for your home?

*LR: *

1. Work with the old design but breathe new and modern life into it, you don’t always have to wipe it clean, work with the features it might have and play to that vibe, enhance what you can if possible
2. Tick to what you love most, you don’t have to follow all the latest trends to a T! Trends change and just because crazy pave is in today doesn’t mean you’ll love it in 5 years time. Always think of the long term usability of a space as the finish; practical for your day to day living, kids, pets etc! Think, room to grow!
3. Texture, I love adding textural elements to a home. To achieve a modern, minimalist aesthetic for this façade we chose Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding because it has a smooth, natural sand texture adds warmth and diffuses light which creates a fine matte finish. The mixture of stone, timber and Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding created a cohesive finish which compliments the Queensland aesthetic but I know it also has the functional qualities to deal with the harsh weather conditions.

The Design Process

What are your tips when creating a mood board for your home?

LR: Research and collect images of your favourite homes and details. There will be parts that resonate and parts that don’t, mood boards help narrow down what will and won’t work together!

When creating my mood board for our front facade I chose , Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding because of the endless design possibilities, it sparked my imagination when I came across it, it is a versatile product and I have so many exciting ways I can introduce this to our very own front facade renovation. Since the cladding is pre-textured, pre-sealed and ready to paint, it’s something I can do myself so I’m not fully relying on my tradie hubby to create my dream! I can pick up a roller, get on the tools and be part of the process of making our house, a home together!

Get creating!

Try designing a moodboard for yourself, simply narrow down your material choices and head over to Style Sourcebook and start layering each product, this will create a clearer vision for your façade.