Transforming Australian modern home design

Modern materials for modern Australian homes

Many Australian homeowners in the process of building or renovating are opting for a modern home, embracing contemporary design with its clean, sleek lines and deliberate use of texture.

One of the signature elements for a modern home are flat, textured exterior walls. The matte appearance of the walls highlights the shape of the house and provides a neat and uniform finish. In a move away from traditional brick walls, homeowners are looking for modern materials to create design diversity to reflect their style and tastes.

When renovating or building a new house, there’s a range of options that can be overlayed with cement render or texture paint to achieve the flat textured look, however, because the texture isn’t embedded, the finish and quality can vary as it’s dependent on the skills of the applicator. Over time, render requires maintenance as it can crack and peel.

Transforming Australian modern home design, Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding is a fibre cement wall panel embedded with a fine texture to create a contemporary aesthetic which has just been launched. Each panel has a beautiful consistent texture and its series of subtle vertical joints add clean lines and geometric precision to a home’s exterior. With the design essentials of a modern home focusing on form, texture and colour, Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding provides all the elements for a modern minimalist look, creating endless design possibilities and a striking facade.

A recent Prahran home renovation and extension is the perfect example of how using Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding allowed the owners to open up the back of their house and bring the outside in. Using the strong, yet lightweight material meant that the renovation didn’t overpower the existing style, and provided uncomplicated, clean lines with a modern render look. The team mixed the heritage facade with Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding and existing cladding on the upper storey extension, creating a compelling, contemporary look that paid homage to the house’s history.

First Impressions count

A home’s façade is the first impression of a home and provides a glimpse of the family that lives within. “It is incredibly important to get the scale and materiality right to make sure your home’s façade is inviting and that your home is a space that you want to be in,” says Rebeka Morgan, co-founder of BuildHer Collective. As experts in the renovation space, Rebeka and fellow co-founder Kribashini Hannon have amassed a large following of women undertaking the journey of building or renovating. Both have seen the increased popularity for modern homes.

Both Rebeka and Kribashini spend a lot of time making sure façades are working well and the materials used are beautiful and can accentuate the forms. “The façade is actually one of the hardest elements of a building to get right. We love the new Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding finish as it is modern and sleek with the matte, bold look that appeals to our minimalist styling.”

An inviting façade that makes a striking first impression was certainly achieved by the owners of a 1940s cottage situated on a hill in Wollongong, NSW. Owners Jane and Matt decided to renovate instead of demolishing and starting a new build after their builder introduced them to Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding. They thought this would be the perfect solution for a modern home design that brings a subtle focus to the form of the building. According to Jane, Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding stood out when compared to other materials, as the look is so much better than brick, and is less expensive. “We wanted to turn our 1940s cottage into our dream home, with a minimalist look and clean lines,” said Jane. “Hardie™ Fine Texture cladding helped us achieve our dream.”

Clean and minimal

According to Rebeka, one of the biggest mistakes that she sees is people trying to mix too many materials or making decisions that will not stand the test of time. She believes that the secret is in choosing a simple palette and sticking with up to three beautiful materials and letting the form tell the story. “We’re seeing movement to clean lines, minimal tones with use of textures and layers, lots of beautiful building forms that have few materials, and simple shapes that are cohesive and tell a story,” says Rebeka.

Rebeka’s advice to use up to three materials is exemplified by Gilchrist Homes’ award winning Elwood Display home in Wodonga on the border of NSW and Victoria. The project used a mix of cladding to add richness to the design. With high walls, interesting angles and large openings it made sense to get a render-like finish from Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding. The result helps put emphasis on the shape of the building and to add texture and visual warmth, vertical joint timber cladding was used.

When building, Rebeka and Kribashini are always weighing up many factors including, the aesthetic properties, cost, ease of installation and lifecycle, durability, and maintenance of products. Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding is a great product to install for both renovations and new builds, notes Rebeka. “Being a lightweight alternative to bricks, the cladding is pre-textured, pre-sealed and can be painted in any colour of choice. As it is made of fibre cement, this means it is both easy to install and durable in Australia’s harsh conditions. It’s a fantastic option as it hits each of those pain points and offers a great solution.”

Being built for tough Australian conditions, Hardie™ Fine Texture Cladding is low maintenance providing long last beauty for homeowners. Teamed with a striking silhouette, clean lines and an open colour palette, it can transform the exterior of homes, maximise street appeal, and set the tone for the lifestyle for many years to come.