The owners of this ‘70s-style, wood-panelled cottage did a lot of the renovations to their home themselves, but when it came to designing the large open plan living space at the rear of the house, they brought in the professionals. The family of five engaged Agathe Touguet of AMA Studio Interiors for her expertise.

‘My clients wanted to create a friendly family home somewhere between boho earthy and coastal,’ says Agathe of the brief. Her involvement was focussed at the back of the house, where the kitchen layout needed reconfiguring and a new palette required devising.

After repositioning the kitchen to face the rest of the room, Agathe craftily tucked a laundry into the corner behind it. This is the first of multiple clever nooks that characterise this open-plan space: the others being a cosy fireplace in the corner of the lounge room, and the banquette seat at the end of the kitchen bench, which Agathe made from an IKEA television unit that she found for free on Facebook Marketplace!

A natural materials palette consisting of oak, linen, wool, jute, clay and rattan furniture adds warmth to the room, otherwise characterised by the monolithic polished concrete slab underfoot. ‘The repetition of curves in the kitchen and in the living area (with the round coffee table, curbed TV unit and round dining table) adds softness to the space, and contrast nicely with the concrete floor,’ explains the designer.

But Agathe’s real design feat is a few clever tweaks to the ceiling, which makes it appear taller than it actually is. By installing skylights above the kitchen, a fresh coat of paint, floor-to-ceiling curtains and V-groove panelling in the wall behind the television, Agathe has created the illusion of extra volume in this hardworking, open plan space.

What a transformation!