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Menora Residence, Moda Interiors Moda Interiors Modern bathroom
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The Menora Residence occupies both a professional and a personal place in the life of Moda Interiors' managing director and head interior designer Kate Barakovska – as her private home it's her pride and joy, but as a fully-realised architectural dream featuring multiple award-winning flourishes it's also a powerful showcase of this Perth-based interior design and decoration firm's robust, eclectic style. Western Australia is now dotted with homes that have been transformed or built from scratch using Moda's inspired, custom, client-centred designs, and along the way the company has itself been well-decorated: a finalist's medal in competition for the 2014 HIA Laminex Kitchen and Bathroom Awards' kitchen design of the year, the top prize for bathroom design that same year, and a custom-built house prize at the 2014 HIA Perth Housing Awards. Once again showing why home-owners and design critics alike are loving Moda's approach to divine homes, the Menora Residence's bright, bold and clean-lined reinterpretations of traditional domestic interiors – spaces that embrace modern, multi-use modes of living – add together to make a very fine jewel in Moda's glittering crown. 

A cosy Western Australian castle

The approach to the Menora Residence is impressive enough – standing next to a double garage with interior access, a gatehouse-style entrance complete with arrowslit apertures greets guests, the portico resembling a colonnade with a bold, modern take on the traditional overhanging bay window acting as the capital.

The seed of inspiration

Wrapping around the corner of the house, the upper-floor window feature is picked out in matte black against the white colour of most of the house's exterior. Other elements are painted in a rust-red, ochre hue that can't help but evoke the Western Australian landscape. This is a Perth palace to contend with. 

Before we head inside, note the thoughtful gesture that can be found in the small front garden, tucked behind a free-standing shield wall – a tree that evokes the form of the candelabrum that gives the Menora Residence its name. 

Making a grand entrance

Bold home designs demand a bold introduction, and after the striking gatehouse entranceway, this marble-floored foyer changes tone to offer an elegant welcome that's awe-inspiring without being ostentatious. And, while the house is all privacy from the outside, this hallway is inundated with light – a play on the concepts of open and closed that runs through Moda's interior design for the Menora Residence. 

And it's only up from here

As the Menora Residence opens up you realise how cannily Moda Interiors have packed a feature-filled and spacious family home into a compact and cosy volume, following through with impressively styled access to the upper floor. A free-floating wooden staircase turns a corner to meet a suspended wire balustrade and a dazzling two-storey light wall intersected by a diagonal beam that's as sculptural as it is structural.  

Menora's master bedroom

Sweet and spacious, the Menora Residence's bedrooms are equipped with walk-in wardrobes and decorated in Kate Barakovska and Moda Interior's signature eclectic style (you can find more where that came from here). Here in her master bedroom, Kate contrasts the industrial cool of the downstairs entrance with a far more intimate vibe – rich carpeting on a beautiful parquet floor, an illustrative mural feature, and – in another nice echo of the residence's name – a ceiling-mounted candelabrum of its own!

Moda's award-winning bathroom design

If you're thinking about taking your bathroom – a crucial part of any good home – to the next level, bear in mind that this is the bathroom that won Moda Interiors the first place prize in the 2014 HIA Laminex Kitchen and Bathroom Awards. Moving into it from the master bedroom, it's clear that there's plenty of space to splash around. But it gets better. 

Bathtime's never been better

What's particularly novel about the Menora Residence's bathroom design is it's L-shape and the fact that it connects the master bedroom to another bedroom. This makes it an ensuite convenience for more residents than the norm and moves to reinforce the room as a family space at the very heart of the home. 

Media magic and kitchen conveniences

A home theatre zone plus a kitchenette within arm's reach? Yes, please. Also housed upstairs, this living area is all about kicking back with popcorn and a blockbuster, a second living room with fixtures and fittings all geared for the ultimate get-together at match time or for a movie. 

Rest and recreation, inside and out

Moving back downstairs, the Menora Residence's primary living room (living space is perhaps more appropriate) is more free-form than the home theatre zone upstairs and perfect for peace and quiet or a party, located at one end of a large, open space that includes a kitchen, and opening out onto the terrace. 

A meaningful design from Moda

The Menora Residence's semi-alfresco terrace makes for a seamless transition from inside to out. It also showcases Moda Interior's knack for blending clean-lined, industrial chic and intimate, rustic touches. Settees and armchairs echo the cubic modeling of the house's upper-floor window feature, while a long, solid timber dining table attended by filigreed dining chairs leavens the urban with a little country charm. 

Located at the rear of the residence overlooking the backyard and the pool, its the masterful finale to a home that's finely balanced – the perfect entertainer and a well-rounded family home rolled into one altogether divine package.  Liked this stunning modern home? Take a peek at this ideabook on A sublime modern family home.

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