Nina Maya – Fashion to Fabulous
AD Magazine France – Dec 2022
A house with monochrome elegance in Sydney
At a stone’s throw from the city and its spectacular opera, interior architect Nina Maya completely revised a mid-century house, bringing it the gentle serenity of raw materials and curved shapes, in a valuable balance between the exterior and the interior.
The beautiful beaches of northern Sydney, in the much-sought-after surroundings of Avalon Beach, maintain a village atmosphere away from the tumult of the city. It was here that interior designer Nina Maya of the Nina Maya Interiors agency found a 1940s Palm Springs house, built on a vast plot of 1,000 square meters. It had been renovated and enlarged ten years ago to create a real parental suite, a more welcoming kitchen and a terrace and a swimming pool. “We wanted a holiday home on the beach to stay on weekends, my husband, my three-year-old son and I, to receive friends, family,” said the architect. The most important thing was to instill a sense of serenity in it, linked to the landscape and its extraordinary natural environment. The Nina Maya Interiors agency will therefore work on a range of neutral but refined materials, take care to avoid contrasts that are too marked in order to give preference to views of the garden or swimming pool from inside the house.
An inspiring landscape
Important works are carried out in the garden in order to benefit from “all the comfort of a 5-star complex”. The structure of the house is reviewed to include a spa pavilion and treatment with steam shower and infrared sauna. Open on the facade, it overlooks a garden of Japanese-style bamboo and white pebbles with natural stone water games whose sound provides a soothing atmosphere. An outdoor dining room is inserted, connected to the large terrace of the swimming pool, a swimming pool lounge for up to twelve people is created and a circular garden lounge with central gas fireplace. But if the house heals her surroundings, she receives special attention from Nina Maya in terms of decoration.
Raw materials
The vast piece of life is a lesson of minimalism and elegance while sobriety. The interior designer chose to paint walls, ceilings and floors with linen-coloured hand and to decline a gentle palette of tones and materials leaving nothing to chance, from sofas and sand-coloured seats to the large silk carpet. We’re soothed by the undulating reflections of the pool that play softly on the plaster walls… “We don’t see it, but the solid marmare furniture like the coffee table, cut to measure in a single block and weighing more than 1.2 tons, required a lot of engineering work to strengthen the floors,” smiles Nina Maya, who specifies that it took no less than two cranes to put it up. Regardless, the result is bluffing with raw elegance, from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen and bathroom, where the marble declines its rough strength softened by a curved design of the architect.
Soft tones
All the furniture and lighting of the house are unique creations by Nina Maya Interiors custom-made by local and international artisans. Similarly, all works of art are also unique commissions placed with each artist in order to match the house and his natural environment. They bring, with just the right time of colors and curved shapes, happy punctuations: from Max Patté’s incredible light work in the dining room to Marisa Purcell’s superb room in the living room and to the two works of the graphic designer Marcus Piper made in collaboration with Axoltly in the master bedroom as well as in one of the guest suites. “We love the house so much that we made the decision to move permanently to the beach … we only use our city residence as a base of work,” concludes Maya.
