Designing a Modern Federation-style Home That Transcends the Ages
Want to incorporate Modern Federation Style Homes in your design but need to figure out how it fits with your modern lifestyle? A Federation-style home is classic and timeless, with the Federation detailing and wrap-around verandahs giving warmth and character. Our team at Shelford can help you achieve a modern Federation-style home that captures the traditional Federation look combined with a modern layout to suit your lifestyle.
What’s in a modern Federation-style home?
The Federation-style homes in Western Australia date back to the Federation days and are mostly seen around the older suburbs of Perth, including Fremantle and North Perth. The beautiful classic and timeless architecture captures attention and transcends the ages with this iconic look.
A Federation-style home is characterised by its red brick exterior, white-framed windows, verandahs, featured bay windows, timber fretwork, and high ceilings. This elegant style is inspiring homeowners to bring the character back into new home builds and combine it with a modern layout.
Recreating this style to fit the times means embracing the traditional character of the era mixed with modern elements to pay homage to the Western Australian way of life.
The Karnup – By Shelford Quality Homes
Start with the floor plan
Coming up with a floor plan you will fall in love with will set the tone for everything else. Traditionally, a Federation-style floor plan incorporates a wrap-around verandah. As you walk into the home, you will notice the grand entrance hallway with various doorways leading off to different parts of the home. While this design is typically not accommodating to open living and entertaining family and friends, here at Shelford, we can take the key concepts of the Federation-style home and make it your own. We ensure that the floor plan fits your lifestyle.
Key design elements
Modern Federation elevation
To create a modern Federation-style home design, start with the key features of the elevation you want to include. Is it the timber fretwork, the high ceilings, the striking face brick, the featuring panelling, or a combination of all? You can choose a colour palette inspired by the colours and patterns of the Australian landscape that is light and bright or modern and moody. Take what you love about the traditional Federation design and modernise it with a contemporary colour palette.
Ceiling heights and features
The traditional Federation ceiling has high ceiling heights and looks classy and amazing. As soon as you walk into the home, your eyes automatically get drawn up to little features as a traditional ceiling rose will shine. When recreating this feature in your home design, go for high ceilings in your entrance and main living areas. You may even want to extend this height by increasing your internal door heights as an added upgrade. You can also opt for an old-world-style ceiling rose or a modern look with clean lines placed in the entrance.
High Raked Ceiling – The Oakford
Benchtops
A Federation-style kitchen boasts charm and elegance. The key to a modern Federation-style home is designing it to be classic and stylish, using natural stone or timber as ideal materials. The benchtop in your kitchen will be the centrepiece of your Federation-style kitchen. Keep it classic yet modern by going with whites and greys.
Cabinetry
A modern Federation-style home is functional. For cabinetry, choose shaker-style cabinetry with recessed panels and feature handles. If you think these features would look overwhelming, you can also go with a minimalist style with clean lines that would look good with feature handles.
Minimalist Style Cabinetry
Flooring
The most common flooring material in Federation-style homes is timber. However, you can also go with timber-look vinyl. While light tones are a safe bet for modern Federation-style homes, the flooring is where you can go dark.
Federation-style homes are known for having patterned floor tiles. However, vinyl tiles do not only add character to the flooring, but they are also durable and practical, as vinyl is easy to clean. When choosing patterned floor tiles, remember to keep the balance so that the room maintains its bright and open character. If you choose to go with dark colours, you can keep the balance by using light colours for your wall, ceilings, and timberwork.
Patterned Floor Tiles
Bathroom
For cohesion and consistency, the modern Federation-style home design continues into the bathroom. Consider mixing heritage architectural detailing with modern fixtures for that old-meets-new charm. Think a streamlined, freestanding tub and bold, geometric-patterned tiles in palettes of navy and white or olive and white. Add a touch of sophistication with copper, brass, or brushed gold tapware and lighting fixtures.
Pendant lighting
Pendant lighting can be a great addition to a modern Federation-style home, especially if you want to feature your high ceilings, ceiling rose, or your stone kitchen benchtop. Pendant lighting is what will bring it all together.
Pendant Lighting
Colour palette
Bring the Australian landscape into your home with a colour palette consisting of tones and colours inspired by the Australian landscape. Florals and botanicals look amazing, as well as leafy greens and natural tones of browns, whites, and greys. Natural colours are a staple in a modern Federation-style home.
Mood Board
Make it uniquely yours with Shelford
Here at Shelford Quality Homes, our home designs are customisable to suit every household’s needs and requirements. Our Federation-style homes range from 6 metres to 32 metres, giving you an abundance of choices when coming up with a suitable house design for your block of land. Our home designs can be modified whether for a single-storey or double-storey house. And if you don’t own a piece of land yet, our team at Shelford is more than happy to help you with an affordable house and land package.
Contact us today and see how we can help you design your beautiful modern Federation-style home.