Home redesign and renovation: Battle-weary Australians seeking home rebirth

After a gruelling few years, Aussies are being drawn to resurgent mid-century modernism in our homes because we’re battle-weary, similar to post WWII.

A mid-century modern home in the Las Palmas neighbourhood of Palm Springs, California. Picture: Getty Images

The rebirth of design styles reveals more of the times than our tastes.

After a gruelling few years, Aussies are being drawn to resurgent mid-century modernism precisely because we’re battle-weary – a state that according to experts is not unlike the post-war sentiment following World War II.

“After the austerity years of WWII, house design reflected the national mood of optimism, new ideas and a break with the past,” says social demographer Mark McCrindle. “Mid-century home styling gave us vibrant colours, individualistic designs, a focus on aesthetics with more glass and stone, larger windows and more self-confidence and fun compared to the solid and secure brick homes of the pre-war years.”

The rebirth of cool pools.

In these “post-disaster, post-pandemic times” we’re entering a similar cultural moment now, McCrindle says.

“As Australians make up for lost time with more travel, dining and activities … we can expect this mood to flow into home designs,” he says. “Indeed, the current design trends of bold colours, stone features, wood panelling, larger rooms, a shift from minimalist downlights to statement lighting and tiled walls rather than glass splashbacks are all mid-century features returning.

“Assuming we can shake off the current economic uncertainty so that the consumer sentiment matches the buoyant social sentiment, we may well see a national vitality that matches that of the post-war boom.”

One national home builder has taken that wager with a bouncy ‘Brady Bunch meets modernity’ spin coming to Australia’s new housing estates around the nation this year.

Metricon design director Adrian Popple says mid-century modern “is a hot style now”.

“We have a real focus on mid-century to roll out,” Popple says. “It’s just about picking the best parts of it and modernising it and making it suit today’s building products.”

A Harry Seidler classic.

High on the list are dual access bathrooms – like the unforgettable classic that connected the children’s bedrooms in TV’s Brady home, forever seared into the fond memories of those who grew up with the show.

Building a home in Queensland’s Thornlands estate – one of Metricon’s Waterford 51-style designs – the company’s former financial officer Craig Cooper says he was happy to see the return of mid-century modern styling.

“It will have a minimalist look, so it has a modern, clean line to it,” Cooper says of the new build.

Many of the style’s hallmarks, including the bathroom between two bedrooms, made sense and could become more valuable to buyers in the years ahead, he says.

“There’s an economy of having one between two bedrooms as it saves having an ensuite for each,” Cooper says.

The home will also have extensive timber feature elements, including a timber-lined ceiling adding to its mid-century credentials.

Metricon's Waterford Rochedale display home has a few throwbacks to mid-century modern – for herald sun real estate

Renovation queen Cherie Barber points to Kmart’s latest timber and rattan furniture range as similarly evocative of the period.

“Timber is very prevalent,” she says. “There’s a reason why most people love timber floorboards; it’s just naturally calming for people.”

Barber has even coined an expression to describe mid-century’s modern moment: “future nostalgia”.

“I think of my grandparents, happy times – it’s a return to all the things that we grew up with, that we loved and that give us that sense of comfort, that sense of happiness, that sense of security,” she says.

Co-founder of Brisbane’s Rewind Mid-century, Collette Harris agrees. While delays in modern manufacturing and slow turnaround times have helped the renewed popularity as “people started to look outside where they would normally look,” she says that customers have an immediate emotional response to mid-century pieces.

Renovation queen Cherie Barber points to Kmart’s latest timber and rattan furniture range as similarly evocative of the period.

“(It’s) the sentimentality of it and the nostalgia,” she says. “If I had a dollar for every time somebody said to me, ‘Oh, this is just like my mum’s house’ or ‘This is just like my grandma’s house’ – that is definitely a reason why mid-century has become popular. The other reason, of course, is the design. It’s a lot lighter than modern design.

“A lot of modern stuff is quite big and swallows up a lot of space in a room. Mid-century stuff tends, by design, to be lighter and up on legs.”

Harris says the open-plan spaces of modern renovations and builds complement the lightness of the lines and physical heft of mid-century furniture.

“They’ll take a traditional cottage and blow out the back and have a big open-plan area … and a lighter footprint in the room definitely … lends itself to the way that we live (because) it’s open and airier,” she says.

The Fender House, a mid-century Palm Springs oasis, Mount Martha, Victoria, Australia Picture: airbnb

“A lot of mid-century design utilises colour as well. It’s pretty rare for it to be a big, block leather black couch … that plays a lot into the psychology of the way that we live.”

So much so that the social media-run business does not need to ship around the country as much as it once did – as Harris herself says, “Every capital city now has multiple mid-century stores”.

Originally published as Home redesign and renovation: Battle-weary Australians seeking home rebirth