Home design, interior design: Palm Springs style putting Hamptons in the shade

Forget Hamptons, home design trend lovers, today it’s all about the Palm Springs look. See why.

The dreamy homes of Palm Springs, California.

For as long as director of Koda Design Dane Power can remember, clients have asked for one style of home over any other: the traditional Hamptons style home complete with gabled rooves, broad verandas and picket fences.

But in the past five years or so Dane has seen a distinct turnaround with interior design lovers asking for something very, very different.

Forget Hamptons.

Today it’s all about the Palm Springs look.

Take some breeze blocks and pops of colour and take me to the pool.

Celebrity style

The Palm Springs style – also known as desert modernism – isn’t new.

It originated in the 1920s, when Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright) designed the glamorous Oasis Hotel in the relatively unknown desert town of Palm Springs in the Coachella Valley, two hours inland from Los Angeles.

Palm Springs, style.

Then, post-World War II, architects such as Palmer & Krisel and Albert Frey, many of them influenced by the Bauhaus art movement from Germany, began building more of the distinctly flat-roofed, cactus-fringed desert-style homes that define the glamorous town, which has been a holiday bolthole for countless Hollywood legends including Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Dinah Shore, whose classic Palm Springs Estate is now owned by Leonardo DiCaprio.

White Mid Century architecture home with vintage Mauve Lincoln Continental Mark V parked in the driveway.

The style is instantly recognisable, characterised by long, horizontal lines, usually in a single storey, a strong connection between outside and in, and ‘desert’ landscaping, such as palm trees and cactuses.

And Australia is embracing it wholeheartedly; it’s even popping up in our new obsession with Mid-Century style motels such as The Berry View in Berry, NSW, and the Mysa Motel on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

It could be time to paint the front door sunshine yellow!

Koda Design and HNT Builders borrowed from Palm Springs to great effect in the Ulysses House in Brisbane (pictured above).

“Pops of colour play a big role,” says Dane, noting the home’s sunshine yellow door and downpipe.

Palm trees, tick, cactus, tick.

Hitting the Palm Springs touchpoints.

Light the way

The rest of the house, with its bright white facade, hit-and-miss brick pattern and crazy paving also hits all the Palm Springs touchpoints.

“When we’re trying to mimic classic Palm Spring style, we’re looking to create long, horizontal lines that are ideally unbroken,” says Dane.

“It’s also very much about that house and yard connection, dragging as much light as you can in from everywhere.”

Johanna's Palm Springs house interior.

The butterfly roof was also critical to this build, giving the illusion, at least from the street, that the home is flat-roofed and one storey, whereas in fact the sloping block allowed for a second storey at the rear. And the pool is much more than a place to cool off; its clean blue surface, which can be seen directly from inside, is a design feature in itself.

The breeze blocks gave them the real potential to create a Palm Springs oasis.

Relaxed living

Bringing in a little Palm Springs in doesn’t have to mean you begin from the bricks up. Melbourne interior designer Trish Khoury, from Grace Interior Designs, says that her clients regularly ask for hints of Palm Springs in their existing homes.

“Melburnians love Mid-Century Modern in all its forms,” she says.
“It’s easy to bring in key elements in such as horizontal slim lines, geometric shapes, vibrant colours, and a touch of luxe like gold, velvet or palms.

“At the heart of the Palm Springs style is a casual, relaxed vibe which suits the Australian lifestyle well.

“It’s a sophisticated style that doesn’t date.”

Graphic designer Johanna chills by her pool.

Palms Springs paradise

As soon as Sunshine Coast couple Johanna, 36, a graphic designer who heads up the company Navian Design, and business owner Matthew, 38, saw their four-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom Sunshine Coast home, they knew the breeze blocks and big swimming pool gave them the real potential to create a Palm Springs oasis.

“I could picture a resort daybed to lounge in with a cocktail in hand,” Johanna says.

Once they moved in, they began adding their own touches, giving it many of the hallmarks of classic Palm Springs style.

Landscaping played a large part: including bird of paradise plants and succulents with white pebbles out the front. They also added a custom-built daybed, designed by Johanna and built by a local carpenter, as well as outdoor bar chairs.

Arid perennials suit the style perfectly.

“Pops of colour feature in the Palm Springs style so I bought a hot peach coloured magazine poster in Paris for two Euro,” Johanna, who is originally from Sweden, says.

“I had it framed and it’s one of my favourite pieces of art, and so simple.”

The couple, who share their house with Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Maliki and are expecting a baby in June, say they couldn’t be happier with their decor direction.

“Palm Springs style feels like the ultimate holiday,” Johanna says.

“We wanted to feel like we were on vacation as soon as we walked through the door.”

Originally published as Home design, interior design: Palm Springs style putting Hamptons in the shade