Anna Chandler is a designer of decorative home ware. She lived in Morocco and Spain for four years, and this experience has had a huge influence on both her design work and the style of her house. When Anna and her husband Mick bought the house as an investment property it was a very ordinary cream brick building with aluminium windows and brown concrete roof tiles. They gutted the place, and then started again with a clean slate. The finished Moroccan-style terrace was so extraordinary that Anna and Mick decided to move in themselves.
Moroccan transformation
The gutters were removed and the brick walls were raised to form a pediment to hide the hipped roofline. The whole structure was rendered and the render was sponged down to soften the lines of the exterior. An internal gutter system was constructed to carry away rainwater.
The kitchen roof and ceiling was removed and a reinforced concrete slab was laid down. Stairs were built up the side and the slab became a terrace. Anna and Mick love to have their meals on the terrace on hot summer nights, enjoying the sea breeze and the ocean views.
Four old bougainvilleas were transplanted from a demolition site and each was pruned back to one main stem. After a few weeks buds appeared and the plants have been flowering ever since.
Over 30 agaves (Agave americana) were dug up from the side of a road and planted at the front of the house. Anna explained that their spiky leaves discourage people from spray painting the walls.
The interior of the house is decorated with bas-relief sculptures, rich tribal embroideries, rugs, colourful mosaics and a growing collection of flea market treasures.
Anna’s design work
The inspiration for Anna’s popular range of architectural plaques comes from her extensive travels, and from the garden of her childhood home in Tasmania. The decorative bas-relief sculptures are first hand modelled by Anna, then moulded and cast in a hard stone plaster. Each piece is hand painted, layer upon layer, until the right patina is achieved.
Further information
Anna Chandler Design
PO Box 212
Mosman Park,WA, 6912
Phone: (08) 9331 5364
Fax: (08) 9331 5376
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.annachandler.com