Some clients come to us with fully formed ideas or – at least – styles they want us to pursue. That’s cool. If you’re confident in your own ideas, we love supporting you to realise them. (Mind you, we’re also forthright about any ideas our experience tells us won’t work.) But then there are the clients who come to us with a completely open mind: people intrigued by the diversity of our one-off wonders and keen to discover where our imaginations can lead theirs. Just like Jenny & Wendy, whose off-again/on-again project in uncertain times finally delivered a houseful of sleek, built-in furniture that they couldn’t imagine would be so funky or change their lives so radically.

In 2016, Jenny, Wendy and their three children built and moved into their great Australian dream in Fulham. Like a lot of homebuilders, however, attaining the dream stretched them to the limit and they started life there with hardly any built-in furniture or storage. Four years later, with the money situation in check, Jenny & Wendy engaged an interior designer to fill in all the blanks. Unfortunately, that drew another blank, as they failed to see eye-to-eye on a functional solution.

Whilst searching the Internet during that crazy May of 2020, they came upon SpaceCraft and made a tentative enquiry with a sketchy wish list. What struck us particularly was that Jenny & Wendy were interested in our ideas (yay!), innovative and functional design (yay!), and they weren’t “in any rush to get things done cheaply” (yay again!). As it turns out, these words would prove prophetic, as they decided to put the project on hold for over six months. Then again, the whole world was on hold for those six months…

Finally, in February 2021, Nathan Wundersitz went a-calling, with a relatively modest job in mind. But with more time to think, the client’s list had got longer. In the end, there was hardly a room in the house that wouldn’t get the SpaceCraft touch. Nathan was over the moon and up for the challenge.

Starting from the front door, Jenny & Wendy showed Nathan through and discussed their needs. In the entrance unbundling area, they really wanted to tidy up all the kids’ bags and shoes; perhaps some lockers or pigeon-holes, they thought. In the living/dining area, they really wanted a buffet with a drinks cabinet (how could you live with three kids and not have one?), an entertainment unit with lots of storage and a hearth for the fireplace.

The upstairs (grown-ups’) study on the landing, as they observed, was a clean slate. With its intended purpose to be a combined small office and music room, they desperately needed a desk and a room divider to ‘create’ the space, with shelves for display as well as all their books. The downstairs study needed to be a flexible space to cater for all the family’s uses: again, they needed a desk, but one that could fold away, as well as open storage. In the master bedroom, they envisaged a bedhead, floating bedside tables with pendant lamps to read by, a credenza for the TV and more storage.

And then we finally got to the kitchen, which Jenny & Wendy were really unsure how to tackle. At first, they thought they wanted to upgrade everything except the island bench. In the end, however, Nathan convinced them that the match-up just wasn’t going to work and for only a small additional investment, the result would be far superior. Part of their fear, no doubt, was that they didn’t want to face the nightmare of changing the tiled floors and replace the carpets. It would be a good test for Nathan’s trusty tape measure and the meticulousness of our legendary installers to ensure the kitchen cabinetry, the buffet and hearth either matched the original footprint or lined up perfectly.

Even walking out the door, there was still more to contemplate, as the garage also needed a nice long bench with – you guessed it – more storage. Our work was certainly cut out for us. And, like Robbie Gray, it had to be millimetre-perfect.

The trick with this project, as with most of our work, was to create a holistic aesthetic that tied the whole home together with a complementary palette of colours, materials, shapes and styles. That way, everything gels, the spaces unite and feel more generous, and it can also give you better bang for your buck, to boot.

After talking extensively to Jenny & Wendy and clarifying their tastes and preferences through our briefing checklists, Nathan had a sixth sense for exactly what they were after even if they didn’t know it themselves. The end result is a full suite of joinery in a gorgeous, glamorous monochromatic palette of black, American oak and brass.

Starting with the kitchen, we used CleanTouch melamine for a symphony of black without any tell-tale fingerprints for the below-bench cupboards and the ‘tall wall’ housing the oven, coffee station, fridge and bar; the servery benchtops are adorned in black Dekton Domoos. To add warmth and character to all that black joinery, we used American oak veneer for the kitchen overheads, the base cabinetry for the buffet and the hearth bench. We hope you agree they work perfectly together, nicely lightened by the intervening splashback tiles (white XL penny rounds from Cerbis Ceramics) and the luxurious main kitchen benchtops in natural Carrara marble, sourced from Cosentino.

To put the cherry on the sprinkles on the cream on the icing, Nathan just couldn’t go past a calculated flourish of brass including the Pullout Kitchen Mixer from ABI Interiors, the Luna kitchen pulls from Lo & Co, the kicker rails for the island back made by All Shapes Metal, the half-round brass ribbing and guard rail on the bar, as well as that spectacular pendant light from About Space over the island.

The other essential element of Nathan’s style palette is his subtle use of curves, which soften every edge and add a hint of Art Deco glamour. That’s reflected in the benchtop overhang, the side of the buffet, and the shape of both the tiles and the pulls. The cumulative effect is very pleasing, not to mention forgiving. If you’ve ever accidentally walked into the corner of a benchtop, you’ll know a curve is far less painful than a sharp point.

After the joinery was all assembled in place and we went back to check in on Jenny & Wendy and the kids, we asked them what they loved about their ‘new’ SpaceCrafted home and we got two different answers: for Jenny, it’s the five o’clock gin bar, whilst for Wendy, it’s the all-day, fully plumbed coffee station. We’re very glad each got their heart’s desires, separated by an equally alluring gleaming tower of Miele including a steam oven, pyrolytic oven and warming drawer.

And the rest of the home follows suit, answering every need and storing every item, with a place for everything – and everyone – in its/her/his/their place. Now, when you enter the home, the storage in the entryway help to frame a sneak peek to the rest of the joinery beyond, which serves to beckon you in welcomingly.

The downstairs study was dutifully fitted out with a wall unit that houses a folding desk and open shelving for display and filing, all in American oak veneer. Upstairs, the study on the landing has now been defined by a room divider/open unit in a two-pack satin finish and the desk was again constructed from American oak veneer with two slimline drawers.

In the master bedroom, the master stroke was a feature bedhead and frame built from CleanTouch melamine (in the comfortingly subtle colour of Moss) and American oak veneer. Either side is a floating bedside table with push-open drawers, also in the oak, and above each is a pendant lamp from Citta Design in frosted grey/green glass. Opposite the bed, there are sufficient drawers and open shelving for clothing storage & the perfect TV location too.

Last but by no means least, in the garage, Nathan waved his magic wand and made everything disappear with a simple, three-door storage bench topped in laminate and with push-open doors.

According to Jenny & Wendy, “Our brief was met, and went above and beyond our expectations. Nathan and team really listened to us and came up with a super-cool design, which we love, and it fitted in perfectly with our new outdoor area”. Since it’s been installed, they’ve had a great time entertaining and showing off the new space, with everyone suitably impressed. More importantly, however, they said, “it’s made our home so much better to live in: the kitchen and other cabinetry have transformed our house. We couldn’t have imagined that our new kitchen would be so funky and change our life. We love cooking in it. With more open bench tops, we can now both be in the kitchen together. The design means that moving around the area is more efficient and saves time when cleaning and tidying.”

From having no storage at all and having no clue as to what to do about it, Jenny & Wendy have sure come a long way. All it took was a contrary interior decorator, a pandemic, six months of agonising and –­ hey presto – SpaceCraft to the rescue.