A closer look at 'Maison Soleil' by Three Birds Renovations

House 18 or ‘Maison Soleil’, French for ‘sunhouse’, is the latest project from Three Birds Renovations in their playground of Sydney’s northern beaches. It’s French in spirit but Australian in how it’s lived in. But that isn’t the full story behind the brief or how they have achieved something truly unique. 

A family of five wanting more room to play, entertain and unwind, packaged into a home that would delight any designer walking through. An open plan that gives nature a stronger role. A pool for three growing boys to soak away their long summer holidays. Simple, right? 

But a brief like this isn’t simple. Three young boys move through a house hard, every day, and whatever gets built must take that and keep standing. It must work straight away as a home, too. No easing in, no waiting for a place to feel lived in. It had to feel like a home from the first day anyone walked through the door and, at the same time, stop visitors in their tracks with its one-of-a-kind design. 

“For this one we’re drawing on the warmth and texture we’ve loved in our last three projects and filtering the whole thing through a French country lens,” the Three Birds team tells us. “It’s designed to capture everything that makes busy urban living feel beautiful, functional and effortlessly relaxed, with a little French romance woven right through it.” 

The team has achieved what was asked of them, and more, by leaning on a stunning interplay of textures and spatial design to find a balance between the French and the local. The palette inside stays muted and neutral to let the natural light play its central role, illuminating corners across the home and changing moods as the day progresses.

Every material and design choice at Maison Soleil is working two jobs at once: holding the French reference while holding up to a busy, growing family in their modern Sydney context. In a home brimming with eclectic ornamentation, playful lines and delightful fixtures, doors are central to creating a unified, lived-in feel while having something to say themselves.  

Unlocking the subtle patterns of French Provincial in a modern Sydney home is no easy ask. Door choices play a key role in achieving it.

You arrive at the entrance door through a quaint timber tunnel, beams crossed overhead to embrace you warmly. The door itself is a Blonde Oak AWO WS 19H finished with a Sikkens BLX-PRO stain, helping the entrance feel like something that’s been standing there a while, taking the weather and the traffic of a family in stride. A Domino Brass pull in Aged Brass with a privacy snib echoes the French Provincial style that is introduced with the impactful barn-door garage at the front. 

And when you push through to the interior, you just get it. The darker warmth of that timber entranceway reveals and amplifies the brightly lit interior foyer, with a stunning marble table bouncing back the natural light before you’ve even taken your shoes off. 

Inside, the doors settle into two kinds. Where a room keeps to itself more, there’s the Roma PROM 1, solid and confident yet understated, finished in Hog Bristle Half by Dulux, with a Domino Brass Contemporary Lever Assembly set on a curved Contemporary Rosette in Antique Brass. 

The Roma PROM 1 does its work wherever the family needs privacy. Echoing the classical confidence that only columns can provide, it’s a smart choice for trapping natural light and adding texture throughout the newly renovated home.  

Where light needs to get from one room to the next without the door giving up the game entirely, there’s the Roma PROM 1G with reeded glass so it blurs rather than reveals, the same aged brass on the lever but with a push plate instead of a rosette. Same timber with the same finish and the same brass echoed throughout the house. The difference is only how much a room wants to give away. 

For the wardrobes, the Moda Primed PMOD 1 helps to tell a different story in the rooms it’s applied, matching the subtle geometry of cornicing and other stylistic choices in the bedrooms to mark them out as their own unique spaces.  

Reeded glass is key to executing this unique home style. It lets light through without handing over the whole room but is never missed by a visitor. Sit it next to travertine, marble, or a dark chocolate couch, and it responds to what is required of it. Carry the same hardware and finish through every door, and a home this size stops feeling like a hundred small decisions and instead feels singular and intentional. 

A home like this needs a lot from its doors. The versatility of the Roma Collection alongside the organic embrace of the Blonde Oak and confidence of the Moda Primed respond to this need. This means the team at Three Birds Renovations only had to choose once and leaned on that foundation to execute what was a challenging yet exciting opportunity. 

If you’re inspired by the French aesthetic and thoughtful door selections at Mailson Soleil, check out the Blonde Oak Collection, Moda Primed and Roma Collection. Remember to add your favourites to My Doors so you can come back any time and share your collections with others.