Omau Retreat

Location: Omau, West Coast, South Island

Designer: Klaus Todt

Photos by: Virginia Woolf

The Approach

Omau is in the Buller region, just south of Westport. It’s close to Cape Foulwind, aptly named for the wild and rugged coastline continually pounded by waves and with breathtaking views of mountains and native bush inland. Our clients developed a very special coastal retreat above the clifftops, making the most of 360-degree views of awe-inspiring natural beauty.

This project was a real pleasure to work on; the clients gave us complete freedom of design and were open to materials they wouldn’t have considered previously. Wanting to complement the architecture of the house and the location, we were very fortunate to be able to source native matai timber locally for the splash back and breakfast bar. This combined nicely with veneer matai on the island front, facing the living room. Furniture Linoleum was used on the inside of the island. Not wanting to compete with the ever changing landscape outside, we selected a stylish combo of Desktop Linoleum on the kitchen fronts to soften the solid timber, and silverTouch stainless steel benchtops.