Creating coastal luxury: The Sebel
Once a hot spot for mingling with celebrities like Zsa Zsa Gabor and Bette Davis, The Sebel hotel in Manly has undergone an interior revamp to bring it back to the heady heights of the 1960s.
Located on Manly foreshore, The Sebel Sydney Manly Beach has been a mainstay of the area since it opened its doors in 1963. However, overtime, the interiors of the building had become dated and tired and owner Accor Hotels wanted to create a coastal luxury feel for the hotel that would better reflect The Sebel brand.
They enlisted Melbourne-based practice Indesign International, which set about exploring the beaches in Manly and the surrounding area to gather inspiration.
“The team went for long walks up and down the beach and photographed anything that inspired us, from plants to the sand and the surf. We also observed how Manly locals used the immediate area as well as the tourists, “explains Keirah Alexander, interior designer at Indesign International.
“Once we had collected all that, we went back to the studio and began to source hard and soft finishes that would complement and reflect this outdoor feeling of calm and coastal.”
The finished product is a seamless combination of luxurious sophistication and coastal appeal. Each room in the hotel features a pared back palette of charcoal, soft whites, oak and midnight blues, which marry beautifully with the warm timber and carpets.
For tapware, Indesign International turned to Phoenix and used the Cerchio and Vivid Slimline Oval collections, choosing them for their timeless elegance, says Alexander.
“We were looking for something that would be contemporary, yet really have a sense of elegance and at the same time really lasting the test of time. For our hotel clients, they don’t want to be doing renovations for hard finishes every five years, they want to be able to have product that has a sense of timelessness. That was what really drew us to the Vivid Slimline Oval range, it feels really modern but at the same time, the soft curves and the choice of chrome in this particular case gave it that timeless look.”
One challenge that the team encountered was that the layout and the size of each room was slightly different, meaning that in the bathrooms the design team had to choose two different basins depending on the layout.
“In the bathrooms, we used Vivid Slimline Oval mixers and by having the two different heights in the mixers it meant that we could use the same style but two different products throughout the entire property so that was a great advantage for us.”
Click to explore the Vivid Slimline Oval and Cerchio ranges.
Interior Design: Indesign International
Client: Accor Hotels
Product: Cerchio Sink Mixer, Vivid Slimline Oval Vessel mixer and Vivid Slimline Oval Basin Mixer
Images: Damien Kook
