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| Mosaic house |
| Tara visits a house where the owners have gone mad on mosaics. |
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Renovating is a great way for home owners to add a personal touch to their property. Well, Anoushka and Alex Lototzky have taken this a little further than most. They've used mosaic murals to create an intriguing house of colour and design.
When Anoushka left Switzerland to travel through Mexico, she never imagined she'd end up in Australia. It was in Mexico that she met husband-to-be Alex Lototzky. She joined him in Sydney, where they bought a Federation home in Croydon and have been there for five years. Most of this time has been dedicated to renovating the house, with the main bathroom alone taking about 2 years.
It was during her travels through Mexico that Anoushka fell in love with bold, colourful, mosaic murals. Inspired, she enrolled in a mosaic course at TAFE and soon set up her own studio — "Artmosaique". Renovating their Croydon home enabled Anoushka to practice her mosaic work. She experimented with different techniques, using large free-form pieces of glass on top of glass, as well as combining larger pieces of ceramic tiles with traditional glass mosaics.
Alex is a surveyor. He worked tirelessly with Anoushka to renovate the home. Alex even took up blacksmithing, making a huge wrought-iron floor candelabra for the dining room as well as some table bases.
Anoushka and Alex wanted a Mediterranean feel where they extended at the back of the home, so they built thick curved walls with a rough "hand made" finish. They used a strong, vibrant blue to capture attention. They used curved walls because they didn't want any sharp edges — they were trying for the "aged" look common among old farm buildings in the Mediterranean.
Alex was keen to recycle any timber removed from the house during the renovations, so he made a four-poster bed out of the Australian hardwood floor joists. He had never carved before, so it was a major operation. They also used the floorboards on the kitchen cabinets and the Oregon roof joists for the benchtops.
The bathroom renovation was mammoth. With a new baby in the family, there wasn't much time to finish what they'd started. An enthusiastic Anoushka was keen to create an "underwater" theme in the bathroom as it worked well with the curved wall and had flow.
The kitchen floor was another labour of love. They wanted handmade terracotta tiles for warmth and texture. They also became keen gardeners, planting large trees and overgrowth in place of the existing manicured lawn. They did this to hide the nearby train track.
All the mosaics were done by Anoushka, including the entire main bathroom, a sun shaped window in the dining room, a series of small "waves" in the kitchen and guest room, small blue tiles in the laundry sink and steps, even the outdoor furniture and fireplace are decorated.
The round window in the dining room was made to look like a sun by attaching small chips with silicone. In the afternoon, the light shines through, casting an attractive light in the room. The unused fireplace in 2-year-old Noah's room contains a blazing mosaic fire of yellow, orange and red chips.
In a room at the front of the house is Anoushka's studio. She works on her mosaics here and keeps an assortment of "chips" in jars. In April, Anoushka and family are moving to Switzerland where she has been commissioned to do another bathroom. She will still work on smaller projects which she can ship back to Australia if wanted.
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More Info
For more information visit Anoushka's web site:
www.artmosaique.com
Related past factsheets
Mosaic basin fountain
Mosaic bathroom mirror
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Disclaimer
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