Carlyle by LAUN

A Dialogue Between Past and Present

At its core, the project is an exercise in holding two eras in careful tension. Laun has taken deliberate care to honour the historic character of the home: the original tiled Batchelder fireplace has been restored, arched windows and doorways retained, and complementary plaster, stone and zellige tile detailing incorporated throughout. Against this preserved fabric, more contemporary insertions — stone finishes, wood panelling, custom millwork — add warmth and coherence without erasing the patina of the original. 

“We always try to walk the line between modernising a historic home without stripping it of its character,” says Bullock. “A home should be layered, evolving as its owners evolve without being stuck in a particular time period.” The result is a space that feels neither preserved nor reinvented, but genuinely inhabited. 

Defining Features

Bankston hardware operates as a unifying thread across the project, present at every threshold and surface where the hand meets the architecture. The selection draws from a palette of American Walnut and Bone; warm, tactile, and precisely considered in relation to the surrounding material landscape. 

The H02 Knob on Rose in American Walnut/Bone brings compact authority to passage doors throughout the primary living spaces. Its dome-shaped top and round rose fitting are proportioned with confidence, resolved without excess. Where a tonal all-cream expression was required, the H02 Knob on Rose in Bone/Bone reinforces the coherence of the broader material palette. 

In the home’s centrepiece, an extensively appointed dressing room designed to gallery standard, with state-of-the-art temperature controls and custom cherry millwork, the H03 Knob on Backplate Half Moon in American Walnut/Bone introduces sculptural register to the joinery. Its expressive semicircular backplate is a deliberate counterpoint to the room’s architectural precision: a bold statement piece that performs as much as it serves. 

The H05 Robe Hook/Cupboard Knob in American Walnut/Bone carries the language through to more intimate moments, wardrobes, cabinetry and ancillary storage, the same dome geometry scaled to compact form, ensuring the hardware reads as a cohesive system across every room. 

Design with Intention 

Within the broader narrative of the Spanish Style Residence, architectural hardware becomes a connective element, linking the project’s historical references with its contemporary expression. The mid-tone warmth of American Walnut tempers the richness of plaster, stone and zellige tile, while the Bone finish harmonises with the home’s warm ground tones.  

Rather than functioning as a secondary detail, the hardware was integrated as part of the architectural language from the outset, considered in relation to the surrounding joinery, and present across every scale of the project. The result is a home that has not been stripped of its era, but deepened by it. 

Photography: Ye Rin Mok