Mount Lawley Hair Salon Fit-Out Celebrates Recycled Timber Battens
Tucked into a quiet pocket of Mount Lawley, just off the bustle of Beaufort Street, a small hair salon has opened with an interior that pays close attention to the grain of the timber running along its walls. The fit-out leans on recycled timber battens as both surface and structure, layering warmth into what would otherwise be a clinical, hard-edged service space. It is a project that treats joinery as atmosphere, not just cabinetry, and it offers a window onto how Perth designers are rethinking everyday commercial interiors.
The story behind the build is less about a single signature gesture and more about a series of careful decisions made before any panels were cut. From the choice of supplier to the spacing of each batten, the team treated the timbers as the central subject of the room. Visitors stepping inside encounter an interior that feels aged, considered, and unmistakably tied to the Western Australian landscape, even while it draws on techniques more commonly associated with coastal hospitality design.
A Concept Shaped by Texture and Repurposed Materials
The brief from the salon owners was unusually frank: they did not want a space that looked brand new. They wanted a room that felt as if it had settled into its corner of Mount Lawley years before they signed the lease. That instruction pushed the design conversation quickly toward recycled timber, where every scar, knot and patina comes preloaded with character rather than requiring a fake to be applied later.
From there the battens emerged as the natural language of the project. Long, narrow, and visually rhythmic, battens lend themselves to walls, ceilings and screening without the heaviness of solid panelling. They could soften the salon's hard floor, absorb echoes from clippers and blow dryers, and frame the mirrors without competing with them. Recycled in origin, they would also quietly carry a sustainability story that the owners were keen to share with clients.
Tracing the Timber Back to its Source
The battens used in the fit-out were salvaged from a deconstructed industrial shed in regional Western Australia, milled down to consistent widths and lengths, then kiln-dried to stabilise them for a climate-controlled interior. Choosing WA-grown hardwoods, including remnants of jarrah and marri, gave the palette a deep reddish undertone that suits Perth's bright northern light. These are species familiar to anyone who has spent time in the older suburbs around the river, where original floorboards and fences still carry the same warm tones.
Sourcing decisions like this are quietly reshaping the local joinery trade. Smaller Perth mills and reclamation yards, including those that work with deconstructed Perth Hills properties and old agricultural buildings, are seeing renewed interest from designers who want provenance written into their projects. The aesthetic and the supply chain now sit on the same side of the conversation, and clients are increasingly asking where the wood came from before they ask how much of it there is.
How Battens Became the Defining Element
Once the timber was on site, the design team committed to using battens as the principal wall finish across the styling stations, the retail display and the entry threshold. Vertical orientation was chosen for the main walls, drawing the eye upward and amplifying the relatively modest ceiling height. Behind the basins, a tighter batten spacing creates a darker, more private backdrop that makes the brassware read as a soft glow rather than a sharp reflection.
A comparison of the key recycled timber batten treatments used in the fit-out illustrates how the team varied a single material across different functions:
| Area of the Salon | Batten Orientation | Batten Spacing | Finish Applied | Primary Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry hallway | Vertical | 40 mm gaps | Clear matte hardwax oil | Warmth and approachability |
| Styling stations | Vertical | 60 mm gaps | Same hardwax oil, extra coats | Acoustic softening, visual rhythm |
| Basin backdrop | Vertical | 15 mm gaps | Dark-tinted penetrating oil | Privacy, contrast against mirrors |
| Retail nook | Horizontal | 30 mm gaps | Light-tinted oil, hand-rubbed | Display emphasis, shelf integration |
| Ceiling feature | Mixed grid | 80 mm gaps | Untreated, light buffing | Spatial definition above mirrors |
Reading the table, the constant is the material itself and the hand-rubbed oil finishes; the variable is the spacing and orientation, which shift the mood of each zone without changing the species or the colour family.
Working With WA Trades to Bring the Fit-Out Together
The build was realised by a small Mount Lawley–based joinery outfit with a longstanding reputation for shopfitting work along the Beaufort Street corridor. Many of the trades involved have spent years working on café fit-outs and small commercial projects in inner Perth, where timelines are tight and existing structures rarely behave as expected. That experience paid off in the careful negotiation around uneven floors and the discovery of original brick walls once demolition began.
Installation took longer than a comparable project using new plasterboard would have, because every batten had to be selected, oriented and fixed by eye to avoid clashing grain patterns. There was no attempt to disguise the work; screws are visible in places, and the rhythm of the battens carries the occasional small shift that a machine-finished wall would never tolerate. The result is an interior that openly displays its making, a quality Perth hospitality clients are increasingly asking for when they want a venue to feel settled from day one.
Reception Along Beaufort Street and Beyond
Within weeks of opening, the salon became a talking point among local designers visiting for industry events along the same strip that hosts Perth Design Week programming each year. Stylists who work in larger commercial chains have remarked on how the calm of the recycled timber backdrop shifts the pace of a typical appointment, slowing conversations and softening the usual sharpness of a service-based interior. The owners have started getting inquiries from other small businesses curious about how the same approach might translate to their own premises.
That ripple effect is already reaching further afield. Hospitality projects in neighbouring suburbs such as North Perth, Highgate and Maylands are now being briefed with similar material expectations, and several upcoming fit-outs are specifying reclaimed WA hardwoods in place of imported feature timbers. The shift suggests a more durable change than a single trend cycle; it points to a regional design identity that draws on local demolition waste rather than on shipments from overseas.
A Quiet Model for Hospitality Interiors Across the Region
Projects like this one in Mount Lawley demonstrate how a modest commercial fit-out can set a quiet benchmark for what local hospitality interiors can look like when recycled materials are treated with the same care as new ones. For studios working across Perth and the wider Southwest, the lesson is that the conversation about sustainability and craft is no longer separate from the conversation about atmosphere; in well-designed rooms, they are the same conversation.
Readers interested in seeing how these ideas are translating to other WA settings can explore a Swan District tasting room that places a central hearth at the heart of its plan, browse the design exhibitor showcase linked to the upcoming season, or secure a spot at the Wine In Design event to see how the local architecture and design community is gathering around shared material questions in the months ahead.
