‘It’s unusual to have an area of period bungalows like this in Sydney, but lateral living is perfect with a young family,’ says interior designer Caitlin Parker-Brown of Parker Studio, who reworked this house for herself, her husband Tim Brown and their sons Archer and August. When she first saw the property, though, it had been in the same family for 90 years and felt tired, with peeling wallpaper and worn-out vinyl flooring; while a clunky extension tacked onto the back was desperately in need of replacing.
Entrancing period features, from stained glass to intricate mouldings, encouraged Caitlin to look beyond the mess. The original flourishes were all still there, ready to build a fresh, contemporary look around. ‘It was daunting to be my own client, because my mind was running wild with all the options, but I had the luxury of time for things like trying different paints on the walls, enjoying the process of trial and error,’ she recalls.
The finalised palette takes inspiration from the house’s stained-glass window panes – ‘shades of dusty peach, pinky-purple and pale green’. These offbeat tones set Caitlin on a path to colour-drench every room in rich yet subtle hues (her take on the shades typically associated with this type of Federation-era home), amplifying the mood and character of each space.
‘I wanted to saturate every room, using eucalyptus green in the study, dusty lavender pink in the sitting room and an earthy, mustard-ochre-olive in our bedroom. The latter was a bit of a wild card. The builders thought I was crazy, but now it’s everyone’s favourite room,’ she notes, with a satisfied laugh.
Structural changes to the original bungalow were undertaken with a light touch. The bedroom, for instance, which is placed in the location of the former dining room, still retains the neoclassical moulded arch that once divided it from the living room; it now frames the bed in grand style.
When it came to the ugly 1950s extension, however, the approach was understandably less delicate. It has been replaced by a brand-new kitchen-dining-living space that opens onto the garden and pool. Working with architecture firm Potter & Wilson, Caitlin evolved a design that felt modern, but with a sense of grandeur inspired by the ornate nature of the rooms elsewhere in the house.
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‘We wanted the new space to feel pared-back, but in a timeless way. It was important that there was a clear difference between old and new, but with the same sense of warmth throughout. In the new space, I kept the colours more neutral, drawing on tones from the landscape beyond,’ she explains.
Whether opting for full colour or more muted decor, the common thread, as Caitlin notes, is a love of warm, tactile finishes, from limewash paint to tumbled limestone, highly veined marble and raw brass. ‘I’m always drawn to natural materials that develop a patina with age and start to tell their own story,’ she explains. As the designer embarks on family life in the space that she so carefully curated, she can look forward to those stories becoming intertwined with her own. parkerstudiointerior.com
