The owners of this Bondi terrace have lived in Sydney over a decade, but wanted the design of their home to reflect their Melbourne origins.
Full Of Grace Interiors was tasked with updating the home aesthetically, while also reconfiguring the ground floor to better utilise available space.
‘The original ground floor comprised numerous dead spaces, so the layout was reconfigured to introduce both informal and formal living and dining areas, with the addition of a rumpus room, a new bathroom, laundry, and guest bedroom,’ explains Therese Carrodus, interior designer and owner of Full Of Grace Interiors.
The interiors draw on Melbourne design sensibilities both in their look and feel, allowing the clients to recreate cosy dinners previously spent in Melbourne, around an open fire. The dining room with its original Victorian fireplace captures this intent with its sumptuous built-in banquette seating, black timber detailing, fluted glass and subdued blue palette reminiscent of a Melbourne restaurant aesthetic.
Other spaces are light-filled and more relaxed, indicative of the home’s beachside setting. For example, the open-plan kitchen and living area is a refreshingly bright haven introducing natural light from the rear garden, while the bathroom and rumpus room showcases playful yet sophisticated blush hues (Dulux Basic Coral among them). There’s also dramatic moments facilitated in the ice green kitchen marble, and deep red deep-crimson velvet curtains in the guest bedroom.
‘I also wanted to reference the Bondi locale and climate by drawing in the natural light from the sun drenched rear garden and by selecting a palette that is relaxed and unpretentious,’ says Therese. ‘I like that each of the rooms has its own flavour.’
Executing this vision had its challenges, given the narrow site with no side or rear access, but has ultimately resulted in a home the clients adore. Therese describes the completed project as an ‘observation in colour, texture and light’ creating contrasting moods within zoned areas, while reflecting this family’s past and present.