Design process

Hidden behind a timber facade in Sydney’s metropolitan Bondi Junction, this house is in a laneway that is often used as a canvas for neighbourhood kids to graffiti. It’s an unusual mix of styles, and was ripe for renovation when the Budge family of five and various pets moved in. As the property has three living areas, they focused on light updates for two of them, leaving the one adjacent to the garden out of the picture.

“It’s the largest of our living spaces,” says owner Jinan Budge, “so it should have been our primary living room because it has the best outlook – with sun, a pond and a giant staghorn in the yard – but it was so poorly furnished that we never used it.

Once we had the makeover, not only did it become our primary living room, it became the family’s happy place.”

Key to the transformation was interior designer Lara Ette, who is Jinan’s sister. Lara embraced Jinan’s brief for lots of colour (“bright to match the house and my style”) and tackled the room’s spatial and design issues. She took a more subtle approach to Jinan’s colour choices and introduced her company’s signature detailing in the form of beautiful handmade pieces.

Jinan had no experience of working with a designer, so was very new to the process. “My input was pretty annoying, to be honest, and I questioned everything,” she admits. “We just didn’t want to spend time or money on a room we weren’t using. It had an ugly Chesterfield in there, which was too wide and deep for the space and had a special massive hole created by our dog. That faced a horrible white TV cabinet and floating shelves.”

Once she was signed up, Lara got to work on making the room look and feel larger. “Jinan wanted a plan that worked well for the family and opened up the dining and living,” she says. “As the staircase is in a fairly inconvenient location, this was crucial. The interior also needed to work well with the exterior because when you open up the French doors, it’s an oasis out there.”