“It’s white on white and neutral on neutral,” Phoebe says, “which creates a very calming feel.”
Awonderful feeling of calm descends as you enter this elegant home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Although the hubbub of the city is merely minutes away it reads as a private sanctuary decorated in perfect taste by interior architect and designer Phoebe Nicol in warm whites and neutrals.
The owners, a young professional couple with one child, bought the house some years ago and engaged Phoebe, who had worked on their previous home, to freshen it. The house had beautiful bones and no structural work was required so Phoebe had the delicious task of selecting fittings, finishes and new furniture. “The clients totally trusted me and I had free rein,” she says. “They wanted something different and original, and were very open to exploring new ideas and bespoke design. In fact, they hadn’t even seen many of the pieces before they were delivered to the house.”
It’s very much Phoebe’s style – classic with a contemporary edge, personalised with custom items as well as a few family antiques and artworks that the couple wished to keep. Phoebe incorporated these seamlessly into the scheme that mixes sisal, seagrass wallpaper, linen, limestone, marble and timber in layers of texture and tone. “It’s white on white and neutral on neutral,” Phoebe says, “which creates a very calming feel.” Occasional pops of colour only serve to heighten the tranquil mood which is further enhanced by the soothing sounds of water playing in the courtyard fountain.
While the house is compact there is a sense of generosity created by the over-scaled pieces such as the white linen sofas and the custom-made 2.2-metre limestone coffee table in the living room. It took a leap of faith to install the coffee table with six men required to carry it on to the property and manoeuvre it into place. “We just had to close our eyes,” says Phoebe.
The limestone is just one of many luxe finishes throughout, with slabs of hand-picked Italian marble in the kitchen and on bathroom
vanities and painted seagrass wallpaper, chunky sisal rugs, raw linen and silk fringing providing the play of textures and contrasts that Phoebe sought. The beautiful stonework of the house is reflected in the artworks, such as the layered, mixed media piece by Angie Pai, and the curated objects including the vases by Den Holm.
Though the house is on three levels, family living centres on the downstairs rooms – kitchen, lounging and dining, with a sweet little playroom annexe – all opening out to a paved courtyard planted with tall conifers which feels wonderfully private and quite European.
A circular stair leads to the first floor with its two bedrooms, bathroom and TV room. With blue-striped upholstered walls the guest bedroom is classic, but “a bit more adventurous”, says Phoebe.
The top floor master retreat has a small terrace with city views, a walk-in robe and a spacious bathroom which was gutted and walls finished in marmorino. “This room has quite a moody feel,” says Phoebe. “It’s the same story throughout the house but each room has a different language.”
As co-owner of The Vault Sydney, Phoebe has a great appreciation of antiques. “My passion is taking the best of the old and mixing it with the new,” she says. She brought new life to the family heirlooms the owners wished to keep, ebonising the timber sideboard in the dining room to give it a more contemporary feel, lining the glass-fronted antique cabinet in the living room with Zimmer + Rohde wallpaper, and creating a tall plinth for an inherited sculpture to rest upon.
The refurbishment took about a year with Phoebe calling it “a very considered, staged process. The house still has a slightly old-world feeling – we haven’t made it too modern. The unique pieces make it feel very curated. But everything has been designed to work together.” #
For more go to phoebenicol.com.