TONE POEM
Interior designer Michelle Macarounas merged a European aesthetic with fresh Australian ease to breathe new life into a 1920s eastern suburbs home.
Interior designer Michelle Macarounas merged a European aesthetic with fresh Australian ease to breathe new life into a 1920s eastern suburbs home
hen interior designer and devoted globetrotter Michelle Macarounas first glimpsed her most recent project — an expansive 1920s home with a Tuscan villa exterior in a hilly section of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs — she admitted to feeling a little overwhelmed. “It was a little bit gaudy, and I wasn’t sure whether to embrace that classic Tuscan aesthetic.”
But with a career spanning London, Sydney, Geneva and Paris — where she studied interior architecture at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts — the Australian-born Macarounas eloquently finessed a client brief that called for a unique mix of luxury European aesthetic with casual Australian ease.
Here, the founder and director of Infinite Design Studio talks about her passion for the project and her evolving design ethos.
WMore mansion than house, the original home was built in the 1920s. There are eight bathrooms — but we didn’t redo all of them — five bedrooms, a large private writing room, a cellar/tasting room, maid’s quarters, an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, a sauna… It’s a fun property and has been an extremely beautiful project to work on — and very dear to my heart.
What’s important to us as a design studio — and it may sound like a cliché, but it’s true — is you have to have love in all your projects. And this home has love on so many levels. The owner, a close friend, has Hungarian heritage but was born in Australia and is the mother of two children. She’s very stylish, sophisticated and also down-to-earth, so it was about bringing all that together and merging a European aesthetic with an Australian outlook.
The original interior of the home was very dark and heavy. It was old in style — cool and shadowy inside, and outside was very separate, with formal gardens surrounding a tennis court and a swimming pool. It was important to link the grand landscaped areas to the inside entertaining areas of the home. We refreshed one of the key kitchen dining spaces by adding more windows and re-landscaping the immediate surrounding garden. The result was like adding a whole new section to the house.
Updating the more formal areas of the home was a unique experience for me; I’d never really dealt with that traditional, over-the-top opulence. The first big challenge was to link a beautiful casual lounge and dining area, where the family spent all their time, to these formal areas, where they entertain guests — and still maintain a sense of grandeur and luxury but without the heavy aesthetic.
We softened the look by adding layers. We took out the heavy velvet curtains and replaced them with linen and silk for a fresher, more contemporary feel. And we worked tonally. I have a joy for colour, but it’s elegant to work in the same tone — mixing colours in one project can sometimes look too elaborate and messy.
One of my favourite pieces is the La Isla lounge for Sancal. Every woman is in love with this piece. It’s not simply about the pink colour; it’s the curves and the social element to it, too. I can imagine two girlfriends sitting and having a martini. It works really well. For me, the standout space is the home’s outdoor area. It looks onto the pool and a landscaped garden we refreshed and it is just divine. It feels like you’re in Italy.
The Australian aesthetic is much more relaxed, and I think that’s why we’re getting international attention right now. In Europe, it’s harder to create that easy sense of indoor and outdoor flow that’s so intrinsic to our interiors. We’re not pretentious. And we’re not as serious as the Italians. There’s something fresh that’s reflected in the way we design.
I love Italy, and especially Milan. Milan Design Week provides me with inspiration for the year ahead. Interior design can be a lot of hard work, but the energy and excitement of Milan gets me through everything else. It’s not just about design and business; it’s the concepts, the inspiration and the emotion behind everything. Italians are the only ones who can do it to this level.
My approach to design is changing. I used to be pared-back and a little masculine in my aesthetic, but I find I’m getting softer. As you mature, you become more empathetic and accepting; you understand people more and become softer as a person, which is reflected in what you create. It’s a more feminine approach, which you can see in many areas of design right now. Even with the Italian brands in Milan this year, many of the installations were rounded and social, and designed to have people facing each other rather than looking at a wall. I think that’s an evolution for everyone.