Blush hour

A youthful romance with pink and grey informed the subtle palette for thissophisticated home which offers a welcoming embrace in its simply elegant curves.

Pastel pink lets me show my softer side – that’s why I love this house,” says its designer Greg Natale, best known for his masculine black-and-white interiors. Proof he won’t be pigeonholed, the colour departure for this Sydney home resonates for a more pervading reason.

“When I was a teenager in the 80s, pink and grey was so hot. That gorgeous pairing made me yearn to become an interior designer.”

Greg took his cues for the palette from the bleached-oak parquet flooring. Chosen by the owners, builder Vince Ciolino of Ciolino Constructions and his wife Melissa, it became the starting point for the scheme and, indeed, the whole house. Frequent travellers to Europe, the couple presented Greg with a mental scrapbook of ideas, festooned with romantic features such as Juliet balconies, French doors, high ceilings and awnings, as well as the herringbone parquet floors. “We bounced ideas off each other like kids in a lolly shop and Greg came up with French art deco,” says Melissa. “The brief was for a classic house, but modern, slick and streamlined, not frou-frou,” adds Greg. “I love the clean lines of art deco because they are elegant and don’t date.” A triumph of the curve, the art deco lines add to the home’s soft touch. On the facade are glamorous Juliet balconies with ornate ironwork against a stucco exterior, while right angles are in short supply inside.