INHERITED style

It took Isabella Walker-Smith just two weeks to turn a Sydney rental into a stylish home.

-  Victoria Carey

When you grow up with a mother who writes stories called "These are the Worst Decorating Mistakes you can Make", odds are that you are far less likely to make them yourself. Such is the case for Isabella Walker-Smith. Immersed in the world of design since she was a baby, this stylist and creative consultant knows exactly what she likes - and doesn't like. "I was very lucky to grow up surrounded by beautiful things," she says. "Mum [stylist and writer Melissa Penfold] has a great eye and was always discovering new places." Today, the 31-year-old is back in Sydney after a two-year stint overseas. It was while Isabella was living in a tiny flat in London that she began to source pieces for her curated collections for Lawsons Auctioneers. "I spent a lot of time on the Eurostar," she says of her trips to France hunting for armoires and farmhouse tables like the one she is currently sitting at to fill shipping containers destined for Australia.

When she and her husband, Lindsay Hatton, returned home in September last year, they were shocked by the state of the rental market. "We had heard about the crisis but didn't really acknowledge how bad it is until we saw it first-hand. At the first place we looked at, there was a line out the door and down the street and it was dank, dark and horrible," says Isabella.

Luckily, the next property they saw was a significant improvement. Located on the ground floor of a 1920s block, the three-bedroom apartment had a sunny living room with French windows looking onto a tree-lined street. "It was easy to understand why the previous tenant had lived there for 30 years," says Isabella. "It was such a find. We instantly fell in love with it."