Living History

Decorator and writer Annie Kelly and photographer Tim Street-Porter’s Sydney home bears witness to styles present and past, mixing antiques and travel pieces.

WHAT HAS INFORMED AND INSPIRED YOUR INTERIORS STYLE?

Annie Kelly: A love of history right up to the present day. I collect books on interior design, and marvel over the furniture and fabrics of every period. I love Instagram as people post the most wonderful things.

DOES YOUR HOME DOUBLE AS A WORK SPACE?

AK: Thanks to the internet we can work anywhere – my office is wherever I can clear a space for my iPad. At home, I usually work at a desk.

WHAT INITIALLY APPEALED TO YOU ABOUT THE SPACE AND DID IT REQUIRE S IGNIFICANT ALTER ATIONS?

We wanted a traditional Paddington terrace house as they are one of Australia’s great design achievements. Without rows of picturesque 19th-century terraces, Australia’s cities would look like ordinary suburbia. That said, ours had been sadly messed up over the years and we brought in heritage architects Lucas Stapleton Johnson to restore the facade and some of the interior details.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE PIECES?

AK: I am in love with unfashionable brown antique furniture – not arranged as our grandmothers would, but as part of a distinctive Australian colonial much-travelled look. There was a passion for Turkish and Syrian inlay furniture in Edwardian days, which goes well with old furniture, as well as Indonesian ikats, baskets, masks and decorative art. Add a contemporary coffee table and chairs and you have a wonderful rich layered effect.