Playful spirit

Warmth and whimsy pervade this Sydney beachside haven where a curated selection of exceptional pieces and chic colours create a vibrant mood.

- JUDY PASCOE

When the opportunity presents to have some fun with interior design, Justine Hugh-Jones and Katrina Mackintosh, principals of boutique studio Hugh-Jones Mackintosh (HJM), eagerly take up the challenge. The duo are known for their whimsical and unconventional approach, layering vintage and bespoke pieces and injecting shots of colour into their schemes.

This Palm Beach house is the holiday home of repeat clients, a couple with two daughters, who knew to trust HJM with the brief of a youthful approach to the design. On an enviable site across from the beach, the property is blessed with mesmerising ocean views, plenty of light and sun and abundant space for entertaining. “It’s a very peaceful and relaxed location,” says the owner, “where you feel even more removed from the city than you actually are.”

The existing three-storey house was contemporary but bland and the owners wanted it ‘warmed up’ – but they requested practicality as well as beauty. “There is a lot of concrete and glass,” Katrina says. “We wanted to make the house feel warm and inviting but with a sophisticated vibe rather than coastal.”

To balance the structure’s hard edge and the linearity of the open-plan living spaces, the designers opted for a soft focus with vintage pieces and organic shapes in natural materials including rattan, rope, limestone and wicker.

Hints of the whimsicality that lies within start at the entry foyer, which is a study in contrasts with its recycled timber pillars marking out the space that hosts an artful pairing of furniture pieces – a jaunty black and white-striped ‘Slon’ table by Matter Made and a graceful rattan wingback chair by Fratelli Boffi– with a dramatic landscape by artist Dan Kyle.