Space To Breathe

Stylerunner founder and fitness devotee JULIE STEVANJA says her space-filled Sydney waterfront apartment is where she finds peace.

- Rachel Sharp

She forged fame and fortune with a high-tech start-up that touts latest-trend sportswear, but when it comes to her private downtime, Julie Stevanja values old-fashioned nostalgia above all. In striking contrast to the super-cool high-energy office digs the award-winning Stylerunner founder and CEO surrounds herself with for work, the postcard-perfect Sydney Harbour-side apartment she shares with husband of six years Kej Somaia is a serene lifestyle dream.

“I’d seen this building so many times and loved it so much from the outside,” says Stevanja of the 100-year-old Spanish-Mission-style complex that’s a landmark in Sydney’s upmarket Elizabeth Bay. The Adelaide-born business graduate lived in the same street for five years before moving into the abode, previously inhabited by Wheels and Dollbaby founder Melanie Greensmith and her Divinyls guitarist partner Mark McEntee, almost two years ago.

“When I was younger, I gravitated towards cool, modern buildings but now I’m just in love with romantic, heritage-style architecture,” she notes. “I love that Elizabeth Bay feels kind of European, like the South of France, and this [five-apartment] complex feels like something from a bygone era. Obviously, we’re by the water, but it’s also one street away from all these incredible restaurants and wine bars in Potts Point, and it’s two kilometers from the CBD of Sydney, one of the coolest cities in the world. It’s a pretty special place to live.”