As you PLEASE

When they decided it was time for an update, the owners of this Sydney home knew exactly the right interior designer for the job.

- Sarah Pickette 

For an interior designer, there’s possibly no greater compliment than to be asked back by clients because they’re so satisfied with your work. That’s the situation Lynne Bradley found herself in with this home in Sydney’s leafy north. “I first did some work on this house about four years ago,” she says. “After that, the family asked me to take on two other design projects for them. Last year, with two of their four children having moved out, they decided to invite me back to give some areas of the home a refresh.”

Lynne set to work updating four bathrooms, the main bedroom and the laundry, then designed a new butler’s pantry off the kitchen. A couple of other rooms were tweaked and the whole exterior repainted.

“The owners wanted to improve some important areas of the house but not to over-invest,” says Lynne. “My approach was to develop a sense of continuity through these spaces, with the same surfaces, shapes and colours flowing through to balance everything.”

From the street, the house presents as a warm and welcoming home. “You can just tell it’s a beautiful place to raise a family,” Lynne adds. The manicured front garden is the work of one of the owners, who has a particularly green thumb and a love of symmetry. The gardens add a sense of grandeur to the property and frame it perfectly.

During the first renovation, Lynne had given the home’s entry foyer more presence. “It was in danger of being an area you would just fly through and down the stairs to the living levels. So I decided to create a place to pause.”