CLASSIC FIT

Due to a dexterous makeover, a family home in Sydney's east lets its hair down while still retaining its timeless appeal

-  CHRIS PEARSON

Designer Dylan Farrell has performed a smart conjuring trick with this glamorous four-bedroom home in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. In a magical transformation, he has deftly upped its formal, classical credentials, while, paradoxically perhaps, also making it fun and functional for family living.

The owners found plenty to love in this classically styled 1990s home, with its proverbial good bones, its large sloping block and huge fig tree in the front garden that dusted the interiors with dappled light. But it was also stiff and starchy, needing to let its hair down if it was to become an inviting family home. And it was also bland, with bare white walls, relieved by token cornicing and other scant architectural details, with the finishes and fittings poorly executed. Perhaps most jarringly, however, the scale was awkward.

"The interiors had a dollhouse-like quality," says Dylan, who first stepped over the threshold in early 2021. "The proportions were not palatial, yet they suggested a whimsical formality." And he knew how to turn that apparent paradox into a plus with a little skill. "The owners wanted a classical language without the rigidity that often comes with it. They were drawn to our design style for its duality of classicism and levity." In their brief, the owners requested complete redos of the kitchen and bathrooms, while all of the carpentry and joinery had to go.

In the brave new era of WFH, they wanted a home office, while Dylan gently coaxed them into adding a wine cellar, "as a bit of fun, because the husband wanted to start a collection".