Marble arch

Italianate influences and the deft use of Arabescato stone has resulted in this timeless and lovingly layered Sydney home.

- CARLI PHILIPS

Dating back to the 1990s, this residence in Sydney’s Vaucluse was built by a local architect inspired by  the Italianate style. By the time the principal of  Sydney-based Smac Studio, interior designer Shona McElroy, started work on the renovations the property was in desperate need of an overhaul, and yet the value and sentiment of the original design concept still shone through.

“He built it as a family home for himself after a trip to Tuscany and even though it’s hard to believe now, when we first saw it, everything was a limewashed terracotta colour. It still had such grandeur though, with columns and a striking entrance. I wanted to preserve some of that spirit but bring it into the 21st century,” explains Shona, who met the architect during the process.

While the house needed to be contemporised, both Shona and the client agreed that it still deserved a degree of traditionalism consistent with its elegant volumes and breadth of space.

“Overall, the priority was making sure that the entire home felt ageless. I didn’t want it to go out of style in the next 10 years,” she says. “We’ve created a neutral-layered classicism but with modernity woven in too. For the most part, the client said, ‘Here it is – do what you want with it. Do what you think is best’,” recalls Shona of the brief.

Leaning into the formality of the existing double-height foyer, Shona lined the floor in a classic checkerboard pattern with Verde Alpi and Carrara marbles. The open metal balustrades of the staircase were filled in with a nib wall for a sweeping, sculptural gesture in Venetian plaster.