While this early 1900s home isn't heritage-listed, the owners were very keen to keep all of its original features and traditional feeling, says interior designer Sarah Yarrow.
Rich in history, the house was one of the first three homes to be built in Sydney's Parsley Bay and was originally used as a refuge for seaplane pilots who were responsible for guiding ships into the harbour.
Anything in the house that was damaged was reinstated, but Sarah also added features in keeping with the era such as ceiling panelling in the dining room for grandeur and wainscoting in the hallway, living and dining room.
The restoration work involved replacing some mismatched cornices and ceiling roses with replicas to match the originals and fixing plasterwork on the hallway arches.
A new palette was devised, largely informed by the owners' love of nature. "Colour was really a key starting point for this design," says Sarah, referring to the prominence of blues and greens.
This is felt most intensely in the dramatic hallway, which has been transformed with detailed wallpaper and the rich blue of Porter's Paints Obsidian. The wallpaper depicts a scene rather than a pattern, which Sarah says makes it feel more like an "all-encompassing artwork".
No structural changes were made to the house but age caused its fair share of problems. "It had all the quirks that go along with working on old houses and never knowing what you're going to find," says Sarah. "Installing the wainscoting where walls are not flat or level and are very thick was far more time consuming and labour intensive than we initially thought."
The ceilings were found to be made of horsehair, a material typically used in the early 1900s that made introducing new ceiling roses and panels challenging. Sarah says installing wall lights required the electricians to 'chase' the walls, which involved cutting channels from the ceiling all the way down the wall to the new location of the lights and switches to get power in.
"Multiply that by every light and switch in the house - it added significant time, effort and mess!"
Although the owners were dedicated to preservation and restoration, the house "still had to be a liveable and engaging space for contemporary life", says Sarah. To that end, they installed automation systems and reorganised some spaces. "The home has views to Sydney Harbour, so orienting the living area to maximise the connection to the outdoors was also important."
The open-minded homeowners gave Sarah free rein to dream up whatever design she thought would work best. As for how she balanced old and new, Sarah says it wasn't black and white.
"It's a fine line. I just knew when each space felt resolved or when it needed a bit more tweaking, depending on the overall feeling and whether it was leaning too far one way or another. I don't think there is any right or wrong when it comes to finding that balance. It's very intuitive."
Sarah Yarrow Interiors; sarahyarrowinteriors.com.au
Builder Yarrow Build; yarrowbuild.com.au