House and Garden March 2024

HIDDEN HAVEN

A family house on Sydney’s Northern Beaches blurs the indoor-outdoor divide, becoming a tropical sanctuary.

STORY Lisa Easey | STYLING Olga Lewis PHOTOGRAPHY Anson Smart

EXTERIOR Weatherboard cladding painted Taubmans Almond Milk. Clusters of ferns, magnolias and succulents line the front steps beside the pool, placed at the home’s front to harmonise with the landscape. ENTRY Custom steel doors by Wild Orchid Spaces draw in natural light, onto a sandstone wall from Hayda Natural Stone. ‘Retto Collection’ industrial sconce in Bronze, Lamps Plus. Jute rug, Temple & Webster. Palecek ‘Seychelles Coco’ chandelier, Horchow.

“My favourite room has always been this open-plan kitchen, living, dining, as you feel connected to the pool, the landscape and nature.”

SARAH PARRY-OKEDEN, INTERIOR DESIGNER

Walking down the long drive of designer Sarah Parry-Okeden’s home is akin to stepping into a rainforest. A dense canopy of palms leads to a house gently immersed in the landscape. You would be forgiven for thinking you were in a tranquil sanctuary rather than in the heart of Sydney’s bustling Northern Beaches.

Sarah is the founding director of Wild Orchid Spaces, specialising in the development of high-end turnkey properties, with each home a lifestyle experience drawn from Sarah’s affinity for nature.

It was in 2012 that Sarah turned her creative hand to designing two weatherboard cottages set on a generous 7300sqm block, seeing their potential for her young family, which includes her husband and two children.

“The main thing that drew us to that block is that it’s very private and very big for the area,” says Sarah. “It’s always about the landscape for me when I buy a place.”

The two cottages were structurally sound but impractical for family life, having low ceilings, a closed-plan layout and little connection to the environment.

Starting in 2012, a knockdown-rebuild took four years to complete. Sarah oversaw the process as the interior designer and created the architectural concepts with River Run Design (now retired) and Bacuss Constructions. The result is two residences, the coastal bungalow and guesthouse, ‘Little Lokahi’, and the main beach house, ‘Lokahi’, comprising three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a spacious indoor-outdoor living area.

At the top of the list for Sarah for the main residence was a fluid transition to the outdoors, while drawing the environment in. This was achieved by a considered palette of natural stone, large-scale glass doors, and an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area, with an extended outdoor room beside the pool. The only challenge was the established palm trees, which stood in the way of the new outdoor living zone. But Sarah came up with an ingenious solution.

“The existing palms were very much incorporated into the design of the property, to the extent that I put the trunks through the roof,” says Sarah. Roof openings one metre and a half wide were reinforced with circular steel rings to accommodate the palm trees that grow in the original pool, which now sits beneath the outdoor living area and is used as a rainwater tank.

The pool and outdoor room are flanked by sliding >

KITCHEN/LIVING/DINING Ceiling painted Dulux

Natural White. Vintage Barovier&Toso pendant light (over island) and Italian Murano chandelier (in living), both eModerno. Benchtop in Blanco Zeus silestone in suede finish. Vintage bowl, Leilah. Reupholstered bar stools, Rachel Donath. Electric Heat & Glo fireplace. Rough block sandstone chimney, Hayda Natural Stone. Vintage family portrait. Black aluminium doors and windows, Award Architectural Aluminium.

“The existing palms were very much incorporated into the design of the property.”

SARAH PARRY-OKEDEN

KITCHEN Interior designer and homeowner, Sarah, in the kitchen. Joinery painted Dulux Natural White, Palm Beach Design Co. Rangehood and walls in Champagne Onyx stone, Euro Marble. Handles in Brass, Rocky Mountain Hardware. OUTDOOR LIVING ‘Ashika’ coconut shell chandeliers, Bisque Interiors. Armchair, Bisque Interiors. Vintage teak daybed, teak table with custom marble top, vases and Indian grinder table, all Wild Orchid Spaces.

KITCHEN Joinery painted Dulux Natural White, Palm Beach Design Co. Sandstone wall and ‘Vogue’ honed sandstone floor tiles, both Hayda Natural Stone. Vintage Barovier&Toso pendant light, eModerno. Island benchtop in Blanco Zeus silestone in a suede finish. Vintage marble fruit bowl, Leilah. Custom bar stools, Rachel Donath. Sussex ‘Voda’ mixer in Tumbled Brass, Candana.

Champagne Onyx stone (kitchen wall)

Dulux Natural White (joinery and ceilings)

Colorbond Monument (roof)

THE PALETTE

LIVING A custom Wild Orchid Spaces and Patterson Flynn Martin rug adds warmth and texture. Sandstone wall, Hayda Natural Stone. ‘Cloud’ sofa, Restoration Hardware. Vintage round rattan armchair and tables, Wild Orchid Spaces. ‘Gautam’ marble pot, Gather Co. DINING Arteriors ‘Tilda’ chandeliers, DecorPad. Custom Camargue dining table, refurbished velvet cane chairs and vintage Indian inlay mirrors, all Wild Orchid Spaces. Vintage glass wall sconces, eModerno. Vintage Persian-style rug, Cadrys. KITCHEN Joinery painted Dulux Natural White, Palm Beach Design Co. Benchtops in Blanco Zeus silestone. ‘Voda’ mixer in Tumbled Brass, Candana. Handles, Rocky Mountain Hardware.

glass doors, which, when open to the indoor living zone where the family spends most of their time, give the space a sense of not having any walls.

“What I focused on was making the kitchen, living, and dining at least half of the house because I believe they really are the heart of the home,” says Sarah. “I made our children’s bedrooms quite small because I wanted them to be [spending their time] out with us.”

The original four-bedroom layout located on the opposite wing was restructured into three, including the main bedroom with an ensuite and retreat area with impressive treetop views. Although the children’s bedrooms are modest in size, no space feels confined when it has eight-metre-high, gabled ceilings and Velux electric skylights maximising the natural light.

Sarah’s interior style is very much sensorial, with a material palette of sandstone balanced with soft furnishings for textural depth and charm. A rough sandstone-block wall greets visitors in the foyer, while waves of Champagne Onyx stone extend floor to ceiling in the kitchen above ‘Vogue’ honed sandstone floor tiles. High-pile rugs feel plush under foot, neatly delineating the living zones, alongside custom and vintage furniture by Wild Orchid Spaces as part of their interior collection.

“I have the ability to be a one-stop shop for a client where I do the interior finishes and furniture,” says Sarah. “That’s what I love, because they’re pieces from all over the world that have been refurbished and repurposed.”

The theme continues outdoors with a daybed with a vintage teak base, while the pool, complete with a Bali thatch hut, is inlaid with Sukabumi stone tiles for mineral healing. To highlight the natural materials, the colour scheme was purposefully restrained to white with a subtle warm undertone.

Soaking up the tropical atmosphere is a pleasure for Sarah and her family, who love the garden-centred home. “It’s quite an extraordinary place,” she says. “It very much intertwines with nature and the energy of the land.” > Wild Orchid Spaces: wildorchidspaces.com. Bacuss Constructions: bacuss.com.au.

River Run Design Eye Candy Painting & Decorating: eyecandypainting.com.au.

THIS IS THE LIFE

sarah and her family love the open-plan living area, both in summer and winter. “We spend 95 per cent of our time here,” she says. “It’s very much a beautiful summer home with the pool, but winter is gorgeous. We have a back-to-back fireplace in the interior and exterior living room, and the underfloor heating beneath the stone makes it feel warm and cosy.”

EXTERIOR Green ‘Sukabumi’ tiles from Tiles by Kate were used in the pool for their mineral properties. The Colorbond roof in Monument features one-metrewide reinforced steel ring openings to allow the palm trees to grow through and sway. Velux electric skylights increase ventilation and natural light. Bali hut, Bali Thatch Hut Gazebo Manufacturer. Glass pool fence, Advanced Frameless Glass.

MAIN BEDROOM Ceiling painted Dulux Natural White. Sandstone wall, Hayda Natural Stone. Vintage resin antler chandelier, ‘Cloud’ rug, Pierre Fray reupholstered bed frame, and vintage bone inlay bedside console, all Wild Orchid Spaces. Black frayed-edge cushions, Leilah. Murano clam sconces, eModerno. White aluminium bifold doors, Award Architectural Aluminium. ENSUITE Sandstone wall, and ‘Vogue’ honed sandstone floor tiles, both Hayda Natural Stone. Custom vanity and ‘Moat’ basins, Wild Orchid Spaces. ‘Vov’ freestanding bath in White, Mastella. Banana leaf pendant lights, Heaven’s Gate Home. ‘City Plus’ ceiling shower in Organic Brass, and ‘City Stik’ bath mixer in Tumbled Brass, both Brodware. GUEST BATHROOM Vintage bone-inlay mirror, ‘La Boheme’ carved Indian console, and Merwe brass basin, all Wild Orchid Spaces. Green ceramic subway tiles, Tiles by Kate. ‘Minim’ wall mixer in Rumbled Brass, Brodware. Vintage glass sconce, Anthropologie. EXTERIOR Steps from the outdoor living area lead to a basketball court, gym and soccer field. Layers of palms and towering eucalypts establish a resort-style feel, matching the home’s stately proportions.

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THE SOURCE

A tactile coastal theme with a vintage touch will give your interiors a relaxing, holiday feel.

by Andrea Healy.

Produced

1 ‘Halle 8’ chandelier $1599, Schots Home Emporium. 2 ‘Coral’ outdoor recliner in White/Black, $1909, Bisque Traders. 3 ‘Sierra’ beaded chandelier in Gold and White, $2199, Attica House. 4 Elitis ‘Disco’ flatweave rug in Banana, $4750, Tigmi. 5 ‘Elysian’ floor-mounted basin/bath filler with mixer in Matte Black, $950, ABI Interiors. 6 ‘Elio’ two-seater sofa in Bone, $6620, MCM House. 7 ‘Garrafa Ancho Forest’ vase, $84, Domayne. 8 Atrium ‘Polo’ rug in Natural, $269, Choices Flooring. 9 Yiannis Ghikas Design ‘Soda’ low side table, from $2816, James Richardson Furniture. 10 ‘Yoyo’ stool, $840, Rachel Donath. #