The feeling of the home is really beautiful. It has all those fantastic wow moments
but it also allows for moments of contemplation and I think being able to experience those things
simultaneously or concurrently within an environment like this is really beautiful.
My name is Megan Brown of Penman Brown Interiors and this is our Harbourview House project.
The original house was a very elegant 1900s federation home. It's set on the foreshores of
Manly Cove. It's very much a lifestyle choice centred around the harbour,
boating as well as swimming and surfing. It really is a beautiful and unique part of Sydney.
The clients on this project were excellent they really understood the complexity of design
and time spent in that design process and how important it was to achieving a sophisticated and
fully resolved end result. So, at the same time that Collins Pennington began their architectural
plans and Jamie Durie the landscape design, we were engaged to begin the interior design project
and for me, the client's insistence that the commencement of this project by all
three studios simultaneously really, I felt, led to its great success.
As you come up the stairs into the property, you see on your left the beautiful original federation
home that conjures up all those really romantic winsome feelings. Then immediately to your right,
you see Andrew's very minimalist, austere architecture and you instantly get that feeling
that you'll have the opportunity to experience that juxtaposition between the old and the new.
As you come into the home the master suite is immediately on your left. It's a really
beautiful space. It has the views to the harbour and the lovely bay windows that are so typical of
these federation homes. As you move through, you almost enter the lounge in the kitchen
immediately. You see the very architectural and sculptural staircase to your right
and you look through to this incredible beautiful detailed landscape by Jamie Durie.
To create a truly enriching environment for the family,
it was important to provide a juxtaposition to Andrew's very minimalist architecture
as well as complement Jamie's very detailed beautiful landscaping.
The spaces were designed concurrently with the selection of materials. So, each space has had
its materials applied in a very specific way and every material has been selected for its organic
nature. We have the hand glazed tiles, we have the beautiful honed marbles, the brass. All of this
comes together to create a very texturally dense experience. We also needed to make sure that we
maintain that elegance and refinement the couple were also looking for in their internal spaces.
In order to get that juxtaposition between the old and the new, that monochromatic
palette was extremely important. We're really stuck to those blacks, whites, natural wood tones
and whites and creams in the linens and the boucles and the silks.
Without that very tight palette, the space could become
very busy and lose that sense of quietude we were seeking to create.
So, we used a very limited materials palette in the kitchen. Each material was asked to
make a specific textual contribution, so it definitely holds our interest but it doesn't
dominate the space. Being a family of five, with three young boys, it was important that
the kitchen was really robust, so having that non-porous surface in the rear bench
meant that the clients could really relax and enjoy the space and then have the beautiful
marble splashback and the island there for that wow factor, for entertaining.
The master bedroom in itself is its own retreat. It's separated from the children's bedroom and the
other more public areas of the house. There's some beautiful artwork in there and furniture and all
of the things that the client, as adults, wanted to be able to enjoy and that connection, I think,
to the master robe with the beautiful timber textures really creates a special experience.
The way that the master suite connects to the bathroom is really beautiful. You come
through the robe, into the beautiful glass rib doors of the bathroom and you instantly
hit with that incredible marble and the beautiful sconces and the whole experience of the clay
hand glazed tiles glistening and gleaming in the light.
The inspiration for this project really came from two things;
obviously the incredible natural environment but also the family themselves. They're fun,
energetic, warm and they also have a real respect for
both nature and beauty and I feel like this home is an expression of all of those things combined.