Megan Morton and Family
Megan Morton schjoozes the dining room of her light-filled Lane Cove home. “I love working a corner, here a duplicate hanging includes a pair of architectural drawings, a mirror and old linen oil painting, topped with a small french clock perfectly similar in diameter to Sarah King‘s prototype Sound Made Visible ceramic side plate” says Megan. All photos by me.
The heart of the home – corner fireplace. “Walnut heaven in the form of an armless Cherner chair, flanking my kooky corner fireplace. When lit, winter magic happens” – Megan.
Details from the fireplace – “Botanical books found at Seasonal Concepts while propping for my own Propery – holding back a few sweet things is an occupational hazard” says Megan. And on the right, a “gentle and stirring” painting by Marcella Kaspar.
Today’s home is SERIOUSLY special. When I first met fabulous interiors stylist Megan Morton nearly 3 years ago, I was super excited to visit her Sydney home – but of course she was very clear that it was far from perfect, and there would be NO PHOTOS! Ain’t it always the way – the stylist always put their own home last?!
Fast forward to 2011 and FINALLY the Morton family home is ready for it’s close up – because after 6 glorious years here, The Morton family are moving on! That’s right – Megan Morton’s home in the leafy Sydney suburb of Lane Cove is currently on the market – check out the real estate listing here. I must say I feel incredibly lucky to finally have the opportunity to share this very special home with you all! (Nothing like an impending auction to get people enthused about a TDF home feature!)
Megan lives here with husband Giles, and gorgeous kids Millie (12), Sebastian (10) and Bea (18 months). Given Megan’s passion for beautiful details, it’s no surprise the home is styled to perfection. The bathroom and kitchen have been updated in MM’s signature style – classic with a touch of clever and quirky detail. It’s a home full of creative energy – and as with all genuinely ‘lived-in’ spaces, it’s an ever-changing work in progress. Megan says really the home has been like her extended studio – “I have used walls here to shoot details and stories for magazines, and have used this home to research which floorboards are better, either white or dark – I did both to see!”
When asked for her favourite aspects of her home, Megan’s answer is too wonderful not to include in full! Because she’s my favourite, and because no one can speak more eloquently and entertainingly about a home than MM, I’m handing the rest of this post over to her (even the captions!)… Enjoy!
5 Great things about my house. By Megan Morton.
1. Its number 24 and that is SUCH a great thing as it also happens to also be my favourite pose number in yoga!
2. There is a tree house that has been built to fit three camping mattresses for little boys to sleep over in. Our local pizza place deliveries care of ‘the tree house’. Dead cute and the little fellas love it.
3. Because of its spoilt position on a big block (for Sydney standards, it’s ginormous – close to 900 square metres), the house itself sits high up and dead set in the middle. This gives it, what can only be described as a sense of gentle elegance within its suburban landscape. The house itself though truly looks like its smiling. You need to see it to get it, but it really does. Its like ‘Which house do you live in’, and I am like, ‘you know the white smiling one’ and head nods.
4. I grew up with parents who were city folk and right at my most important time to live in the big smoke, they upped sticks and learnt to be small time farmers. They learnt it all through Grass Roots magazine. (it is still around and totally ahead of it’s time in theory). I like to keep one toe in the selfish city and the other in the soil. So at my house there is a proper vegetable garden that is seasonally rotated – it can feed a family of five no worries. There is also a secret side alley that was my chicken run. Sadly our dog forgot his manners one day and while free eggs are awesome, I didn’t have the heart to replace the lost chooks, in case he forgot again.
5. It has shamelessly modest proportions, which means space for everyone to hide, but not sprawl. Small kids rooms, which gets them out from behind closed doors and out to outdoor pursuits. Because it’s architecturally barren, creating wall vignettes and mini focal points are easy and necessary.
So if its good, why leave? It has been the loveliest place to have a family. This suburb has sourdough, proper single origin coffee, top schools and all the other rah rah that people like. My older kids are now teens and I didn’t want to be one of those people who starts to giveaway the trampoline and the slip’n’slide when the ‘kids’ are heading into their twenties! This way a new family can enjoy all it’s spoils. Oh sweet house, I have loved you. For what you are now, but more so for what you will go onto be.
– Megan
Huge thanks to Megan for sharing her stunning home with us, and for such thoughtful words and captions! A truly fitting farewell for a much loved family home. :)
Battered Leather chaise sits in the loungeroom, with velvet cushions by Rachel Castle. The stunning antique key is a treasured gift from Megan’s husband Giles – it’s from Parterre Garden. The paintings above the mirror are of Megan’s three kids – “I had Michelle Ball paint our children, and I love how they look so them and at the same time so not! Box mirror by Freedom enlarges the room and gives you a double dose of the adjoining fireplace” – Megan.
Lounge / dining details. Left – “I work a lot with flowers and rarely play with them at home, but I can’t ever resist a weeny amount of floppy tulips. Wall mounted jam jars are such lovely hosts to single stemmed bunches” says Megan. Right – “I bought these Klein blue laces in NYC and love them through my grey brogues. Blue and grey are like the Brangelina of the colour world – physical perfection”. :)
Kitchen – “rustic detail and geometry in the form of a copper tray from Collect Home, and Sarah King‘s prototype Sound Made Visible plates, giving eye candy to a basic kitchen that plays with monochromatic scheme. I am a bad cook but a good entertainer, so I left the cooking space small to have three eating spaces instead” – Megan.
Sitting room with antique console and rug by Loom. “A console is the perfect place to practice your styling treatments, Here I play with size, proportion, scale and the tonal nuances of grey and powder blues” says Megan.
Its Beautiful here. “Oh it so is. Niesha Crosland‘s diagonal stripe is eye ball heaven to me. Along with Pierre & Charlotte‘s oversized FBI lounge under their crumpled light, a finally perfect rug from Nepal via loom, and Sarah King‘s kite stool.”
Allegedly, Megan’s real estate agents quizzically asked if these picture-perfect industrial lockers ‘were staying’ for the open house!? Ah, YES!? “The lockers are filled with games and musical instruments – the Enjoy flameless candles on the top make it a sparkly place to sit come the p.m. I love working opposites – so to me the roughness of the lockers combined with the smoothness of the plaster objects is insanely beautiful”. – Megan.
Details in the sitting room. Re: the painting bottom left – “She looks like a Marion right? I have hundreds of portraits of strangers. I love that Dutchy style of portraiture. I store them and pull out a new face to change things up a bit. The mood of a face can really change the tune of a room instantly” – Megan.
Hallway connecting the kids’ rooms and playroom. “Metal chair found at Parterre Garden, and a Loom hall runner opens the hallway – where a prototype lounge I designed ends it. An old post box works as ‘in trays’ for all the kids and a Hermes Avalon blanket pleases me no end” – Megan.
Sparkly details in the hallway
Megan’s divine master bedroom – “Can you imagine what it’s like to wake up knowing all these amazing books are behind me?!” she says. On the bed is a velvet cushion from friend Rachel Castle, and lovely pure crumpled linen from Frank & Mint.
Details from the bookshelves in the master bedroom. Artwork top left – “Another stranger I really like. Top lipstick action and hair scarf” says Megan! Also a Nicholas Jones book sculpture. “Nicolas Jones has made me a book for my next Homelove book. How wonderful… He has cut it from an old book entitled “The Australian Home decorating Guide”.
Re: the saddle in the bedroom – “I am equine mad. This saddle is my clothes horse. Better than a deep chair, you can’t dump clothes for a week, keeps me slightly more organized. MM luggage found while propping in Tasmania.” – Megan.
Baby Bea’s bedroom. “Lucky Bea with artist Lisa Cooper as a godmother. Lisa’s artwork above her bed was a baptismal gift. Paris Tasmania made her a monogrammed badge, and a mirror from Izzi & Popo, one of my favourite Melbourne dealers.” – Megan.
Paris Tasmania monogrammed badge, and a mirror from Izzi & Popo.
Blue and Green wall in the playroom. “Sometimes one thing kick starts a wall. In this case it was a timing issue, where I got this energetic oil painting from Maria Villa, a birthday house from Rachel Castle and a David Band trumpet. Between the three of them, a wall in the play room was borne, and it goes around a corner in blues and green” – Megan.
“Millicent’s room is a mismatch, she is in that cross over of a little girl and a teen. I love that cross over, experimenting with what she likes now, versus things she has had since a baby. Her Best in Park tile (just visible on the bedside!) is a love letter to her dog, August, the schnauzer. She found the red alarm clock at a market in France and spent her holiday money on it. So lovely”.
“Bathroom are real touch points – spend as much as you can and then some. It’s the one place you touch most days. I like butcher tiles and penny rounds, and trinkets to dress the sill from flea markets and folly-stores. I recently raided the South of France and found some sweet silver and ceramics. My sink was found online at a UK bathroom supply, its called the ‘cloak room sink’ as its super skinny. Empty Dyptique vessels make for toothbrush holders, vases and general hold alls” – Megan.
