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Designer Joanna Barlow of MacCormick Architects had no doubts on the design direction for her sister Lucinda and brother-in-law’s family home renovation.
‘I knew it would be an adventure in creativity, colour, and joy. These were clients who embraced bold ideas — people with a zest for life, an innate love of pattern, and a professional understanding of creative bravery,’ says Joanna.
Throughout their many discussions at nearby Bronte beach, one theme remained constant: the pursuit of joy and delight.
‘Every decision was driven by the desire to create a home that would uplift and surprise — a place where architecture could enhance daily life with beauty, comfort and playfulness,’ says Joanna.
Practically, the home needed more space for a dedicated main bedroom, and more natural light.
The home’s position on a corner site, with its long side facing north, offered a rare and compelling opportunity to draw light into the interiors by reorienting spaces in this direction.
Joanna explains, ‘Often, when renovating a heritage home, the instinct is to append a modern extension at the rear, keeping the original street-facing elevation unchanged. But here, the long side of the home was too important to hide.
‘Instead, we designed an addition that would engage with the street, not retreat from it.’
The result is a striking new northern elevation with a playful composition of vertical and horizontal elements: a pergola, a sculptural chimney, north-facing windows, and a stained glass window that references original detailing in the home.
‘The new structure doesn’t compete with the existing California bungalow, but instead, echoes its language with a sense of uplift and luminosity, harmonising old and new in a way that feels natural and inviting,’ says Joanna.
A new second storey adds a parent’s retreat with a garden roof terrace tucked behind a pergola to provide shelter and reduce visual bulk.
Colour and pattern now take centre stage in the home, transitioning from ocean blues and greens on the exterior to deep reds in the entry.
At the centre, the dining room glows with a golden yellow wallpaper chosen to complement both an original stained glass and existing painting.
The pale blush kitchen and living room is likewise inspired by the mauves and pinks of another existing stained glass window.
The original rooms at the front of the house — now the children’s bedrooms — are either painted or wallpapered in deep intense grassy greens or sky blues.
Floors are connected by a new stairwell, painted by Lucinda to depict a whimsical coastal adventure.
‘Descending, the journey becomes more surreal: an underwater reinterpretation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, where a paradise coral reef gives way to a kelp forest purgatory, eventually plunging into the nine circles of a deep sea inferno, before emerging into the lush, cocooning forest comfort of the media room below,’ says Joanna of the mural.
‘A stairwell, yes, but also a living storybook — an artwork in motion.’
Above all, Joanna says the house is built on trust, creative bravery, and the shared language of sisterhood.
It’s a place where past and present, family and imagination, colour and light, all come together in a dynamic symphony of joy.
