Copyright brisbanetimes
On the edge of the Royal National Park, just an hour south of Sydney, lies Bundeena, a tiny coastal hamlet where bird calls and sea breezes set the rhythm of daily life. It’s here that product and interior designer and creative force Sibella Court has created a layered, deeply personal home for herself and her 11-year-old daughter, Silver. The timber cottage, likely dating to the 1930s, had been repeatedly altered over decades. What appealed to Court was not its polish but its potential. “It was relatively undone when I bought it six years ago — and that was its appeal,” she says. “And I was ready for a major renovation after working on so many hospitality and residential projects for clients.” Over several years Court touched every wall, surface and fitting, building extra rooms and turning the house into a kind of laboratory for her business, Sibella Court Studio. Here she trialled options for product collaborations – for paints, wallpapers, lighting, textiles, tiles and furniture – and indulged her insatiable appetite for collecting vintage pieces and antiques. “My strategy was to up-skill on the crafts I didn’t already have,” she says. “I even taught myself to hang wallpaper.” The result is that Court’s distinctive stylistic signature appears at every turn. In the kitchen, salvaged cheese-board timber cupboards pair with open shelves lined with utilitarian crockery, giving a sense of ease and history. Hand-painted blue and white tiles underfoot in the living room bring rhythm and contrast, while deep indigo canvas painted walls create a theatrical backdrop for art and books. Staircases are dressed in seagrass runners, powder rooms glow with a crafted scallop shell grotto and custom lighting, and bathrooms mix marble with aged timber for a tactile, time-worn feel.
