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 on the park house

85 Manning Road Woollahra 2025

Simone,

It’s funny how our houses reflect us - not just in the normal way you’d expect them to, things like style, colours, collections and miscellania which are all the usual identifiers. But what they can also reflect is a state of mind, intention and certainty. So I’d say about your house, with the yet to be resolved flood remediation on the one hand, and the potential sale to developers on the other, that there is a very definite state of flux abounding!

It’s a great house with so much to commend it, but right now, there is a sense of overwhelm. With your kids and your husband away, there is a huge amount left on your shoulders to tackle before you can feel the calm. I’d be happy to work with you to resolve the design, the functioning and general vibes so that you can start to feel good about your lovely home.

As I mentioned, once we have the scope right and you’re happy to proceed, I will come back and take more photos and measurements so that I can then prepare the masterplan.

What follows here is the scope of work as I understand it - your priorities, your bugbears, your aspirations for it’s future. Anything I have left out, misunderstood, underplayed or over emphasised can quickly be rectified by you telling me! This is a guide to get us on our way and it’s purpose is to ensure we are on the same page.

Entry:

The natural place to start is the front door - so here we are!

You mentioned and I wholeheartedly agree, that for a really smart house in a prestigious area, the entry to this house is pinched. Consulting an architect on how to improve this without a major and expensive rejig would be key, but potentially, instead of pulling out the stair case and re positioning it, the entry itself could be extended out to incorporate the middle section of the front terrace, which you don’t currently use. It’s just an idea, but imagine a decent scaled portico projecting forward of the existing front door that would create that sense of arrival - give it some glamour!

On the above plan, a portico could take up the middle section of the terrace - turning an outside space into an inside one. You’d come up the stairs from the street and the front door would be perpendicular to where it currently is. You’d enter into a foyer that is that all important transition space before then heading up the existing stairs.

Currently, the front door feels more like a back door - there is no real ‘sense of arrival’.

Home Office:

You loved how this used to function as a study but the recent flood damage and subsequent total upheaval of the household has ruined its vibe!

Now housing a sauna and piles of stuff to either ditch or find new storage for, the room is overwhelmed - but not for much longer. If you sold the sauna, at some point in the future, you could install one in one of the storage rooms on this level - freeing up this nice room to become a study once more.

With a beautiful new colour scheme, desk, sofa, bookshelves, curtains, chunky woollen rug etc etc, this room could become a sanctuary away from the noise of the household to work, read, or just escape. As the bar is already fabulous, the study should take its colour and vibes cues from here to start building some design consistency throughout the house.

The Bar:

Once your storage system is back up and running, we can see what could be added to this lovely room to really enhance the look and feel, like cushions and a rug to cosy it up. Fundamentally, the room is stylish and inviting.

The staircase is not ideal - but without major internal works, we are stuck with it.

For someone who loves colour and art, I think it won’t be hard to entice you away from the hard white colour scheme and really inject some character and warmth into the heart of the house.

I have to tell you (I’m very good at being blunt!!!!) that the yellowed floorboards are a big fat downer. I am not a fan of aging polyurethane!!! I love floorboards and especially in a house where there is a person with allergies, they’re a superior option to carpet. But my strong suggestion would be to darken them to a rich walnut stain with a semi gloss finish - it will change your life. Much more contemporary and so much warmer than that yellow…

Living Room:

This room really is the heart of the house - so it needs some special attention to get you to feel good about it.

Again, without major structural change, this room is always going to be a bit of a thoroughfare, but it needn’t look like one. A modular sofa is the right call, but this one is a tad oversized and I think you’ll find that replacing it with a slightly slimmer, yet comfy and relaxed one, adding a decent sized rug, modifying or replacing the joinery and addressing the scheme comprehensively, will all work to massively change the space. Make it textured, warm and inviting.

Kitchen/Dining:

You mentioned the light fitting above the dining table - let’s find something way better. A new wall colour - something a bit more alive, will add character and warmth. Let’s defrost the space!

The dining table is a cracker and the Bentwoods look to be relatively new so you might be harder to persuade to replace!! I’m a big fan of Bentwood, but there is a different style that would look so much better with this groovy table.

I know you’re happy with the kitchen - I think it’s great, but I do think if we were able to furnish the outdoor area beyond the dining room, you would be drawn out there and thereby really expand the living spaces on this level. It has a lovely aspect and could be even more fab with an outdoor fireplace with a proper chimney so that smoke doesn’t drift inside the way it does with the pizza oven. I’d be inclined to ditch that given you don’t use it.

Sydney’s climate really lends itself to outdoor living for more than half the year. With a big family, making use of valuable outdoor areas enlarges capacity - you literally add additional rooms.

You can really make this courtyard a feature of the house, with or without a pool or spa, by furnishing it with casual outdoor seating that would draw the eye outside (along with the people!!) and make the whole dining area visually bigger, more expansive and generous. And it would add a perfect spot for morning coffee or evening drinks.

Bedroom 5:

This room would make a lovely sitting room, with its access to the balcony, it's size and its quality of light, it really is one of the best rooms in the house. We could add a wall of joinery, repaint, add curtains etc etc.

If you decided to make the change to living space, I’d suggest deleting the existing door into the bathroom, as a loo directly off a living space isn’t great. Instead, you could create a powder room by deleting the shower and putting the door on that wall. You wouldn’t need to delete the wardrobe - extra storage is always a bonus, but a simple and clever reconfiguring of the entrance to the room would solve the issue of the powder room access. Alternatively, you could open the room through the existing living room, preserving a full bathroom.

But for now, it’s a daughter’s room!

No curtains, no bed head and insufficient storage are easy enough to fix, but if you do think you’ll move her to bedroom four, it would be a good idea to do that sooner rather than later as it will dictate joinery design.

In the meantime, we can make significant improvement to how this room looks and functions as a bedroom. But right now, it looks like she is camping!

Throughout the house, there is a storage issue and not just because of the temporary flood impact. Desk sizes are too small for high-schoolers, drawer space, hanging space, book space…. all need addressing.

Bedroom Four:

As mentioned, this is a lovely room and would make an excellent eldest daughter bedroom! It would make more sense as she is then further from the noise of the household, it frees up the larger room for living space, and it means we can design the space and make the changes now, not waste time and budget on interim measures.

We can make it groovy and enticing for her! But if you’re not keen and elect to leave her where she is, we could potentially make this a study or reading room as it really does feel like the house lacks adequate living spaces. You might consider putting the tv in here, but this would require changing the joinery from a bank of wardrobes as they exist now, to a wall of shelving with low cupboards beneath.

Oliver’s Bedroom:

Again, I think this is a joinery issue! With his allergies, you mentioned no rug, no curtains, nothing that will aggravate the sneezing. He needs better storage and a groovy scheme.

It is not a very big room and given its shape, furniture layout options are limited. So the obvious solution is to use joinery to give him the storage space he needs, incorporating a desk and plenty of shelving for his books. He won’t always want that big yellow game above right… I hope!! It’s such an awkward shape to accomodate here in this area where we could instead design joinery that solved his storage / desk requirements and looked attractive.

A larger, wider bedside table could also give him more drawer space.

Master Bedroom:

There is a lot of white in this house and for someone who says they love colour, I think I can help you to live it better!!

The grey / blue bedhead has to go - it has absolutely nothing to commend it (sorry, blunt again!!) I know you said you’d just bought a new bed base, one with drawers, but I think a new scheme in this room will bring it back to life and the first step is removing that bed head in favour of something way more stylish.

The rug goes too - non negotiable!!

And the light globes on the ceiling?? Girl, you need a new direction here!!

I’m not being mean - this is a really lovely room but it’s easy to lose perspective with all that you’ve had to manage lately. Your bedroom is where it’s at. You are running a large household, a business, a husband being away, three kids…. your bedroom needs to be an absolute sanctuary, a priority.

I’d love the chance to totally reimagine the look and feel of this room because I think it would change your life.

Conclusion:

With the possible exception of turning the downstairs bathroom (currently eldest daughter’s ensuite) into a powder room, you said you were happy with the bathrooms, laundry and kitchen as they are. Music to my ears, as bathrooms are the most expensive rooms in a house, they’re like a budget sink hole!!!!

I think we really need to focus on joinery, soft furnishings, light fittings, furniture and floors. The house needs a comprehensive scheme to make it feel stylish, fresh, connected and calm. With the flood damage, lack of storage, and furniture in need of replacing, you are not living your best life here - I’d love to help you get it all in shape.

A link to my design invoice is in the email, as are my terms and conditions for your approval, so you’ll have a clear understanding of my costs and methodology.

Any queries at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Let me know when you’d like to schedule the next meeting, I’d be thrilled to design your home.

Henrietta x