DYLAN FARRELL…
and his wife, Nicolette, are among the top interior designers in Australia. But both are native New Yorkers who practice internationally. That means not only that they have clients around the world, but that they fill rooms with a global mix of furniture and fixtures.
AMONG…
their recent clients are a design-minded couple who bought a large house overlooking a secluded waterway in Sydney. The Farrells treated it as a blank slate, creating interiors that, in Nicolette’s words, “have been inventively stripped back, reconfigured and punctuated by saturated hits of color, audacious textural relationships and an assemblage of international and locally-sourced furnishings.”
THE HOUSE’S…
large spaces were impressive but also intimidating. Lowering the ceiling in the entry helped set an intimate tone. Below the glossy ceiling are tables by Dylan Farrell and sconces by New York’s Allied Maker. Then the designers splashed fields of saturated color and added metallic, reflective elements in each of the downstairs rooms. The dining room fireplace was radically reimagined with a sculptural, hand-burnished brass surround. A totem-like series of thickly-painted artworks in a kaleidoscope of colors slices through the otherwise neutral-toned kitchen.
THE DESIGNERS…
wanted the interior spaces to share the whimsy of the meandering gardens outside. To accomplish this, they brought interpretations of nature indoors. The powder room vanity recalls a flower opening its petals. The satin-brass and glass light fixture in the stairwell, by Jamie Gray, recalls a dangling vine dropping through garden walls. The richly toned, combed lacquer fireplace wall recalls the troweling marks of a rake through soil. The marble and stone selections are as richly patterned as the trees outside the house. The timbers used throughout are wire-brushed and finished so that they’d feel alive and tactile.
EVERYWHERE…
there is a mix of pieces by Dylan Farrell, new work by other designers, and vintage finds. In the living room, the sofa and swing light are Farrell’s, as are the nesting coffee tables, the metal accent chair, and the chaise. The armchair near the window and the transparent coffee table are mid-century Italian. The dining room’s “harp” table is also by Farrell while the chandelier is by Christopher Boots.
IN THE…
family room a Farrell-designed sofa meets a vintage armchair and a Handvark coffee table. In the study, the desk is by Farrell, the desk chair is by Jamie Hayon, the pendant is by Allied Maker and the slipper chairs are vintage. The main bedroom, with its gracefully curved ceiling, is enlivened by a metallic “raindrops” fixture by Curtis Jere and deep turquoise bedside tables by Meridiani. The lamps are by Vico Magistretti, and the loveseat is by Ligne Roset. Farrell designed the bed. By mixing a few familiar pieces in with so many new designs, the couple kept the house grounded while simultaneously letting it soar.
Design: Dylan Farrell Design
Photography: Felix Forest
