An Oasis Of Cool

Interior designer Megan Brown turned a run-down Sydney bungalow into a chilled-out sanctuary

- Megan Brown

When nature is left to its own devices, eventually it will encroach on any man-made structure. Such was the garden of the 1930s bungalow that Megan and Martin Brown bought at auction. ‘The backyard was a jungle. At the sale, the woman next to me said, “who would buy this place?”. We were the only bidders,’ Megan laughs. Yet its position, on the edge of a bushland reserve, gave the house a secluded quality rarely found in the homes so close to Sydney’s Manly Beach. Unperturbed by the fecundity of the plot, the couple saw it as a characterful addition to the house. ‘The garden backed onto a steep escarpment with tall gum and palm trees. It was beautiful to look at and gave us the feeling of being in an urban forest,’ Megan says.