Modern love

Thoughtful design brought this Sydney postwar pad into the 21st century without demolishing its past.

- Matilda Ringrose

Sometimes a house and its owners are lucky to find each other. This home, on Sydney’s Lower North Shore, was built in 1958 and had only changed hands twice before interior designer Siobhann Roberts-Thomson and her husband purchased it in 2013. And, for its third chapter, it couldn’t have found more suitable occupants.

Somewhat of a modern-day Renaissance woman, Siobhann is one of those people with innate creative flair. Her rather unconventional career has included touring the world with a girl group at the age of 16, designing children’s clothing and even a brief stint in the financial sector. However, it was the opportunity to be heavily involved in the renovation of the couple’s first family home that inspired her to return to study and develop her passion for interiors. Now, she runs her own eponymous design practice, Siobhann Studio.

Siobhann, her husband and their two children Finn, now 11, and Ailish, 10, moved here from a semi-detached home nearby. “Our family was expanding, the kids were getting bigger and we wanted a yard and a pool,” says Siobhann. “The first weekend that I went out to look at houses I saw this one. I knew that it had nine out of the 10 things I wanted and it was just too good to pass up.”