Heart-Melting Moments

Built on Sydney’s north-west outskirts, this luxe resort-style home is anchored by the Australian bush.

- Elizabeth Wilson

When Sydney homeowners Louisa Shield and her husband began building their house during lockdown last year, they had an understandable urge to make it a sanctuary with a holiday-at-home vibe. As it turns out, the extraordinary residence they have just completed on acreage on the city’s outskirts doesn’t merely conjure a holiday mood. It’s their own dreamy, everything-they’d-ever-wished-for, five-star luxury resort.

The move to the city’s outer north-west is a return to familiar territory for Louisa’s husband, who grew up in the area and always dreamed of raising his own family here. For Louisa, who has lived on the Northern Beaches all her life, swapping the beach for the bush has been a huge but happy shift. Plus, as a designer for home-makeover specialists Three Birds Renovations, she is now living much closer to work headquarters, which saves her from the cross-city commute.