- Interior
- Architecture & development
Imagine walking to your balcony in the morning in your silk pyjamas and being able to wake up to stunning views over the blue waters of the Mosman Harbour district, Sydney. For a young Australian family, this dream became a reality. They swapped their contemporary glass and steel house on the slopes of Balmoral for a characterful 19th-century Federation building. Decus, the Australian design studio that likes to play with unexpected and original elements, saw a great opportunity to turn the property into their dream home.
Decus' main driving force to create excellent designs is the good feeling they can give every customer with their work. ‘The environment we are surrounded by has a big influence on how we feel. If we can exude positivity with our interiors and thus make other people's daily lives more enjoyable, we are happy to commit to that,’ says Alexandra Donohoe Church, founder of the design agency. 
Decus is thus known as a listening ear that is always attentive to what the client wants. Even when they are not yet sure what the result should be, the agency is there for them. They proved that again with this Ultramarine project: the family's trust in Decus was high thanks to previous successful collaborations, so they gave the agency carte blanche. That’s literally every architect's dream. This allowed the design agency to give free rein to its rebellious, yet worldly spirit and to put together an interior where the family's personality blends beautifully with the natural elements of the surroundings.
The family's trust in Decus was high thanks to previous successful collaborations, so they gave the agency carte blanche.
The house thus owes its name to the clear blue waters of the sea that made their way into every space, either as a sight or as a source of inspiration. Like the clattering sound of waves silently crashing into each other, this family home became a gentle, accessible oasis of calmness. In the process, Decus incorporated the subtle signals the family was sending out in the interior such as their clothing style, their colour palette, their favourite artworks and their rhythm of life. The family's warmth, cosiness and different personalities were made visible through the use of curves, eye-catching materials and contrasting textures. In turn, their active lifestyle contrasts with the calm and simplicity the interior exuded; but outdoor areas such as a courtyard and a covered terrace have also been created, so that the little ones can have fun. The whole house comes together at the back: there, from the kitchen, living and dining areas, you have a fantastic view of the ultramarine water; the element that everything revolves around. The element that brings this family together. 

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Photography by Anson Smart