Tucked away behind Sydney’s Middle Head, Balmoral is renowned as the city’s most beautiful harbour beach, offering a rare combination of dense parklands and sheltered waters from the surrounding bays.
Distinguished by its architectural landscape, and an enviable choice of cafes and fine-dining restaurants, Balmoral is the quintessential embodiment of the Australian beachfront lifestyle.
Luxury residence designer and developer Cameron MacDonald conceived his first Sydney project in an elevated location on Balmoral Beach. Executed by Sydney-based architect Harlan Redgen, the three-level residence delivers innovative technology and amenities for a turn-key residence, meaning that it’s move-in ready for buyers, taking everything into account from the furnishings in every room to the artwork on the walls.
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My vision was to create a home that’s minimal in architecture and rich in its interior furnishings, with contrast and texture in materials,” explains Cameron. Once you’re inside the home, the design evokes a feeling of calm and peace, transporting you to a place outside of everyday reality. Style-wise, the space was designed with a minimal aesthetic to promote the feeling of being within your own private resort.”
Despite the home’s seamless appearance, getting there took some work. We did spend a lot of time on design, Cameron and I,” Harlan remarked on the process with his client in a previous interview with The Australian’s monthly magazine Wish. We did about a hundred-million iterations before we got it exactly right. You don’t design these things overnight. They’re supposed to look effortless, but it’s actually a lot of effort.”
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Serenity strikes from the moment you enter the premises, with a walk through tall sandstone garden walls leading to a grand entrance of custom-built timber doors. On the second floor, you’re greeted by an expansive living space and breathtaking views of Balmoral Beach, Sydney Harbour and the ocean beyond. Beautifully crafted marble-topped timber benches define the residence’s unique kitchen, while its open-plan dining room and formal lounge seamlessly integrate with the north-facing terrace to maximise the site’s elevation.
Cameron carefully took the light of this location into consideration, observing how it reflects onto the harbour and affects the spaces of the residence. As the interior was dominantly in white, he chose dark coloured furnishings for maximum contrast and to offset the brightness, so the soothing feel pervades throughout. Four bedrooms and the pool terrace on the first floor are annexed from the formal living quarters, evoking a private sanctuary within the resort. Framed by private sculpture gardens and outdoor water features, each bedroom includes its own bathroom, dressing room and walk-in wardrobe.
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Threading the residence’s unique spaces together is a holistic style that includes state-of-the-art finishes, bespoke furnishings and a curated selection of art, including pieces by Charles Blackman, Andy Warhol and Paul Bruce. Cameron sourced works from around the globe; furniture pieces come from renowned designers including Christian Liagre, Giorgio Armani and Kelly Wearstler.
For a designer, to be able to create that sense of ‘wow’ in spaces where residents feel like they could be on holiday in their own home – that’s the best part of what I do
There are also custom-designed pieces, such as the timber sculptures in the master bathroom courtyard and the freestanding timber bathtub in the master bathroom. Cameron says that the most challenging part of this project was having access to artisans who valued the attention to detail necessary and who were capable of executing the quality needed. The design of this home was only realised through perfect execution,” he states.
Australian culture embraces the great outdoors, so most designers try to create at least one room in the house to connect the interior and exterior spaces in some way. In this striking residence, however, every room in the house opens up to its own private courtyard, terrace, balcony or pool terrace – with a sense of seamlessness emanating from the same hand-poured terrazzo marble flooring used throughout all the indoor and outdoor spaces.
Cameron reveals that his favourite aspect of this home is fairly hard to measure: it’s how it makes you feel. For a designer, to be able to create that sense of ‘wow’ in spaces where residents feel like they could be on holiday in their own home – that’s the best part of what I do.”
This feature originally appeared as ‘Living the Dream’ in our January 2018 issue. Visit our Homes section for more home tours and inspiration.
The post Look Inside a 10,000sqft Minimalist Home in Balmoral, Sydney, That’s Designed Like a Private Resort appeared first on Home Journal.
