There is a cedar chalet set back in the bushland above Hyams Beach. You reach it by gravel road - past tall eucalyptus and native scrub. The ocean is close, and you catch glimpses of it as you arrive, surrounded by trees and birdsong.
Julia and Tim Corbett bought the house as a young couple and returned to it across every season of their lives. Friday nights after the drive down from Sydney. Mornings feeding king parrots on the back deck. Outdoor baths at dusk. Dinners carried down to the beach, where dolphins would often appear.
Julia met us at the door. She and Tim had owned this house for twenty-five years. A quarter of a century of memories. She walked us through every room - pitched ceilings, warm timber, bush pressing in at every window - and she spoke about the cedar, the light at dusk, the way kookaburras gather on the deck every morning.
The brief was to style the home for its next chapter, while honouring the memories and the moments that made this house a home.
The brief became the bush. We simply responded to what was already there.
A palette of muted sage and eucalyptus, pale sand and warm clay draws from the landscape – lichen on bark, filtered afternoon light, the walls the family had chosen years before.
From there, layers unfold. A low, generous sofa. Cushions in earth tones and soft sheepskin. A coffee table stacked with books and dried florals – styled with a quiet, lived-in ease, as though someone has just stepped out of the room. Vintage Indian pieces bring depth through patina and provenance.
Every object has been chosen to nestle within the space. Old and new. Organic and curated. The bush, translated indoors.
The family room, tucked under the roofline, asked for something different. The diagonal pull of the rafters provided a ready-made composition, which we emphasised with a textural woven sofa against a dark hammered coffee table. That room has a depth to it that surprised even us on the day. Warm without being heavy. Considered without being closed off.
In a world that moves quickly, this house asks you to slow down. We hope that feeling comes through in every piece we’ve placed here, and that it stays with whoever walks through the door next.
