Cedarvale isn’t just a beautiful country retreat on the New South Wales south coast, it’s also a source of great memories for the Murrays – as well as many other families who have enjoyed staying there on weekends away and school holidays. The couple decided to buy a place in the area after they stayed nearby for their wedding. “With my Australian upbringing and my husband’s English background this part of the south coast is a harmonious area for us – it’s like Australia and England pieced together,” Danni explains. “We just fell in love with it and wanted to invest in the area.”
INSPIRED BY NATURE
The couple found the house three years ago and liked the fact that it was set on 49 acres of undulating land while still only a short drive from beautiful Seven Mile Beach. “If you walk over one of the hills, there’s a magnificent view of the ocean,” she adds. When they first bought it, she says it was a typical three-bedroom suburban home, and also very practical. “It had great bones, which means it had plenty of potential to fit in with what I had planned,” she states.
The couple did a few renovations when they first got it, including adding a bedroom and knocking down walls to
make it more open-plan. “It’s surrounded by typical Australian bushland,” says Danni. “That’s why I really wanted it to have a very Australian feel and practically all the renovations we did had an Aussie fl avour to them.” Th e colours they chose for feature walls and some of the rooms are an example of this, with a striking deep red/ochre tone as an accent in the living areas and a bush green for one of the bedrooms.
Corrugated iron makes a stunning feature above the double-sided fireplace – which is defi nitely the heart of the home and warms almost all of it in the chilly winter months. “Corrugated iron is just so Australian,” she adds. Her ‘natural’ inspiration can be seen even in the two bathrooms which she renovated herself, with hand-blocked slate tiles featuring imprints of leaves.
TIME OFF
Although the house wasn’t bought as a holiday rental property, the couple found that with three children and so many sporting and social commitments in the city they just couldn’t get down to it as often as they wanted to. “We thought it was just crazy for it to stand empty so long, so we decided to let it out,” Danni explains. This meant that it still had to have a ‘wow’ factor to attract holiday-makers as well as being practical and durable.
Filling the three bedrooms and the living areas to this brief was a particularly memorable experience for Danni. “It must have been the hottest few days of the summer and I was seven months pregnant with our third son,” she laughs, “but we scoured all the local shops and found some absolute treasures.”
One of these is the superb sideboard that stands in the hall, flanked by two wing chairs from a lovely antique shop in the nearby town of Robertson. Again, for durability and comfort, they decided on lounges in chocolate leather for the main living area, as well as a custom-made double chaise longue in burnt orange which faces the balcony and the lake stocked with silver perch beyond. They also added a few outbuildings, including a cottage, and are currently completing a 15-metre lap pool with a deck overlooking the bush and the surrounding gardens. “We also just fixed up what has to be my favourite – a new bedroom,” adds Danni. “But we have lots of other plans too.”
Danni has been an interior designer for almost 15 years and her philosophy is to create homes that are practical and beautiful but still stand up to everyday life. “I’ve worked in New York and London, and for the last six years, here in Australia as well,” she says. “I also run the Clifton Club which specialises mainly in providing members with quality holiday rental properties, as well as serving as an interior-design studio for many clients.”
Perhaps what comes through most at Cedarvale is its air of happy comfort – you can just tell that this is a home that has seen a lot of laughter, games and good times. Danni’s own three boys particularly enjoy the freedom of exploring the bush and the fun of letting their imagination run wild. “We have a few families who often come up for special occasions,” she says, “and the house just seems to exude joy with all the celebrations going on constantly.”
Story by Justyna Lupa
Photography by Tom Salmon
Styling by Greg Sukendro