Take a look inside Interior designer Melinda Hartwright’s home

Interior designer Melinda Hartwright, who heads up her own successful interior design consultancy – Melinda Hartwright Interiors – recently turned her skills to a four bedroom home in the NSW Southern Highlands.

Built in 1990, the home’s soaring ceilings gave it the charm of a much older house, combined with the practical advantages of a modern one. It had also been built with a classic east coast American architecture in mind, a style that heavily influences Melinda’s own interior design practice.

Every room was stripped from floor to ceiling, walls were knocked down to unite the kitchen and living areas, and changes were made to open up the space to the light and backyard view. The end result is light, inviting and liveable, epitomising Melinda’s signature use of blue and white and her philosophy a stylish home and kids need not be mutually exclusive. 

“Blue and white is in my decorating DNA. It’s timeless and classic and
is universally suitable,” says Melinda. The interiors aficionado’s love affair with blue is evidenced by her collection of ceramic pieces – many from Orient House – and wingback armchairs in Sarah Richardson ‘Harbord’ fabric.

The interior designer advises budding decorators to do their homework. “Read, read, read. I never stop devouring design books, magazines, websites, blogs, Pinterest and Instagram,” she says. “It’s not just looking at pretty pictures, but studying and dissecting them and understanding why a room works, what makes it balanced, restful and welcoming

Because the sitting room faces south and the home’s architecture didn’t allow for the inclusion of skylights, this room was destined to be dark. “There was nothing to do but to embrace the fact that it’s a dark room,” says Melinda, who opted for walls painted in Valspar Eternal Ocean to create a moody and cosy vibe for the room that is mostly used at night.

Touches of leather, dark timber antiques and an equestrian print from Designer Boys give the room a distinctly Ralph Lauren effect. Melinda balanced the dark tones with a white fireplace surround and a glimmering bronze mirror from Orson & Blake.

A wall once divided the kitchen from the attached dining area, blocking off the
light and view. “The kitchen faced towards the dining room, so you didn’t look out on any sort of view,” says Melinda. “It was dark and claustrophobic so we knocked out that wall, rejigged the whole thing, and now it’s a lovely, bright, open room.” The Carrara marble marbles amplify the light. “I do like a black granite bench, but because we’d gone to such lengths to knock down walls and let in light, I didn’t want to then add anything that would darken the room,” says Melinda. 

Melinda created a soothing mood for the master bedroom. The bedhead in ‘Sinhala’ fabric by Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Schumacher ‘Haruki Sisal’ wall covering and a scattering of custom-made cushions, a bedspread and pillowcases bought from Matouk in America all sit together in a symphony of soft blues.

A full makeover is on Melinda’s wishlist for the ensuite, however, in the meantime, the travertine tiles and benchtops have been refreshed with the soft blue tones of Schumacher ‘Summer Palace Fret’ wallpaper, while a French faceted bronze pendant – available through Melinda Hartwright Interiors – glitters overhead. “I try to dazzle myself with everything that’s going on above waist height, so I don’t focus too much on the tiles I don’t like!” says Melinda. The linen cupboard was given an
update with a crisp coat of paint, and Melinda removed red fabric backing from the wire mesh.

 “I’m not a feature wall person – I like all or nothing,” says Melinda, who dressed every wall in second bedroom in Anthropologie ‘Watercolour Flora’ wallpaper. “The room’s big enough to handle it,” she adds. The softer pink
tones of the wallpaper are echoed in the bedhead and valance, which Melinda had custom-made in Blithfield ‘Beasties’ fabric.

In Melinda’s signature style, the laundry is as beautiful as it is practical. Grey subway tiles, laid in a herringbone pattern, break up the white joinery, while Thibaut ‘Bankun Raffia’ wallpaper gives the luxe look of grass cloth in wipeable vinyl. “I’d put wallpaper in every room of the house – in fact, I’m tempted to,” says Melinda. Artworks by Kerri Shipp provide something pretty
to look at while doing the laundry.