Loving my kaleidoscope world

12 Oct 2026

For one Sydney couple, undertaking a major renovation to their home of two decades provided the opportunity to embrace their love of bold colour.

“We basically blew it up,” says the homeowner. “And then we rebuilt it from the ground up.” 

The couple demolished all but the front façade of their inner-city terrace, which they describe as having been pretty much run down.

“The difference between the two buildings is incomparable. This has been a complete rebuild: structural steel, concrete, three-storey sculptural staircase and all the mod-cons we didn’t have before. Plus, we’ve made it larger, not by much, but enough to gain an extra room and bathroom on the top level.”

The existing front façade shows off the heritage details painted in Double Sea Fog with Curious Blue front door, while the rear elevation highlights the new build component of the project.

On the exterior, a bright blue front door hints at the explosion of colours to be found inside but even after entering the home, it is not immediately apparent. Although the chequerboard terrazzo flooring and glimpse into the blue kitchen hint at a scheme that goes beyond the ordinary.

“We deliberately kept the central core, including the staircase, white. It’s only when you open a door to a room that there is this immediate splash of colour. And strong colour. Not soft or pastel, we’re not into pastels. In its earlier incarnation, there was a pink bedroom in the home, a very strong pink, and in 10 years we never tired of it.”

Central core, featuring walls and ceiling in Triple White Pointer, looking into custom blue kitchen.

The couple says they spent many hours in discussion and pouring over colour charts before they approached Resene, amending the tone or shade as they went.

“They're all Resene colours, but we either wanted it darker or lighter, and so it was a development of the colour in its kaleidoscope, I suppose, in shades on the way down or on the way up the scale.

“We would paint swatches on the staircase, the one that was going to be demolished, juxtaposing one colour against the other, and then we'd go to bed and talk about colours before we went to sleep. Then, in the morning, we'd have coffee and talk colours again. That routine pretty much continued right through until we were ready to paint the new house.”

Main bedroom with walls in Sassy.

While the couple stayed true to their vision, never doubting the success of the multicoloured scheme, not everyone attached to the project was as convinced.

Landing looking into the Turbo/Daredevil bathroom.

“One of the builders was particularly bemused with the combination of Turbo and Daredevil in the bathroom. To the extent that he posted a picture of it to his socials asking: “Would you paint your bathroom this colour?” Of course, everyone loved it and it’s ended up being the absolute star.”

“It seems nowadays that everyone is only looking as far as resale, but we're going to be here for a very long time and we have no intention of selling. As such, we were only too happy to explore what that meant in terms of bringing colour into our home. 

“I really feel that we have achieved what we set out to. We have a home that is a masterclass in the power of colour, with spaces that provide for calming contemplation, as well as joyful pleasure. There are rooms, such as the study, where I can totally picture myself as a big old fat man smoking a big old cigar.”

Colour-drenched home office with Bingo walls and ceiling.

Bathroom with custom blue ceiling.

Published: 12 Oct 2026