Houzz Tour: Chic Update for a 1920s Apartment

If you’ve ever wondered whether interior designers put the same energy into beautifying their own homes as they do their clients’, the apartment Sarah Davison calls home should answer the question. Davison’s apartment, in a beachside suburb of Sydney, was built in the 1920s and needed updating. The designer opted to honor the building’s history by leaving period features as they were, and decorating around them with elements from different cultures and eras. A true sense of serenity and bohemian chic was the result. “It illustrates the way a 1920s interior can be decorated to feel classic yet completely modern,” Davison says.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Interior designer Sarah Davison
Location: Tamarama, a suburb of Sydney
Size: 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom

Davison began by creating an almost luminous, gallery-like backdrop by painting the decorative ceilings, barley twist columns, walls, paneled doors and windows in a matte natural white. This brought the seemingly disconnected features together, while creating a neutral backdrop that makes the colors in artworks, tiles, textiles and furnishings glow.


The decoration scheme has a contemporary edge while sitting comfortably in the period apartment. The sensitive layering of finishes and color gives the interiors personality and depth.


Compositions, like this one, are balanced arrangements of eclectic elements with character.


Davison kept much of the original structure as is, and repaired and restored the decorative columns and old plastered ceilings. She also had the original parquetry floors sanded and oiled, and the existing doors and windows repaired and repainted.


The apartment has been refreshed to be functional, livable and beautiful without requiring a complete renovation. Each area has an individual but complementary color scheme. The variation across the apartment is observable yet subtle: a classic black and white kitchen; fresh green, lemon and lavender in the living room; and soft rose, beige and blue in the bedroom and bathroom.


Glass-paneled doors that originally divided the bedroom and sunroom were reused as doors for the china cupboard in the new kitchen. The original bronze and brass door, as well as the window hardware, was also reconditioned and reused.

Davison reduced her home’s carbon footprint by using low-VOC paints, finishing the floor in a natural tung oil and opting for energy-efficient appliances in the kitchen and laundry. Structural changes to create larger spaces and enlarge openings enhanced the apartment’s natural airflow to the point that no air conditioning is needed.





To keep the budget low, Davison salvaged as many finishes and fixtures as possible. In the kitchen, the original wall of decorative black and white tiles forms the focal point of the room yet cost nothing.


Many of Davison’s existing pieces were updated to keep the cost low as well as to inject personality and history. This Longreach leather sofa, which Davison has owned for more than a decade, for example, was slipcovered in cream linen to work with the scheme.


“We also aimed to unite the old with new,” Davison says. A beautiful bronze garden lantern from 19th-century France sits happily with a large Bill Henson photo montage and a Harry Bertoia Diamond Chair.


The design was developed partly through a considered process, partly through instinct. A 1940s painted chinoiserie screen with aged silver leaf was found by chance and snapped up.


“I believe serendipity contributes enormously to creating interiors with genuine charm and ambience,” Davison says.


Davison’s main strategy in designing environmentally sustainable interiors is to plan classic, well-proportioned spaces that stand the test of time and don’t go out of fashion. “The bedroom scheme is classic and will not need to be updated for many, many years,” she says.


The fixtures and furnishings feel comfortable and complete, without appearing overdone. “There is still breathing space in this apartment,” Davison says. “It is not cluttered with superfluous objects.”

This is in sync with her “everything you need but nothing you don’t” environmental philosophy.


Beautiful textiles were selected to enhance the sense of comfort and softness. Unlined linen curtains hang softly in the sunroom. The pillows here were custom made with delicately patterned vintage fabrics sourced on Davison’s travels.


Many of the furnishings and fixtures in the apartment are vintage or antique — the original form of recycling. Most of the pieces have been with Davison for a long time; just a few key pieces were purchased specifically for this apartment.


“I intentionally selected handmade finishes and objects, believing the essence of the hand that makes an object is inherent in its final physical form,” Davison says. Moroccan tiles with natural variations, for example, form a beautiful rose-beige backdrop for the bathroom and sunroom.

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