Take a look inside the newly madeover Sydney home of My Kitchen Rules judge, Pete Evans and his wife Nicola.
‘This was the first house we built from scratch and Nic and I wanted to create a beautiful family environment where we don’t have to move again basically,’ says Pete.
The couple worked with stylist Fiona Michelon using pieces from Zanui, the online furniture and homewares retailer to achieve the look.
‘We had the advantage of working with a blank canvas and with the help of Fiona and Zanui we were able to achieve what we had in mind.’
The couple wanted to create a very relaxed and inviting space.
‘we are lucky, we have very similar taste,’ says Pete.
‘We wanted to have that feeling of style and elegant simplicity. We picked earthy tones and styles which is what we wanted to capture and feel in this house. It feels like a home – it’s uncluttered, spacious, very inviting and relaxing.’
It makes sense that for this celebrated chef, the kitchen is his favourite room.
‘We both love to cook and that’s where we love to create memories, beautiful taste and dishes to share,’ says Pete.
‘ We like to split the load when cooking, both taking turns and sharing the cooking, so the kitchen will definitely get a workout. We also love the beautiful Infinity bar stools featuring an earthy leather tone and I think this kitchen is going to be timeless’
He also loves the flow between the wonderful indoor and outdoor entertainment space.
‘That’s where we spend a lot of our time together as a family,’ he says.
GET THE LOOK
Styling tips from Fiona Michelon
Tips to soften dark wood floors
To soften the beautiful dark wood floors we went with a large ivory rug with a subtle pattern from Zanui. Picking an ivory tone adds a little bit of warmth rather than a crisp white rug, which was important as the floors and curtains had more cooler tones to them which we wanted to balance out. We also added some rattan pieces, such as the lamp, to add some texture to the space.
Styling a bookshelf
The trick to styling bookshelves is to leave negative space, and clutter your items with books into little groups. Adding some foraged branches is also a simple and free trick to add more texture and give some personality to the shelves. I’ve chosen a mix of neutral pieces here in a wide range of textures like concrete, timber, ceramic and stone so that it still feels really interesting and layered while not feeling too busy. We want the focal point to still be the beautiful fire place.
Creating the perfect outdoor space
Pete and Nic have huge sliding doors that combine the indoor and outdoor areas, and being really outdoorsy people they will be spending a lot of time out here and by their pool, so it was important that we made this space practical, but also tied the look back with the living room so it felt like one big extended space. We picked a big timber dining table for this space as there is a lot of grey and clean lines out here so we wanted to soften that and make it feel a bit more like an organic outdoor area as well provide a nice sit down dining option for entertaining by their amazing fireplace. To add a bit more organic texture, I hung an old palm tree branch above the fireplace – a free and really effective way to make impact. We then added black outdoor dining chairs with interesting detail to add a modern touch against the raw timber and the black and white rug ties the look together while also grounding the dining space. For a casual comfy hang out spot for their girls, we’ve stacked some really cool beanbags by the fireplace and added an all-seasons resistant outdoor rug.
