Named after Sri Lanka’s national flower, Araliya House by Alyssa Owens Design holds two instincts at once: Sri Lankan heritage and a collector’s love of art and travel.
Words HANDE RENSHAW Photos DYLAN JAMES
Soft curves define the sitting room, from the sofa and nesting coffee tables to the black Vertigo pendant overhead.
A vintage Oushak rug anchors the sitting room.
Antique mirrors, vintage rugs and inherited pieces carry the couple’s story throughout the spaces.
French doors off the sitting room keep the garden in view, a nod to the couple’s love of Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa.
The dining room keeps the focus on the garden beyond, with a striped silk pendant and matching striped console, home to the family’s carved wooden statue of Ganesh.
“Because the heirlooms were the starting point, I never felt I was trying to retrofit heritage into a scheme – the scheme grew out of them, making decisions clear.”
‘Restraint then came from keeping the palette tight and letting texture and editing do a lot of work.’
‘We began with a materials session, laying fabrics and finishes side by side before we sourced anything.’
A vintage African Tuareg chair sits against the bedroom’s mauve walls.
Washed in mauve, the bedroom is the most enveloping room in the house, with patterned lanterns either side of the bed, a vintage African Tuareg chair and a sumptuous Italian coverlet.
Built to feel like an escape, the bedroom pairs a rich Italian coverlet with a vintage African Tuareg chair and soft mauve walls.
Isamu Noguchi’s Akari UF3-Q floor lamp and a vintage Renoir exhibition poster in the nursery.
The bedroom joinery features Lo & Co’s Arc Marble Handles in Viola.
Large windows and French doors frame the garden from almost every room.
In Melbourne’s east, a young couple’s home has been transformed without moving a single wall. With good bones already in place, every change came through colour, furniture and objects.
‘We began with a materials session, laying fabrics and finishes side by side before we sourced anything. It was such a collaborative, enjoyable process, and by the end we had velvet, timber, linen, brass, limestone and silk in conversation on the table. Restraint then came from keeping the palette tight and letting texture and editing do a lot of work.’
Rust, aubergine, mauve and chartreuse emerged as the palette, drawn from Varuni’s own textiles and ceramics and carried through velvets, linen and worn vintage rugs.
‘Because the heirlooms were the starting point, I never felt I was trying to retrofit heritage into a scheme. The scheme grew out of them, and that made decisions clear. In a newer home with little period detail, they’re what gave the house its depth and sense of history.’
The couple looked to Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s best-known architect, whose rooms of natural materials stay connected to the world outside. The house already shared that sensibility, with large windows in the dining room and French doors in the sitting room keeping the garden in view.
In the sitting room, soft curves run from the sofa to the nesting coffee tables and up to a black Vertigo pendant, while a vintage Oushak rug anchors the space. The couple’s art collection hangs among antique mirrors and inherited pieces, and a blush armchair in Kelly Wearstler’s Cascadia, a hand-painted mountainscape print, is Alyssa’s favourite feature.
‘My clients fell in love with it at our very first meeting, and it’s easy to see why. It’s the boldest fabric in the house, yet it sits gently in the scheme, tying the rust and aubergine tones to the rugs and the heirloom pieces.’
The dining room is deliberately understated, keeping the focus on the garden beyond. A striped silk pendant picks up the stripes of the console below, home to the family’s carved wooden statue of Ganesh.
The bedroom was designed as an escape. Mauve wraps the walls, patterned lanterns sit either side of the bed and a rich Italian coverlet is layered over it, with a vintage African Tuareg chair close by.
From the heirlooms to the art on the walls, every piece in Araliya House carries part of the couple’s story.
Location: Melbourne East/ Wurundjeri Country
Interior Design: Alyssa Owens Design
