Darling Point

With expansive ocean views across Double Bay, Darling Point pays homage to the beloved style of Spanish Mission homes with a contemporary touch. Owner and interior designer Lynda Kerry, brings her love for this renowned architectural style to her new home, resulting in a relaxed, luxury outlook that highlights its multi-tonal tiled roof. 

Despite being known for her Hamptons interiors, Lynda’s true inspiration lies in this unique architectural period. Growing up on Pasadena’s Newport Beach, Sydney’s eastern suburbs provided an ideal seaside space to finally introduce the raw materiality inherent to the classic coastal Californian home. “We’ve renovated six different homes and this is the first one that looked like this,” says Lynda. 

Undeniably, the featured aspect of the home’s exterior is its Bristol terracotta tiled roof in Curvado Aitana and Lucentum. These were essential in asserting the Spanish influence of the house while adding a textural complexity through the diverging palette. “We started going on a driving hunt in Sydney to find the best looking terracotta tiles that we could use,” Lynda recounts. 

“I wanted them to be old and I didn’t know if I could buy old or if I could buy new ones and make them look old.” After an extensive search, it was the construction foreman who recommended Bristol tiles to Lynda, already used throughout the Double Bay area. Selecting a combination of three colours, the home retains a traditional Spanish look, accentuated by the warming textured exterior walls in White Sand. 

“They look amazing, they’re just such a good product,” Lynda exclaims. Gentle detailing across columns and the exposed rafters underneath the top level roofing further enrich the home’s exterior appeal. 

Inspired by Ralph Lauren’s flagship store on Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles, the California mission interiors are an effervescent amalgamation of luxurious materials in a neutral palette. While Spanish influence can be seen in the interior arches, featured pendants and hardware, Lynda opts for global influence in her accumulated selection of bold, juxtaposing furnishings. 

“I love to mix different pieces. There’ll be a little bit of Asian mixed with French, Indian, Spanish and English – I like eclectic but you have to be careful with the scale, colours and where you place them,” says Lynda. “A collection of pieces through time is sort of what my look is.” Lavish furnishings are adorned with linen and an array of pillows, warmed by timber tones and layered patterns. A previously enclosed internal courtyard in the centre of the home was opened up to create a ‘room-within-a-room’ entertaining area, removing internal walls and fitting the now 10-metre-high ceiling with glass to create a natural atrium. 

Darling Points inspires feelings of a Californian getaway, with its rustic Spanish mission exteriors, distinguished by its worldly furnishings. 

“A collection of pieces through time is sort of what my look is.”

“A collection of pieces through time is sort of what my look is.”