Annette Sharp: Celebrity interior designer Nathan Turner enlisted to revamp Packer’s $72m Barangaroo pad

A high profile LA interior designer, who met Erica Packer when he decorated her Bel Air home in 2013, has boasted to his followers about his luxury Sydney project with stunning views.

When Erica Packer was handed the job of fixing the botched fit-out of her ex-husband’s impressive and vast new $72 million Barangaroo One apartment last year, she knew who to call.

The mother-of-three turned to her friend, LA celebrity interior designer Nathan Turner, one-time star of Bravo TV’s Million Dollar Decorators, published author of interiors and entertaining books American Style and I Love California, furniture and wallpaper designer, and Melrose Ave store owner.

Packer met Turner after making her home in LA’s Bel Air in 2013 and the pair have become firm friends while working on a number of projects together.

Before being handed the Packer credit card for this project, the San Francisco-raised Turner was given a clear brief: He was to convert billionaire James Packer’s vast Sydney Harbourfront two-storey complex of glass, steel and marble rooms into a comfortable family home for the one-time casino magnate, his former wife and the couple’s three children, Indigo, Jackson and Emmanuelle.

Though fast coming up on the 10th anniversary of the couple’s divorce, Packer and his ex-wife are today on friendly terms and he has previously said he hopes his children and Erica will use the apartment as their Australian base during visits home.

Impressive though it may be, this artist’s impression of One Barangaroo doesn’t scream ‘family friendly’ …

… so Erica Packer enlisted the help of …

… LA interior designer and pal Nathan Turner.

Turner — who has transformed barren shells into comfy homes from Colorado to the Caribbean — flew in for his first site recce in May 2022, five years after Packer purchased the two soon-to-be-merged apartments off the plan in 2017.

“Three days in Australia? Count me in!” Turner posted to social media on May 21 last year. “Took a quick trip across the world to check in on one of my latest projects.”

LA-based Turner has documented his Barangaroo site visits on social media.

The post included vision from inside Packer’s 48th/49th-floor apartment, surveying the view across Sydney Harbour to the north.

A more recent post from last week showed window washers at work outside the residence polishing the view while workmen inside employed a mechanical elevator platform to hang art.

The Packer family’s visit to the abode last week is the first time Packer has seen his new Sydney digs.

Following a report here last month recounting how builders were working around the clock to finish the apartment ahead of the family visit, comes word Turner has brought his homey “layered” approach to the 25-plus-room space in order to fill Erica’s brief and make the enormous home feel “cosy”.

A family source said, contrary to construction worker chatter claiming the colour scheme is predominantly white, the home is in fact highly textured, with Turner employing many different materials and silk wallpapers — mostly in natural beige shades — to create warmth and character.

During three visits to Sydney, Turner has become a familiar face at numerous local design establishments while shopping for furnishings, art and homewares reflecting Erica’s love for eclectic and vintage design.

Favourites have included mid-century furniture store Vampt Vintage in Surry Hills, design gallery Studio Alm, Sketch Co Gallery at Surry Hills, furniture and lighting outlet Spence and Lyda, antiques importer Tamsin Johnson, potter Mud Australia and ceramist DEA Store.

The Packers are expected to leave Sydney on or about April 5.

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