Designer Alexandra Smart’s shift a smart move
Alexandra Smart, of stylish fashion brand Ginger & Smart, gets bored if she stays anywhere too long.
Alexandra Smart is a woman who likes change. While some homeowners might baulk at the thought of shifting house regularly, the managing director and co-founder of stylish fashion brand Ginger & Smart smiles readily as she talks about her move to Neutral Bay on Sydney’s lower north shore.
“I like moving about and discovering new places. I don’t find it stressful, I actually enjoy it — I think I’d get bored if I stayed anywhere too long,” Smart says.
With an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in communications, the designer brought her business acumen and creative flair to the purchase of her Neutral Bay house, which sits opposite a park on the slopes leading to the city’s harbour.
Juggling three school-age children as well as a demanding business, Smart briefed a buyers’ agent to help her find a new home three years ago. “I was looking for a place where I could do a small renovation to add value and liveability, and a house with character I could add a modern edge to,” she says. “I wrote a list of the 10 things that I wanted to tick off in a place — and this was it.”
While she had spent more than 20 years living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs (including Clovelly, Bronte, Bellevue Hill and, most recently, Bondi), Smart was familiar with Neutral Bay, having grown up in nearby Mosman with her sisters, Genevieve, co-founder of Ginger & Smart, and Eloise.
The designer says she loves the beauty and convenience of the harbourside suburb.
“On a good day I’m at work in Rosebery (in the inner city) in 13 minutes or something crazy, and it’s just one bus stop from here to the city for the kids,” she says. “We really landed a great spot that works for the whole family.”
While the location was an instant winner, the 1930s house was mustard yellow and in need of “some lipstick and mascara” when she bought it, she says.
Smart moved quickly to deliver a chic makeover, repainting the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home white, inside and out, and staining its wooden floors with a pale grey wash.
An internal wall at the rear of the house was removed to create a large living area adjoining a smart new kitchen, with dark cabinetry and white Caesarstone benchtops.
Smart also fitted elegant black-framed bi-fold glass doors and windows to open the living space to a courtyard, which has a distinctly Mediterranean vibe.
A vivid pink bougainvillea hangs above a natural sandstone wall, while a white-washed staircase leads to a separate entertaining terrace, which Smart has transformed into a calm retreat featuring a white pergola, lounges and rustic lanterns and candles.
Oversized agaves and frangipanis share the suntrap, which offers views across the treetops and North Sydney skyline.
Smart, who worked in magazine publishing before establishing Ginger & Smart in 2002, enjoys the creativity of interior design.
“I love moving things around and creating new spaces and new energy in a room by changing a painting, or the furniture or the smalls,” she says. “My style is quite eclectic … if I love something, then I work it in somehow.”
The result is a family home that is full of personal touches. It is unquestionably stylish, yet relaxed and eminently liveable.
In the living area, there are striking Serge Mouille light fixtures, a metal-edged mirror that Smart found in a Paris market and a round glass-topped dining table with copper-trimmed wooden stools from Sydney’s Koskela, a purchase inspired by a recent trip to Japan.
A beautiful still life painting by Smart’s mother hangs nearby.
Smart, who sits on the Art Gallery of NSW Contemporary Collection Benefactors committee, is passionate about art and photography, and has filled her walls with works by Australian artists including Daimon Downey, Rachel Castle, Hilary Herrmann and Matthew Johnson.
She nominates the home’s indoor-outdoor living and its different breakout spaces among her favourite features.
“I think in this day and age that’s really cool. There’s a sense of community in the living area, which is where everything happens, but then everyone can go off and have their own downtime.”
And while her children, now aged 17, 15 and 11, were initially challenged by their move across the Harbour Bridge, Smart says they quickly adjusted.
“They now say how much they love this side of the harbour for the trees, and my middle son in particular talks about it being a calm place to be, which is exactly what I wanted — I wanted a happy, calm home for the kids.”
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