Terry Kaljo’s Darling Point home an ever-changing beauty

Terry Kaljo’s Darling Point home is an ongoing experiment in imaginative decor.

Terry Kaljo with grand-daughter Miya Fleming at Kaljo’s Darling Point, Sydney, home. Picture: Britta Campion

The fragrant scent of lilies and roses — artfully arranged in vintage crystal and porcelain vases — wafts throughout Mona Vista, the stylish, two-storey, 1920s home of hotelier Terry Kaljo in Sydney’s Darling Point.

The dynamo founder and chairwoman of Contemporary Hotels recently handed over the chief executive reins to her eldest son, Matthew Fleming, to concentrate on finetuning the creative aspects of their existing and new portfolio of properties.

These range from the funky, Scott Weston-designed Medusa boutique hotel in Sydney’s Darlinghurst to more than 150 personalised, luxe accommodation retreats, everything from mansions to beach villas. Kaljo also was the visionary who transformed the formerly down-at-heel Kirkton hotel into a hip destination.

Terrace with a view out to Sydney Harbour. Picture: Britta Campion

“My freed-up time allows me to ‘corrupt’ my four grandkids,” she admits conspiratorially. Be it simply feeding lorikeets on the back balcony to bingeing on whole tubs of strawberry ice cream and even salsa dancing on the antique oak dining table, not much is verboten or too preciously guarded despite Kaljo being surrounded by her favourite objects, many of which are antique or special keepsakes inherited from her Estonian father and grandfather.

For the chic former model, it wasn’t a big aesthetic leap to sashay into magazine and advertising styling, where she became skilled at sourcing fashion and homewares for stills photography and television commercials.

“This background experience helped when my career morphed into luxury accommodation,” she says. “In 2000 I founded Contemporary Hotels, which involved renovating properties, then sourcing beautiful pieces for the inter­iors of the bespoke holiday homes and boutique hotels.”

It is in her own home, with its pressed metal ceilings, tall windows, cosy fireplaces, crystal chandeliers and distinct European sensibility, where she experiments with imaginative ideas.

“Apart from adding a pool in the back yard, the interiors have always been my main focus. Fortunately, my partner, Mike Logan, encourages me; I suspect he enjoys all the tweaks such as the wall colours, which change regularly depending on how I am feeling at the time. Mike is a business coach and ex-cotton farmer, and has more rustic taste but doesn’t let on.

“He luxuriates in his large comfy man chair and has the power over the smart TV. He never questions my need for a large mirror ball that revolves and projects pink dots around our living room, or why two ceramic sculptures, both of St Theresa of Lisieux, share a sideboard with a sexy burlesque figurine.”

The main living room with mermaid light. Picture: Britta Campion

What gives the home its playful character, charm and warmth is the eclectic mix of the formal with the informal; modern design classics marrying alongside French and Italian antiques and family heirlooms.

There’s an old black lacquered Yamaha piano that Miya, 8, especially enjoys playing; a vintage French cello sans strings; several of Kaljo’s father’s restored gilt mirrors complete with their original mercury glass and her grandfather’s treasured, now distressed, library of Estonian tomes of folklore and encyclopedias. Estonian portrait and landscape paintings in their original gilt frames are hung dramatically salon-style on the living room’s (currently) deep inky-black walls juxtaposed with a large, contemporary, green Dale Frank abstract painting.

“It amuses me that my furniture, art and collectables have always worked well with each wall colour change, even the musk-stick pink colour I chose a few years back,” she says in her soft, mellifluous voice.

“Hunting and collecting is a hobby, fun, and I’m always on the lookout. I’m drawn to unusual and sentimental things and am quick to spot a treasure; it’s hardwired in me.”

Mona Vista overlooks a glorious harbour outlook, across treetops to the bobbing sailboats of Rushcutters Bay.

The front dining room with artwork by Australian artist Dale Frank. Picture: Britta Campion

Only occasionally, in very busy years, Kaljo and Logan reluctantly decamp from this much cherished home if a special guest requests a holiday letting with a view.

“But it always upsets me to move out,” Kaljo admits.

Not one to sit still, Kaljo is now a patron of the Taronga Foundation after chairing its Zoofari committee for many years. She also was one of the founding fundraising committee members of the Sydney Dance Company. She is working on a new venture, Luxe Attache, “to provide exquisite experiences in gorgeous settings”.

However, her home is where her heart lies. “In these uncertain COVID times it’s a peaceful refuge, so there’s no apology for continually nurturing and beautifying it,” Kaljo says.