Montage Apartment
Studio Prineas has transformed a dated apartment in Sydney’s Double Bay into a striking and luxurious family home with simple, clever interventions and a vibrant use of colour.
When Studio Prineas took on the challenge of renovating a tired 1990s apartment in Sydney’s Double Bay, a bathroom wall clad in gold-veined Calacatta marble provided the springboard for its extraordinary transformation. “The existing marble, featuring grey and gold veining, was in immaculate condition,” says Eva-Marie Prineas, founder of Studio Prineas. “This inspired us to embrace a resourceful attitude and find ways to enhance its character.” That subtle touch of gold became the project’s throughline, reappearing in the apartment’s door frames, ceilings, joinery and even tile grout.
Despite its coveted harbourside position in one of Sydney’s most elite suburbs, the apartment left a lot to be desired, with low ceilings, stock-standard detailing and tight living spaces. While under strict time constraints to complete the project before the arrival of the owners’ first child, the studio’s “longstanding relationship with the clients meant we had their trust to explore untrodden paths to create a completely unique outcome”, says Prineas.
With a philosophy of ‘think more, build less’, Studio Prineas saw the apartment’s limitations as possibilities, making small yet smart interventions to reshape the home’s central living spaces. Removing a bulky joinery unit at the entrance transformed a cramped dining nook into a generous lounge area. A sheer powder-blue curtain now spans the width of the space, softening the room and diffusing light. “It also allows for the odd-shaped window to recede as a secondary element behind the curtain, creating a beautiful backlit glow during the day.”
Similarly, the restrictive kitchen bulkhead was removed, while a structural wall was reimagined as a sculptural detail with rounded corners. This new form morphs into a curved island bench, creating an airier open-plan space. A floating sun-lit daybed was added to overlook the terrace, while a new dining area celebrates the owners’ love of cooking and entertaining. “These small, strategic moves have created a clearer sense of spatial logic with improved amenity.”
But back to that marble. The deeply saturated yellow hue drawn from the golden-veined stone runs across the ceilings and doors in the living space and in the tile grout and custom joinery. The warm glow is echoed in the American oak cabinetry, elegant brass fittings and herringbone timber floors, yet is also tempered by the cool grey micro-cement walls and sheer curtains. Cobalt blue accents – seen in the refinished tapware, furnishings and artwork – offer moments of unexpected and joyful contrast.
Another thoughtful detail involved replacing the doorway’s dated architraves with full-height rounded frames and top panels, all painted in golden yellow. “This approach brings a new reading to the doors – now seen as full-height, bespoke elements – and creates a repeated pattern language in the home’s main hall.” These changes saw Montage Apartment take out two wins at the Australian Interior Design Awards for its “successful adaptation of an existing floor plan, handled with a light touch to achieve an impressive result that appears completely new and fresh”.
Overall, these updates have given the apartment a luxurious new lease on life, while maintaining Studio Prineas’s sustainable approach to design. “The property looks completely new, while its build has produced minimal waste,” says Prineas. It’s a transformation achieved through clever reuse, considered detailing and an eye for potential.
Architecture and interior design by Studio Prineas. Build by Prepared Projects. Joinery by Finch Projects.
