Australian House & Garden

LIGHT touch

Every time the owners of this five-bedroom home on Sydney’s Lower North Shore open their raw-timber gate, they travel to a special place. With its arched colonnade, timber beams, terracotta-tiled roof, crazypaving and romantic courtyard, this handsome hideaway has the allure of a Spanish hacienda.

The recent renovation by designer Kate Nixon and her eponymous studio signals a fresh phase in the owners’ long love affair with the three-level home, which they bought back in 2002. There’s plenty to love: it rubs up against native

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