Action station: Family and a busy interior design practice jostle for space in Shelley McRae's Devonport villa

摘要

There is an orderliness to the white-painted facade of Shelley McRae's Devonport villa. It has a chocolate box perfection - with a brick-lined path, miniature hedges, a wraparound veranda and fretwork detail - that belies the sheer energy contained within it. The front door opens on to a hectic interior still doubling as office space for Shelley and her team of designers as well as a family home for her husband and their two children, Miles, nine, and Scarlett, four. Even George, a miniature schnauzer, is in a hyperactive mood. Shelley's Croatian-born husband, Dario Orec, is an emergency room doctor at North Shore Hospital and works an ever-changing roster. "I can never keep track of his schedule," she says. "We don't plan too much. It's pretty mad. You can't be too precious about anything. It's a pretty busy household."