Aussie native Michaela Wyett's interest in interior design has resulted in a creative maelstrom housed in the most unprepossessing of spaces - a derelict villa in Umm Suqueim. She recalls when she first laid eyes on it in January 2007, and said to husband Geoff, "I feel faint".
"I was quite sure the villa had been earmarked for demolition," says Michaela. "For starters, there was no laundry or drainage system. The paint was peeling off the walls. The place showed evidence of severe leaks and none of the five hot water systems or toilets was in working order. The kitchen was disgusting and non-functional with an oven that was home to a large feral cat. A huge barren patch in front of the house was the only ‘garden' and the driveway was a giant sand pit. I was shell-shocked. After leaving behind our beautiful house on the shores of Sydney Harbour, I had to live here?!"
This kind of rhetoric would beg the ubiquitous question, why would she choose to move to this particular villa? "Because, despite everything, we saw the potential of the space," she says. "A tremendous amount of light poured in through the windows and the villa boasted high ceilings. With my penchant for drama, I decided to give this place a try. I am a bit of a DIY nut and with Geoff being a structural engineer in the construction business, I had visions of grandeur, tempered with large doses of trepidation, of course."
The first step was to introduce a sense of consistency. As it stood, the entire place was a mish mash of textures, colours and bad finishes. Michaela decided to paint everything white. Then all the towels rails, taps, air-conditioning units and shower mixers were replaced. Carpet was laid in places to hide the hideous flooring underneath. Once it was all painted white, you could see the potential starting to emerge. It took three days to cut and polish the marble floors. Soon, the villa's latent possibilities began to emerge.
"The timing of our move couldn't have been worse," says Michaela. "Geoff was just setting up his factory in Jebel Ali, so the onus fell entirely on me to get the house up and running. It very soon became a bed and breakfast joint for all the consultants and staff that poured in from Australia to help Geoff set up his business. I worked tirelessly to get the villa to look nice. I had no idea where to source anything until someone brought me a local magazine and suddenly things became a little clearer. I did spend the first few months getting lost a lot."
A few months of deliberation and labour later, the home evolved - a grown up, glamorous fantasy where you are greeted by the cool embrace of a colour palette of predominantly whites and greys. Homey touches abound in the form of cushions, pouffes, sheepskin rugs and a variety of throws. The living room boasts a beautiful, white leather L-shaped sofa, white leather pouffes and red Perspex urns from Kartell. Michaela clearly does not follow any singular design vocabulary.
"My decorating ethos is one of contradiction. I love the contemporary style but feel that it needs warming up with personal, individual touches. My mantra is ‘You should surround yourself with things you love'. That way, you can't go wrong. For me that would be injecting the odd burst of colour. To quote Christian Dior, ‘The tones of grey, pale turquoise and pink will prevail', by way of art or even a 100-year-old chair that was once tattered and uncomfortable, but thanks to tender loving care is now luxurious, soft and inviting. And that is my idea of luxury. As Coco Chanel put it, ‘Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury'."
The couple's dining room is a stunner: black on black tempered with reflective Perspex chairs. For the day of the photo shoot, the dining table was dressed to kill with a beautiful black tablecloth and a large bowl of red lilies nestling in the centre. A fabulous Swarovski crystal-studded horn bought at Hide & Seek in Dubai, makes for a unique centerpiece.
The bedroom, on the other hand, is a calm getaway in mostly whites and pale greys interjected with lots of mirrored surfaces, like the dressing table and side tables.
Each of the bathrooms surpasses its basic function by becoming an aesthetically standout space with the addition of art, lamps and even seating areas. Michaela's dressing room is any girl's delight with heaps of shoes, jewellery, clothes, bags and hats jostling for space in a no-holds-barred, ‘I am so happy to be a girl' kind of way. "It is so much fun being a woman," says Michaela.
"The furniture for our home came from a variety of sources in and around Dubai," she says. " Once the basic bones were in place, I could flex my creative muscle with the wonderful textiles Dubai has to offer. So off to Satwa it was for me and from there on to Deepaks and Feshwari who undertook most of my upholstery and tailoring jobs."
Michaela's fascination with antiques was piqued when she was in the process of decorating the villa. This interest soon evolved into a hobby of taking a vintage piece and transforming it with paint and upholstery, for a whole new lease of life. These pieces sit alongside modern ones adding depth and personality to the space. "My talented friend Sally Andrade, who is based in Dubai, is responsible for the amazing transformations of these pieces with her special painting techniques," says Michaela.
Examples of Sally's work abound throughout the home - the kitchen armoire, dining room glass cabinet, living room chairs and even the ornate blackboard, which started its rather kitschy life in Dragon Mart but thanks to lavish coats of silver and blackboard paint, now stands as a design element with a function. Michaela uses it to write notes on.
"I also discovered places such as O' De Rose and S*uce for all the magical pieces they stock, which are so unique. I also love my fabulous art by David Bromley," she says. Bromley has been a finalist for the Archibald Prize for the last four years and has been named twice as one of the 50 most collectible artists in Australia by Australian Art Collector Magazine.
Michaela herself is a bundle of surprises. She reveals further on in the interview that she is an avid motorcycling enthusiast. "I used to ride a Honda CBR600 sports motorbike in Australia and Geoff had a Kawasaki Ninja 900. However, we decided against pursuing this hobby in Dubai due to the scary driving techniques that one sees on the streets here." Other hobbies include looking after their dogs, Aamir the Rottweiler and Joshi, the little mixed breed, a rescue from K9 Friends. "These are our children who we acquired in Dubai and who will be constant reminders of our life spent in this city," says Michaela, alluding to their impending move to Sydney.
Michaela had worked as a senior paralegal in the legal industry in Australia for over 16 years when she decided to step out of it and follow her passion. "I started a small business called MAD Designs where I did interior decorating and homemaking services for friends and friends of friends. It was all very low key but simultaneously very rewarding."
The couple garnered quite a few friends in the short time they spent here. "We do a lot of entertaining. Everything from formal dos to casual barbecues. A lot of our friends have dogs so guests bringing along their four-legged friends are the most common get-togethers."
Michaela is also a self-confessed gym junkie and undertook a personal training course with the Australian Fitness Network before coming to Dubai. She is also a bit of cleaning freak and has decided against ever hiring a maid. "I look at lugging the vacuum cleaner around the house as another work-out," she says happily.
