In this week's instalment of #TheMakers, we tour Dr. Naomi's glamorous urban paradise in #Sydney.
“I love transformation. I love making things look beautiful.” This is the explanation skincare entrepreneur and content creator Dr Naomi McCullum (@drnaomi1) gives for her passion for investing in elegantly boned old buildings and giving them new life – and isn’t a bad description of her business, either. The renowned cosmetic doctor began treating clients in 1999, opened her first clinic in Sydney’s Paddington in 2002, and launched her high-performance skincare line, Dr Naomi Skin, in 2021. And she has been transforming houses – and people – ever since.
Her 150-year-old, four-storey, five-bedroom Victorian-era terrace certainly needed a good dose of TLC when she bought it in 2018. Working with architect Luigi Rosselli and design firm Handelsmann + Khaw, Dr Naomi coaxed the faded sandstone beauty from disrepair into a pastel-dappled work of art, with enormous double-height ceilings, mezzanine and internal Juliet balconies and views to Sydney Harbour that shapeshift as you move through the space.
Perhaps it’s the scientist in her, but much of the way Dr Naomi describes her home relates to its functionality, or the structure of the space. “I’m more in love with the building than with stuff,” she says. She takes endless delight in the dramatic height of the living space and its towering glass ceiling – though less so with the scaffolding required to clean it – as well as the rustic warmth of the old sandstone walls.
The transformation theme runs through her career, not just in the work she does but also in the way her career has progressed, from patient-facing to skincare. “My whole reason for choosing this career in my 20s was because I love transforming people and helping them get the life of their dreams,” she says.
Want to see more of Dr. Naomi's home? Head to the ‘Home Tours’ section of the Bed Threads Journal. 📱✨ Follow the 🔗 in our bio.
Photography by @benito_martin. Styling by @audreymj. 🪄