The award-nominated home with the same marble as Michelangelo’s David

Eleni Taylor’s home renovation doesn’t just feature any marble. Instead, the marble was sourced from the same quarry as Michelangelo’s David.

The designer four-bedroom residence in Sydney’s east boasts statement Breccia Capraia marble in the kitchen from the ancient Fantiscritti quarry in Tuscany.

The home was nominated under the residential design category at the 2025 Australian Interior Design Awards after a renovation transformed it from its previous Hollywood regency style to an example of European minimalism, while reconfiguring the bedroom layout upstairs.

The Bellevue Hill abode is now a seamless blend of curves and stone, but it was a process to procure them.

“It was a challenge to get 20 slabs of the exotic stone shipped to Australia,” Taylor, who hosts high-end clientele for brand campaigns and events in the luxury home, said.

“The marble has delicate shards of almost amethyst, colours that resemble crystals. It has a textural earthy feel.”

Breccia Capraia is known for its bold veining, and typically features pink, purple or teal fragments of rocks and minerals against a lighter background.

The Italian marble contrasts with Patagonia Verde Quartzite on the foyer floor and is set against a backdrop of wave ceilings, archways, blonde timber floors and a light clay wash on the walls.

This is reminiscent of Cycladic architecture, a style influenced by the Greek Cycladic islands.

Taylor purchased the home in 2020 and enlisted renowned interior designer Greg Natale to transform its Hollywood regency interiors into a European minimalist abode. Natale designed the home’s interiors in 2012 for the previous owner.

“I thought who better to go back to than the person who did the house before?” Taylor said.

“He already has the footprint and knows the house inside and out.”

Natale said the project allowed him to reinvent himself as a designer.

“I’m still known for the Hollywood regency era, but this house has shown that I’ve grown and can do other things.”

Hollywood regency is a design style that is bold and glam, often characterised by metallic and glass accents, and lavish fabrics. Taylor wanted to keep the home’s proportions but transform it into an aesthetic that reflected her personality.

“Initially, I approached the design of my home with broad market appeal in mind, something safe, familiar and predictable. But that direction quickly began to feel creatively limiting and disconnected from my true style,” Taylor said.

“The moment I surrendered that idea and fully trusted and embraced my own aesthetic and vision for the home, everything began to shift. That’s when the home began to come alive and the magic truly unfolded.

“The typical Bellevue Hill home has a French provincial feel. I wanted something fluid and seamless with curves and arches.”

Taylor’s Greek heritage was captured effortlessly in the home, Natale said.

“We made the foyer entry look like water with the Patagonia Verde Quartzite,” he said.

“The style is fluid and seamless. You can see the connection to Greece, but it’s in the feeling and detail.”

The fluid style is captured in the waved coffered ceiling, a design detail that adds dimension and consists of a series of sunken panels.

Most of the structural work was completed in 2012 with the previous renovation.

“Originally, the home comprised of two apartments, so we made major structural changes to join them. We put the staircase in and created a sunken lounge,” Natale said.

Taylor, a mother to two teens, changed the footprint to allow for four full bedrooms upstairs, with their own bathroom.

“The house had more like 3.5 bedrooms. Eleni wanted the kids to have their own bathrooms, so we put in a development application to extend the upstairs area at the back of the house,” Natale said.

“Structurally, 90 per cent was already done, but the extension added a lot of value to the home.”

The home is an entertainer’s paradise, hosting Sydney’s elite for dinners and private events.

“I love to treat the people I love to something special,” Taylor said.