Best design inspiration: dress circle doesn’t come better than this — a four-level home on Sydney’s lower north shore with spectacular views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. But therein lay a challenge for its designer, Greg Natale: create a home that would not be upstaged by what was framed by its wall-to-wall windows.

Greg Natale it is known for its bold use of colour and pattern, tailored, polished spaces and precise, considered approach, which have made it one of Australia’s top design companies and earned it several awards and accolades over the past 14 years.

Greg Natale has been passionate about interior design. His love of bold colours and patterns, and his powerful use of layering to create tailored, sophisticated spaces, have come to define Greg’s unique style. Greg studied interior design at the Design Centre Enmore in Sydney, visual arts at Sydney College of the Arts and architecture at Sydney’s University of Technology. In 2001 he started Greg Natale Design and has never had time to look back.

And what a head-turning entrance it makes. That entry on the steep, harbour-hugging site is on the third level, which houses the large open-plan formal sitting, formal dining and casual sitting areas.

While Natale concedes the home’s California modern aesthetic is a departure from his recent work, he is no stranger to it. “I was trained in this style: clean, minimal and modern,” he says. “I love this as much as the layered, decorative look I am better known for. The pattern, too, is subtler than what I normally do, but I wanted to keep things really simple because the view is what is important.

Joining the levels is the floating staircase, made from Classic Travertine from Worldstone and fringed by a soaring travertine feature wall and with suspended vertebrae-like treads. It forms the spine of the building. On the top level sit the two main ensuite bedrooms, a study and double garage. Beneath the open-plan area are three bedrooms and a gym; at the lowest level is an informal sitting and dining area.

It is that passion for interior design that led Greg to write his first book, The Tailored Interior. Published in Australia in 2014 and due out in the US and UK this year, the book showcases some of the incredible spaces Greg has created and shares the approach that has made him one of Australia’s brightest stars of interior design.