{"id":414316,"date":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414316\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","slug":"interior-designer-lily-cumberland-invites-us-in-for-cocktails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414316\/","title":{"rendered":"Interior Designer\u00a0Lily Cumberland Invites Us In For Cocktails"},"content":{"rendered":"

We visited the Federation home of interior designer\u00a0Lily Cumberland<\/a> and husband Robert Josephsen\u00a0in Sydney\u2019s Lower North Shore to talk most-loved cocktails, their ultimate design inspirations and their dream cars.<\/p>\n

We love to cook\u2026 Robert: Barbecue, always. Eye fillet from a good butcher, medium rare, with a spiced seasoning and whatever\u2019s ready in the vegetable garden. There have been a lot of kale and tomato salads the past few months.<\/p>\n

Favourite drink? Lily: A Chilli Watermelon Margarita with fresh lime from the Shoal Bay Country Club in Port Stephens, NSW. Robert: Spiced rum with something summery.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on your bedside table? Lily: The children\u2019s books Fletcher and the Rainbow and Hooray for Fish! Robert: And I\u2019ve got Spiro.
You Might Also Like: \u201cWe\u2019re borrowing it from history\u201d \u2013 inside Lily Cumberland\u2019s restored Sydney Federation home<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FederationAn interior designer takes on the project of her career: the restoration of a neglected Federation-era gem<\/a> to create a picture-perfect home for her family. (Photography: Chris Warnes)<\/p>\n

Favourite artists? Lily: The Impressionists \u2013 Renoir and Pissarro, especially. I studied visual arts before moving into interiors and that era has stayed with me.<\/p>\n

Favourite film? Lily: Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary and anything period \u2013 Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility\u2026 But I also love an action thriller, especially The Bourne Identity. That music in the closing scene gets me every time. Robert: I don\u2019t get much time for movies, but I\u2019m a Star Wars guy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m inspired by\u2026 Lily: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert \u2013 how they championed design and social reform. But also their love story. Robert: My father, Jim, and Lily\u2019s late father, Glenn. Their integrity and work ethic shaped how we approach everything.<\/p>\n

Dream car? Lily: A cream vintage 1960s Mercedes-Benz. It\u2019s Bauhaus-inspired style \u2013 so elegant. And it would look great in the driveway. Rob wants a Ferrari Portofino, as it\u2019s the closest thing to a supercar that has a back seat for Henry.<\/p>\n

\"Our(clockwise from left) Nobu Sydney, a Chilli Watermelon Margarita, Peonies captured by Patrick Langwallner, a cream vintage 1960s Mercedes-Benz captured by Amirali Shaghaghi.<\/p>\n

Next destination is\u2026 Lily: Our beach house, in an almost off-grid town on the NSW coast. It\u2019s also our next project \u2013 we needed another one!<\/p>\n

Meet me at\u2026 Lily: The back steps. We walk each other out and wave goodbye every morning. We just like being home more than anywhere else these days. Date night is rare \u2013 maybe once a year \u2013 and it\u2019s always Nobu, in Sydney, for the Toro Tartare with Caviar. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s in your vases? Lily: Peonies are my favourite, and hydrangeas. Or the flowers Henry bought me from Coles for Valentine\u2019s Day! <\/p>\n

You Might Also Like: Shop Lily Cumberland\u2019s restored Federation home, layered with patterns, colour, and English country feel
<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Tom\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWriter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTom Lazarus\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom\u2019s writing about interiors, culture, fashion, surfing, drinks, places and people has appeared in shelf-loads of magazines across the UK, New Zealand and Australia, including Australian House & Garden and Inside Out. Being from Manchester, England, he can get emotional about converted warehouses and got his start profiling nightclubs for i-D. He\u2019s still fascinated by the stories hidden within weathered stone, and feels very lucky to live in a solid old house in Sydney\u2019s Inner West with his family, too many musical instruments and too few charging cables. He\u2019s continually inspired by the self-inflicted punishment that is renovating a building and can\u2019t wait to meet the next dreamer who does it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We visited the Federation home of interior designer\u00a0Lily Cumberland and husband Robert Josephsen\u00a0in Sydney\u2019s Lower North Shore to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,213015,213016,501,156,56649,111,139,69,213017],"class_list":["post-414316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-at-home-with","tag-creative-type","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-life-style","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-the-creative-type"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}