We’re so excited to announce the Sydney opening of Blue Wren House - Camden Women’s Shelter, the latest crisis accommodation by Women’s Community Shelters (WCS), our proud community partner since 2018.

One of the five family rooms in Blue Wren House

Blue Wren House is the ninth addition to the WCS network and the sixth shelter that Temple & Webster has helped to establish since we partnered with WCS. With more than 56,000 women homeless in Australia each night, and more than one in two turned away from crisis accommodation due to limited shelters, these homes are instrumental in providing housing, counselling and support to at-risk women and children, giving them a safe space to heal and rebuild their lives. 

Blue Wren's shared home office and study area

As with many of the previous shelters we’ve helped to set up, Temple & Webster donated all the furniture and soft furnishings, along with interior design services from our Trade+Commercial division (a service which is also available to any business no matter how small the project).

The open plan kitchen, living and dining area in the main house

Creating Blue Wren House involved the transformation of a three-bedroom building and two-bedroom granny flat into a modern, comfortable, calm, light-filled and beautiful home for five women and their children, including shared living, dining, study and outdoor areas. 

The light-filled living area in the granny flat

The coastal-inspired bedrooms each feature a single over double bunk bed and extra single bed to comfortably accommodate a mother and her children. Timber furniture, brown leather sofas and plenty of cushions and greenery were added for contrast and extra warmth to the space. It was lovely to hear the “look of Camden” being a talking point at the official welcome ceremony in March with even the domestic violence services looking to copy the aesthetic for their own office spaces. 

The neutral colour palette with accents of ochre for warmth

As Simone Parsons, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Women’s Community Shelters recently said:
 

“When a woman and child have made the difficult decision to leave their home because they need safety, and they land in an environment that’s beautiful, peaceful, calm and curated, it sets the tone for what happens next in their journey towards healing. It sends the very important message that she is worthy, and that she deserves beauty.” 

We couldn’t agree more. 

A massive thank you to our Trade+Commercial team for doing such an amazing design job and to all our team members who volunteered their installation and styling services to transform this shelter into the beautiful and welcoming home that is Blue Wren House.

The outdoor area overlooking the garden