Share Your Space: Inside a beach-side apartment in Sydney, with second-hand buys and lots of plants.

Mamamia's new series 'Share Your Space' asks everyday women to share all the juicy, specific details about their home. How much do you pay in rent? Who do you live with? Where did you get your furniture? It's pulling back the curtain on real estate in Australia, and allowing us to really see how the people around us live. This week, a 26-year-old living in Sydney shows us around her home. 

Age: 26

Job: Audience Development Manager 

Rent: I pay around $350 a week, and I live with my partner who pays the other half, with our new puppy and grumpy cat. 

Location: Bronte in Sydney, NSW

Lifestyle: We moved to Bronte from the Inner West in Sydney to be closer to the beach late last year, so being walking distance to the water was a non-negotiable for us! We’re about a five minute walk to big parks and the beach, and we spend A LOT of time there. We don’t have an outdoor area in our apartment so the beach is kind of like our extended backyard (that we share with the rest of Sydney most of the time haha).

We live a pretty relaxed lifestyle, we both love to walk a lot and swim, so we spend most of our free time doing that (with our puppy in tow), - oh, and stuffing our faces with food from one of the many amazing bakeries or cafes nearby. I love Bronte because it feels quieter than Bondi and on weekends feels like we’re on a holiday in a little slice of paradise. 

So, take us inside:

Bedroom/s:

The bedroom is probably my favourite room in our house. I’m a little styling obsessed, so I took lots of care in designing this room to be warm, friendly and inviting - with lots of plants (essential!). When we sit in there it makes me feel relaxed.

I have really taken the ‘nesting’ concept to the next level during COVID, and have made numerous home purchases. One of my favourites is our linen quilt bedspread from Adairs. It’s so soft and the colour is my favourite!

Image: Supplied.  

On our window sill we have lots of plants and candles, and on the walls we have a few framed pieces of art. My tip for getting art that doesn’t break the bank is buying from small, local artists at markets, or online, and then framing the prints yourself (frames from Kmart and IKEA are great). I also like to draw a bit myself and sometimes frame them.

I think my most prized possession in our whole house is this mirror in our bedroom. When we moved in, our place had ZERO mirrors - that’s right, not even in the bathroom. So I was desperate to find a nice one. We got this one on Facebook marketplace from a guy who hand makes them in Sydney - it cost about $200 but was worth every penny and is made from the most beautiful solid wood. He even delivered it to our door! (at 5am, but that’s another story). 

Image: Supplied. 

(This photo doesn’t have much relevance other than showing you my cat… who is a very big part of our space).

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Some call me an Angel with this glow. But don’t be fooled, I’m probably more devil-like. -Banjo 🐱

A post shared by  SADIE & BANJO (@sadieandbanjo) on Aug 11, 2020 at 9:19pm PDT

After hunting for the perfect bedside table lamps (I couldn’t find anything that was cheap and nice for AGES), I finally stumbled upon these bad boys in a new IKEA range, and it’s safe to say I’m in love. 

Bed Frame is from Fantastic Furniture - simple, and so easy to put together, I don’t know if this is the exact one, but it’s pretty close.

Bedside tables are from Mocka online (a recent discovery for super cheap and nice pieces) and the colourful fun hamper is from Gorman (another iso purchase). The rug I borrowed (stole) from my Dad who got it in Turkey and I’m hoping he never asks for it back… haha.

Image: Supplied. 

Spare room/office

We have two bedrooms in our place, and the second one we have converted recently into an office. I work from home pretty much full time since COVID hit, and my partner worked here during lockdown too so we needed a space for both of us.

Living my full COVID-DIY life, I took it upon myself to completely gut this room and re-do it in the past few months.

We built the desk ourselves, with the wood from Bunnings for around $90 and then got trestles for legs (second hand from Ikea) on Facebook marketplace for $20. I’ve never been more pleased with myself haha. 

The chairs are from our dining room, and are from Fantastic Furniture and are surprisingly comfy considering I sit here all day everyday. 

Image: Supplied. 

There’s lots more plants in this room too, and a sneaky snap of our puppy Sadie, who has made keeping our house tidy a bit more difficult than usual (you can’t see the messy corners in these photos).

The day bed in this room is from IKEA, but again I managed to get it on Facebook marketplace for half the price. We’ve decorated it with assorted pillows from IKEA, Kmart and Target. 

Image: Supplied. 

Image: Supplied. 

Bathroom:

Our bathroom was a big selling point for us when we rented this place. It’s the first time I’ve had an actual NICE bathroom since renting. The showerhead is one of those ‘rain’ ones and it’s the best thing ever (even if the hot water does run out after approximately five minutes). We got this little mirror from Kmart because it was the only one that would fit in the very specific space (excuse me for a second, but WHO BUILDS A BATHROOM WITH NO MIRROR?!). 

I got a few tea light holders from Target, and the plant basket/pot thing from Kmart. The plant itself is from Flower Power (don’t go there, you will spend all your money). 

Image: Supplied. 

Living:

Our living/dining/kitchen area is all open plan, so the rooms kind of blend into one. Having recently just got a dog we’ve stripped out a lot of plants and attempted to ‘puppy proof’ the place - so these photos show it a bit more minimalistic than it is normally.

Our lounge is from Fantastic Furniture but we bought second hand on Facebook marketplace. It’s SUPER comfy and the colour hides all the cat/dog fur so it’s perfect. The cushions are from IKEA, as is the throw and the side table. Our coffee table is from Freedom and was my mums, which she conveniently upgraded meaning we could claim it. 

Image: Supplied.  

(In case you haven’t noticed the dog followed me around the house when I was taking these photos…)

Image: Supplied. 

Dining:

Our dining room is currently taken over with a puzzle… #covid, but you can get an idea of what the space looks like. The table is from Fantastic Furniture, which we purchased at the start of the year when we realised we’d be home a lot more. It has been a dining table, a desk and is now a puzzle graveyard and I’m super impressed with the quality. The chairs are the same ones we have in the office/spare room. 

The bookcase is from trusty old IKEA and has lasted FOREVER! The boxes (also from IKEA) are my favourite thing because you can hide all the mess.

The plants are all from Flower Power and the flowers are from the Bondi markets, you can get them wholesale there for super cheap, and then I keep them and dry them out - these ones have lasted months! 

Image: Supplied. 

Image: Supplied 

Kitchen:

Our kitchen is pretty modern which I love, and it has a dishwasher which has changed my life (oh the little things). We have an island bench which is where we eat most of our meals, and the stools beneath it are from Mocka online. As with all the other spaces, a lot of the window sill/any spare spot has a plant on it. I think I have an obsession. 

Image: Supplied. 

Image: Supplied. 

These fresh flowers are from my partner and leave our place smelling like wattle. It’s delightful. 

Image: Supplied. 

Backyard:

I wish. So does our puppy, Sadie. One day. 

Final thoughts:

Overall I love our place. I love designing interiors so have spent a lot of time picking and choosing things that suit us and make our place really feel like a home. I’d love to get more art to put on the walls and maybe someday move somewhere with a yard, but for now this little place is our oasis. 

Feature Image: Supplied.

Read more:

Share Your Space: Inside a $650 two-bedroom house in Sydney, with a lot of Ikea accessories.