Home.

Renting might not afford you as much freedom to make modifications to your house exactly as you’d like, but I’m proud to say that despite being a renter, I still made my apartment a bright and interesting home, somewhere that’s been a joy to come back to at the end of the day.

I have a lot of stuff. Books, artwork, photos, keepsakes, knick-knacks, plants, etc. My collections, like my tastes, are very eclectic. This makes decorating sometimes fun, and also sometimes overwhelming! There’s a story behind almost every item – whether it’s a piece of furniture I revamped, painting by a friend, terrarium I made, travel photo, well-thumbed novel or bowl of unpolished crystals I’ve amassed over time, almost everything I own comes with some kind of sentimental attachment. This makes it hard to get rid of stuff sometimes or to objectively “edit” my decor choices. None of my furniture matches because they were hand-me-downs or gifts or op-shop finds or bargains from IKEA. The books and artworks I have I’ve been collecting for a decade and are representative of my evolving tastes over the years.

I’ve put together this apartment over time and with no particular strategy or vision. I put the pieces that I already had where they would best fit and decorated particular corners and walls just with things I liked or that looked good. Sometimes I hung artwork in particular spots because there was no room for them anywhere else. It was like a giant three dimensional jigsaw puzzle (one where you haphazardly shove the pieces anywhere they kind-of fit).

The apartment is small, with only one living area, but it’s cosy and cute and full of sunshine, love and me (and a buttload of Vinnie fluff) <3

Loungeroom/living area:

Dining table from Fantastic Furniture. Chairs I got from The Green Shed, set of 4 for $30. Favourite vintage teal jar from there also, which I made a simple little moss terrarium in:

I love this blue cabinet, it’s my favourite pieces of furniture that I’ve ever given a makeover to. I bought it from The Green Shed as a tired storage unit and gave it a new lease on life. Tall globe from Provincial, celestial globe from Urban Outfitters. Also hiding at the bottom of the cabinet is a set of beautiful vintage enamel swans my mum gave me for my birthday. I was using them as planters for a while too:

Kitchen/teeny breakfast bar and bookshelf after I did a massive cull of books and papers:

Lounge/study, including desk I revamped that could probably do with another refresh. Featuring Vinnie looking unimpressed (he always looks like that):

Mammoth art wall – this thing just kept growing and growing. As you might be able to tell, I have a thing for traditional tattoo style artwork:

I have so many amazing artworks. I have a lot of talented friends and obsessions with a lot of talented people. While I obviously love all the bits and pieces I have in my collections, there are a few stand out favourites…

Man with excellent hair by Mitch Gore, Instagram: @mitchxvx:

Flower skulls by Steen Jones, instagram: @steen_jones:

Flower skull by Dale Hessey, Instagram: @dalehessey:

Knock Out by Quyen Dinh, Instagram: @parlor_tattoo_prints:

Navigation II by Kyler Martz, Instagram: @kylermartz:

Love birds by Jon Betts, Instagram: @jbetts08:

Goats by Abby Drielsma, Instagram: @abbydrielsmatattoo:

Vinyl storm by Dan Coy, Instagram: @dcoy:

Expand your mind by Dan Coy, Instagram: @dcoy:

Untitled piece by Keringke Arts. I did a workshop with the Keringke Art group at a conference in Darwin a few years ago and it was such a fun experience. I love geometric Indigenous art and no one does it better than Keringke. They sell their incredible artworks to famous galleries all over the world. I wish I could have afforded something bigger than this one at the time, but still, I feel privileged to have this beautiful little original artwork in my possession. One day I’ll go to Alice Springs and get a bigger one! :