Share Your Space: A $750 pad just a block from Bondi Beach, with a shared backyard for dogs.

Mamamia's Share Your Space series 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.    

Age: 32

Job: Marketing Manager and Podcast Host

Rent: $750 a week for two bedrooms (split with my partner).

Location: Bondi Beach, NSW (About a block from the beach).

Lifestyle: I’ve been in Sydney for the past four years and have always called Bondi home. Initially because a few of my girlfriends from Brisbane were here, but then I fell pretty hard for the lifestyle. I am a massive beach and outdoor exercise enthusiast. I love that I can wake up most days, hit the beach for a couple of sandies or run Bondi to Bronte, and finish off with a quick ocean dip - all before I start my nine to five! There really is nowhere else in the world that you can have that city/beach lifestyle. 

I live with my partner Charlie and our dog, Albi. We’re up to apartment number three in two-and-a-half years, but this one really feels like home. It’s central Bondi so just off the main drag. It’s a small block of four apartments and we have great neighbours including three doggos: Nahla, Mufasa and Tequila. We’re on the top floor, north facing so plenty of natural light, great cross breeze, freshly painted walls, wooden floors and a shared backyard!

Prior to meeting my partner, my interior aesthetic was 50 shades of grey, nude, and white. And well, he is a bloody peacock whose favourite colour is red. At first I was really against colour, but now I love seeing how our individual styles have come together to create our shared space. Come on, I’ll show you around...

So, take us inside:

Master Bedroom: 

When you walk through the front door, the master is to the left. The room is definitely the biggest in the apartment and because she is so spacious, we did do a thing and treated ourselves to a king bed. My pride and joy is the emerald green velvet headboard - I scored it from my girlfriend who moved interstate.

I feel like headboards are back in a big way and now I can’t imagine having a bed without one. Getting a king bed meant all new linen. We invested in some yummy Egyptian cotton sheets from Bed Bath and Table in the dreamiest sage colour. The floral blanket is one of two that we snagged from Charlie’s parents. I love the retro vibe and the pop of colour it adds.

I will never part with this headboard. Image: Supplied.

Either side of the bed we have concrete bedside tables that we inherited from an old AirBnB. I like that they are different colours but still match. The lamps are touch lamps and come in a set of two - so handy! 

The bookcase is Fantastic Furniture that we picked up on Facebook Marketplace. My dream one day would be to have a whole wall of shelves filled with books with one of those library ladders *SWOON*

Any book recommendations? Image: Supplied.

We also have the addition of the sunroom which we have converted into a home office for Charlie because, #covid. Behind his desk are our built-in wardrobes.

Working from home setup. Image: Supplied.

The mirrors make the space feel bigger. Image: Supplied.

Bathroom:

Next is our teeny-tiny bathroom. It fits two people just, but honestly I can’t complain. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in water pressure - just look at that rainforest showerhead! It’s lovely and bright and feels modern thanks to a fairly recent reno. 

In the top right hand corner is the shower head, making it all worth it. Image: Supplied.

Because it is so small, we try to keep it quite minimal. There's a cheap and cheerful toothbrush holder, an old wicker basket and for a pop of colour, a hand towel from Adairs.

The colour makes all the difference and its super soft. Image: Supplied. 

Second Bedroom:

Not much to say here - it’s pretty basic. We popped our old queen bed and linen in here, and the blanket on the end is the second one we snagged from Charlie’s parents.

Albi may or may not think this is his room. Image: Supplied.

The Living Room:

This is by far my favourite room to hang out in. It’s drenched in natural light and is perfect for laying on the couch to read a book or chuck on the latest episode of Real Housewives. The couch was a massive score from Facebook marketplace, so much so that I rented a car spot to store it in as I found it two weeks before we moved into an apartment that would actually fit it. Although it was a lot of effort at the time, it was really worth it at the end. The cushions are from Gorman and someone told me even numbers aren’t it for cushions so eagerly awaiting their next sale to snag lucky number 3.

I fell in love with these patterns and shapes, I cannot wait for #3. Image: Supplied.

I love our TV unit for its simplicity. And the coffee table was our first-ever piece of furniture we purchased as a couple. A lot of our furnishings ended up being darker, so I really focused on adding a couple of pieces to brighten up the space.

Albi's happy and that's all that counts. Image: Supplied.

Cue chic Moroccan rug from Fantastic Furniture. It’s so lush and soft and adds that Vogue Living factor. I love the contrast it brings to the darker furnishings and the way the light reflects off it to make everything feel fresh. Rugs really elevate a space and take it to the next level.

Speaking of next level, a moment of silence for my actual dream buffet, please. This perfect specimen of furniture is also from Fantastic Furniture and is part of a new range. All I can say is run, don't walk. I can’t adequately articulate how much joy this piece brings to my eyeballs every day. Oh and it’s not just great to look at, it is fab for storage and is the perfect height to display things on (Google Nest Hub, vases, Gorman coasters, etc.). All that’s missing now is a lovely big print to hang above.

The red ottoman next to the buffet is from Fantastic Furniture, too. It’s great because you can customise the piece to fit your aesthetic with a range of fabrics available to chose from. We bring it out as extra seating when we have people over. It’s really versatile.

OK, I am NEVER parting with this ottoman and rug. Image: Supplied.

Dining Room:

Our dining room has really become the centrepiece of our apartment. We love to entertain and get our friends over for a Sunday meal and during the week we regularly have dinner there while playing a mean game of Scrabble. We found the table and chairs on...you guessed it, Facebook Marketplace. I’d love to one day get the chairs reupholstered into a lovely olive green colour - please, if you can recommend anyone cheap in the Sydney area!

Market place is a gold mine. Image: Supplied.

The bar cart was a gift from my girlfriends for my 30th.

And yes, it is stocked up. Image: Supplied.

Kitchen:

I’m a massive fan of this kitchen. Lots of bench space, a dishwasher, gas stove. My favourite thing has to be the jumbo-sized wooden chopping board. It is so handy and doubles as a drying rack when washing up extra dishes.

The chopping board making cooking and cleaning easy. Image: Supplied.

I would love to one day get a larger fridge because 1. Ours is too small and 2. Whoever made freezers at the top just wasn’t thinking straight. 

I do want to shout out our bin. I feel like we can’t be the only people who struggled to find a nice, large bin that didn’t cost $200? Seriously, bins are expensive! But we found a cute one.

Next step, get a larger fridge without a freezer on the top. Image: Supplied.

Balcony and Laundry:

Our balcony is tiny, and behind the white door is our laundry so we needed to select the right piece of furniture that didn’t take up heaps of space so we could get in and out easily, but also feel comfortable so we would make the most of the indoor/outdoor feel. We snagged this wooden two-seater bench from Fantastic Furniture and added a couple of old couch pillows and voila! It’s perfect and I love just sitting out here on a nice day, or even a rainy day.

And finally...our shared backyard. It’s super lush and great for the doggos to all run around and have a play. On a nice day that we don’t feel like going to the beach, we’ll lay out a couple of towels and bring the camping table down and set up a game of Scrabble. 

This bench definitely helped in bringing this area together. Image: Supplied.

Final thoughts:

It’s honestly my favourite place to be and I feel very lucky that we get to live here. I’ve had a lot of fun furnishing and styling everything together and have tried to select pieces that are not only chic, but also are meaningful to the space.

You can catch up on our previous Share Your Space stories here.

Need some inspo for your home? Have a squiz at fantasticfurniture.com.au.