Selling in the City 2022

Marrickville NSW

Marrickville is often the forgotten cousin of the more popular cross-town neighbour of Newtown. But, homeowners Jess and Ben who’ve called it home for the past five years have loved the uniqueness and hidden gems on offer.

The Selling in the City team, Landscape Artist Paddy Milne and award-winning Interior Designer Rosie Morley, along with their trusty list are on a mission to help Jess and Ben say goodbye to the Marrickville they love and move onto the next chapter of their lives in the Sutherland Shire.

Marrickville's humble, almost reclusive, cool comes from the fact it embraces the authenticity of the dagginess around it. It’s an early adapter – pioneering the sort of retro-gentrified locations and social trends people who live in Marrickville eventually say “I liked it before it was cool”. Yet, it's identity is still ill-defined and while the "cool kids who got good jobs" are moving in, they have to hunt down the pockets of cool rather than having them handed out on a silver platter.

Jess and Ben live in their 2-bedroom cottage with their three-year-old son, Hunter and their pug Boof. They dream of moving south to the Sutherland Shire, with hopes of doubling the number of rooms as their family continues to grow. But it’s a price hike of 1.7m, and their property is currently worth 1.5m. So, with a modest budget of just 40k, they’ve challenged Rosie and Paddy to help them.

Rosie and Paddy decide on a design the engulfs the area, a Mediterranean artist escape. With a limited budget, Rosie must focus on the weak points of the home (in this instance the bathroom) and approach it holistically and with conviction.

Bathroom - Before

The bathroom is reconfigured from a three-piece nightmare including 80s spa bath to a more functional four piece. Complimented with risky geometric tiles, but diluted with European tones of terracotta - a strong choice that will define the bathroom as its own “pocket of cool” and complimented by a custom diamond shape porcelain sconce Rosie acquires from ceramic artist and designer Miller Dent.

Bathroom - After

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With the majority of the budget going inside, Paddy had to get creative with the outdoor area reusing existing materials into a clever yet effective design.

Ensuite - After

Ready to Sell!

The living area is given a cosmetic upgrade with a warm sandstone paint colour, some Marrickville pride of mid-century cool and a focus on furniture arrangement to maximise the scale of the space (a simple reposition of a sofa and removing an oversized dining table does wonders).

Thankfully the layout of the kitchen was good but the clash in identities were replaced with a strong Mediterranean vibe. Stone benchtops, colours of creams, olives, rusts and oaks cabinetry unify the room invoking the type of nostalgia that makes Marrickville feel instantly like home.