Bright Spark

Giving Up Their Beloved Terrace Proved the Right Decision for a Couple Who Snapped Up a Nearby Bungalow and Are Now Reaping the Rewards in the Perfect Family Home

- Karina Machado

Ask architect and homeowner Jodi about her favourite colour and the answer is already on her lips. “Yellow,” she says with certainty. “The only reason I’m so sure of that is because my children ask me every day: ‘Mummy, what’s your favourite colour?’” They also look at it every day: pops of the sunny hue beam out from the interiors of the Federation-meets Californian bungalow in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where Jodi lives with her husband, Brendan, and their daughters, Kobe, five, and Ella, two. In the girls’ bedrooms, it’s their passion for pink that’s on display, while Jodi and Brendan’s bedroom remains – for now – a serene retreat in shades of white and grey, “the neutral palette” Jodi favours as the perfect canvas to layer bold splashes.

With a chuckle, she shares how Brendan, knowing her lifelong predilection for colour, was initially perplexed by her overarching plan. “When I showed him all the material palette, he said,‘It’s so grey, why are we doing everything so grey? You’re so not a grey person.’ And I was like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll have colour, just be patient.’” But before getting on to the decorating, the couple had to tackle the first of a two-stage renovation. Ella was only one when they bought the property in August 2017, and the process of selling their beloved former home and buying this one, says Jodi, was “the most stressful thing we’ve ever done”.

The impetus to move came through the realisation their showstopping, industrial-style terrace (which was featured in