Thousands of people followed Matty J and Laura Byrne's NSW South Coast renovation online. We all chimed in with suggestions on tile colours, furnishings and design ideas, and the end product is like a dream house by the sea. And as anyone who’s taken on a renovation project knows, beneath hose happy snaps and gorgeous exteriors lies a whole lot of grit, stress and family logistics.
In this episode of The Edit, Matty joins Home Beautiful Editor-in-Chief Elle Lovelock to talk about transforming Chante Mer (or Song of the Sea) from a run-down coastal property into a much-loved family retreat and holiday stay.
He shares what it was like renovating while raising two young children and preparing for a third baby, how he and Laura navigated design decisions together, and why opening the home to guests changed the way they think about living spaces.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation with Matty J. Make sure you follow The Edit wherever you're listening now, so you can be among the first to hear Part 2.
This episode covers:
- Matty J and Laura Byrne's Chante Mer renovation
- Renovating a holiday home with young children
- The first walk-through of Chante Mer
- Mould and unexpected renovation challenges
- Designing a family-friendly coastal retreat
- Renovating under public scrutiny
- Opening a holiday home to Airbnb guests
- The reality of running a short-term rental
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https://open.spotify.com/show/1y7phZb4CeMhYzFssKZVcq
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is an our media podcast, And what does it
feel like in that space?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I hope it feels warm when you first come in,
Like even we went through so many paint samples, but
we went with a real warm white and we wanted
it just to feel like a really nice, warm home
as soon as you come in and open the door.
This is gonna sound random, but go a blue laundry,
which is a little bit rogue, and I was like,
(00:33):
it's just gonna work.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I think this is what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Similar blue to your shirt.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's a good blue. From reality TV to a real
life renovation, Matty j and Laura Burne's South Coast home
transformation has been followed by thousands of people online. But
today we're going past that pretty reveal we're talking about,
but what it really takes to make a homework renovating
(01:02):
with kids preparing for a third baby, opening up their
beloved champ mayor to guests, managing the laundry, the mess
and the stains, and the mental load and the tiny
systems that just keep family life moving. This is Matti
J on what it takes to turn a mold riddled
house quietly falling down by the sea into one of
(01:24):
Australia's most coveted airbnbs. Will let me welcome you formally
or informally to our home here at the Edit.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It's great to be here, Matt.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It's great to have for you. I have a question, Matt,
Maddie J Matthew.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I will answer to anything. Huh. But it's Matti J's
kind of stuck back from the original days of reality TV. Yeah,
but it does feel a bit immature when I'm being
called Matti J and I'm always forty.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's fair. It's time to be Matt.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think so. But then at the same time, I'm like, well,
I've been mattye J for so long now, it's like
not to sound like a way cub. I'm like, it's
kind of the right. But when I'm talking like a
big boy adult, like these conversations, if you refer to
me as Matt or if I'm in trouble Matthew, that
has got it totally fine.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Understood, understood. So this morning I was thinking about you
and your wife Laura. Yes, So I was away for
work last week and when I get home from a
work trip, my husband always puts out fresh towels and
he has the more nice and folded hotel style. And
it's just a little thing. I was thinking, Oh, that
makes me so happy. Now you and Laura have an Airbnb,
(02:42):
and I was wondering, do you have any hospitality habits
that filter into everyday life? Do you have corners on
your toilet roll?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
There is I remember when Laura and I were together
for a while and we started living together, and I
didn't realize that there is a right and a wrong
way to fold towels.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely, and so I used to just like clut them together.
But I wish I could have a tower. I have to.
You have to fold them in away and put them
in the cupboard. So the fold kind of it's Nita
where the curve is showing.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You exactly what you're saying, and.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The ends of the towel are then facing the back
of the cupboard, if that makes sense to people listening
right now. But I once I learned how to fold
a towel correctly, it gave my wife so much joy,
It really did.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It's just one of those things. It's life changing for us.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, it is. And then when I speak to other men,
I'm like, how do you fold a towel? Now what
are you talking about? And I'm like, can I teach you? Have?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I got the tip for you here?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I share the wisdom of the tower fold for
my wife.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So you renovated a home, yes, and it's shant Meyer yes.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And people came for me because I would say it wrong.
And I say it, I was like, sant Mayor, No
chant mer.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Chant sounds like her like a swear.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, it's it's but it's French. My mum speaks a
little bit of French and and it shunned Mayor like
hair I think. And if I'm saying that wrong, I'm
so sorry to anyone who's French who's listening. But it
means sing the sea.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
That is beautiful. Why did you name the house chant Mayr?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, we didn't name it. It was her name was
Val of Valerie. She was the previous owner of the house, okay,
and she had named the house that term, and it
was like on a board at the front of the
house above the garage with that name there. And we
wanted to keep the name to honor the work that
val had done and her original home.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And where is the home?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So it's Ala Dalla and from Sydney Look, if you're lucky,
you could do it in three hours. It's about three
and a half hours south.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Got it, And let's I'd like a and after tour,
So we do home tours at home beautiful and on
the edit. I love an audio a sensory tour.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So could you talk us through when you bought the place?
What was it like? You get to the front door,
you open up, what are you looking at?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It sounds bad because the way I'll describe it, when
we first saw it, it wasn't a pretty picture. Val
who originally was the owner of the home, she built it.
She was ninety four when she passed away, and her
family were all in Europe. She was French originally, and
(05:41):
she was in a home unfortunately, and she passed away
and for about four years while she was in the home,
the house just sat there. So the family couldn't agree
on what to do with it. So over the course
of four years it had been battered by the weather.
Plants were completely overgrown, windows had smashed in, and it
was a bit of a time warp as well. So
(06:02):
it was built in the seventies and eighties. Yeah, coming
down the stairs from the garage into a courtyard area
where the front door is. The bricks were completely like
green and black from mold. Really, there was the plants.
There was these enormous ferns, just all the plant life
had just completely gone bananas. And you had these bogan villia, yeah,
(06:26):
which was kind of like growing across the stairway to
come down into the courtyard, so you had to like
dodge the bone and villia crop a couple of thorns
to come to the front door, and as you open
it you were hit with the smell of mold. That
was like what hit me first. But it was a
really quirky design.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's gonna say, why did you buy it?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, I'm not giving the house the justice it deserves
because the bones of the house were amazing. Like we
loved the fact that it was this beautiful open and
four you that came into then split level dining room
into a living room. All the rooms downstairs or even upstairs,
almost every room looks onto the ocean on racecourse.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Beautiful now name makes sense.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yes, and then you always have this slight murmur of
the ocean smashing against the rocks on the cliff side.
That's just you know, it's a stone's throw down to
the beach, and so you have this undertone of waves
crashing everywhere you go. And as much as the carpet
was completely disgusting, mold black mold was growing almost in
(07:37):
every other room at the same time, standing in every
little nook and crevice every bedroom looking out at the ocean.
We were just like, oh my gosh, this is this
is amazing what you know, you would dream of as
a place. But it was never it was one of
those visits where we were like, let's just go and see.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, you never know.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't like let's go and buy it.
It was like, just imagine. Let's just imagine. And there's
a photo that Laura took of me with Marley and
Lola Poppy. Our third wasn't born back there's a few
years ago, and it was up in the master bedroom,
the main bedroom upstairs, and you did have these beautiful
glass windows which looked onto the ocean, and this is
(08:20):
on the second level, and we kept going back to
this image and I was like, I'd imagine waking up
there and having that view. And the auction date was
a little while away, and we kind of thought, let's
just chat to the accountant and let's just see what
they say. And it was a bad idea financially.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Was it.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we kind of we are
in a mountain of debt and we were paying off
this house very very, very long time.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Really, however, we were like, fuck it, just do it.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
It's not real. It is real, obviously, but we were like,
you know, what's a bit of debt for the rest
of your life.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Maddie has just taken us inside the first walkthrough of
Chantmyer and what it was like to renovate with Laura,
two kids and a baby on the way, with an
audience watching online. After this, we get into the next
part of the story. What changes when your family holiday
home becomes somewhere other people can stay. So, now, of
(09:27):
course you make money from it. You have just started
letting it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, so we had it. We finished it. It took
us about twelve months to finish the renovations. Yeah, and
then we enjoyed it for about another eight months. And
then we had our third child, Poppy, and work's been
really busy. And then it kills us to say it,
but we just weren't able to get down there as
much as we wanted to, and also the renovation costs
(09:55):
a lot more than we anticipated. We thought we're just
going to you know, make it water tight the look
of paint on and we got sucked into the renovation
and made it a lot bigger than we originally planned.
So we were like, we need help painting off this mortgage.
So we decided we would start renting it out.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's a great idea. Yeah, So if I'm a guest
and I've booked a weekend, let's do the pretty home tour. Now.
So I'm a guest, I've arrived, what do I arrive to?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
As you open the front door, which is the original
front door with stained glass, we've painted that like a
mint green color. But as you open up the foyer
is a check tile, so it's a rosso like a
Morone marble and a Krema marble, and that checkerboard pattern
goes all the way into the bedrooms on the ground floor,
(10:44):
into the kitchen and into the laundry. And the layout
it's exactly the same. The only structural change was opening
up the servery in the kitchen that looks down into
the dining room. So layout wise, no difference whatsoever. The kitchen.
Wasn't this old wooden kind of similar to this table.
We've kept that look and feel. So the kitchen, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I noticed that. I love that you've honored the spaces
that were there.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, So we went with a black button vinear, which
is really similar to the original wood. We had this
old pink laminate bench top in the kitchen. Ye, as
much as we love laminate, we went with Brescier Pinice.
Is the marble of that. It's like a pinky tone marble.
So it's kind of staying true to the original color palette. Yeah,
(11:36):
but you know, everything is kind of as it originally was,
Like the sink is still exactly where it was when
it was first built. We just changed a few little
things like the oven and what.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Does it feel like in that space?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I hope it feels warm when you first come in,
Like even we went through so many paint samples, but
we went with a real warm white and we wanted
it just to like a really nice, warm home as
soon as you come in and open the door. But
at the same time, we've got this little bursts of color.
So you've got the checkerboard tiles at the front. The
(12:10):
fireplace is the original fireplace, but we've just clad that
in this really bright pattern, this mosaic that Laura found online.
So you've got these little bursts of color and personality
everywhere you go in the house.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, and who set the design.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
As a team effort, but definitely Laura took the reins
from a design perspective. Yeah, I kind of did the organizing.
She did a lot of the design, but it was
in collaboration. We didn't really have like a like there
wasn't like a look we were trying to replicate. We're
just on Pinterest every night, just saving things that we
would like and then we kind of accidentally found out
(12:50):
that we liked. We didn't really know that that it
was like a style, but like a maxim minimalist mid
century vibe is kind of what we now know were with.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, and were you guided by the house?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, so we you know, like the original colors, all
the natural wood, these pink tones that came through. That's
kind of what we wanted to replicate, but in a modern,
luxurious feel. And I think the checkerboard entrance was what
we went with first. So that cream and that marone
marble kind of then followed through into every other room.
(13:25):
So with the like the tiles in the bathroom, the
cliche and like another marone, like the brush upro in
each a kitchen and laundry. It's all kind of off
the back of that entrance tile, which was just that
very first decision that we made. And we just love
that checkerboard. Yeah, that was kind of like that was it.
It wasn't like we're trying to create this theme. We
(13:48):
kind of just got a little bit lucky.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's so good. That's so rare to get to get
lucky with design.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I mean, Laura will be like, well, thanks, Very's not
giving you much credit. It was pure luck. But we
were going to use an interior designer. And why I
think just because we were moving so quickly. So the
second we got the keys, we were in there and
we were ripping things out. Well, I said, we were
(14:15):
a builder was ripping things out and we just wanted
to try and get it done as quickly as we could.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
How did you find a builder?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
So my brother in law is a builder here in Sydney,
and I said, do you know anyone in Molly Mauk
or that area which is down south? And he said,
I've got a number. This guy is someone who used
to be like a somewhat of a competitor with me
back in the day, but in a friendly way, good terms.
So we called Tom from Bespoke Constructions and he was like,
(14:43):
I'm pretty busy. I don't know if I can take
on a new project. And we said, well, we're going
to be down there. Can you just come have a
look at it? And he's like, this is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
The mold is amazing, and he was.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Like, I love the house. And it was a house
that was really well known in the area because Valor
was a bit of a presence. So he was like, hey,
let's let's let's do this and we were only going
to be small. Don't worry, it's not a massive project. Yeah,
and he was like a godsend he was finding him
was the best find other than the house that we
(15:14):
had with the project.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Now, that is genuinely rare to get a good builder
who shares your vision and really treats it like it's
their own.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah. We like we hear other people's stories of renovating
a place, yeah, and we're like, oh, what do you
mean They like they don't return your phone calls and
what do you mean they're way behind schedule? And what
do you mean they're charging you like, you know, thirty
percent more than what they quoted. Because Tom was just incredible.
That's so true, so honest, so reliable. Yeah, and also
(15:47):
just amazing from a construction perspective. And he's very much
like an Aussie bloke ye, you know, typical when you
look at him like big alpha mail drives you, hey,
you going. And then it's funny because it's in contrast
to that, he really likes design and he was really
invested when we're talking about colors and different finishings and tiles.
(16:11):
You know, he was the third voice and those big
decisions were being.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Made absolutely, and so he was based there. How often
did you get down.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So we were down there probably every couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And then what's that like managing a project from a distance.
And I'll say, on top of that, you were having
your third child? Was that at the same time?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
It was poppy luckily came after we finished.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
And also an audience was watching.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, and we documented the house has its own Instagram
page and so we brought people along for the journey,
which was great. Like we genuinely loved having everyone's input.
Sometimes didn't agree with what we were doing and made
us question if we're making the right call. But yeah,
there's a lot of time spent in the car, and
(17:04):
even delivery times was so bad, especially because everything was
last minute. Tom needed things yesterday, so it was quicker
to get them delivered to Sydney and then I would
drive down, deliver it, drive back same day, and so
I would do that quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And do you have a ut a truck or did
you did you get it?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I've got the Kia Family Wagon that I would load up.
I remember having a car full of like a porcelain
sink and tiles and probably way too much in the
back of the car that was recommended. And then it
was great that I could then drop drop it off
touch base with Tom. He was just absolutely nailing it.
(17:48):
And so the more we trusted Tom, the more we
could kind of just do it over FaceTime as we
got towards the pointy end. But then it was great
as well to be able to like there were parts
of the project that, you know, the garage is one
that I was like, I really want to do some
jip rocking and I really want to do some some painting, and.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
He was really going to be a builder.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
I wanted to get scratch that builder itch that I've
always wanted to have, and so Tom was almost like
like part teacher for me as well, Oh.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
How is there a space that you can claim this
is my work?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
The garage is Yeah, I mean in the least impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, I was going to say, in the scale of
rooms to be given, yeah, suite No.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
However, if it was, it was just an absolute mess.
Like at the jip Rocket all it was all warps.
We had to rip it off read jip Rocket.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Is that the space you show people first?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Not first, but it definitely it's it's on the tour.
I'm like, after the kitchen, let's go quickly to the garage.
And they're like, okay, this is this is not that
great and I'm like, how dare you? Blood, sweat and
tears went into this standing back the floor, the concrete
floor in the garage. Then like repainting that. Yeah, but yeah,
I think the laundry is one that design wise, like
(19:13):
we kind of Laura and I would pick and choose
ye like certain areas, certain decisions. There were ones that
Laura was like, we definitely need this, and I was like, cool,
I'll trust your judgment. The laundry was one where I
was like, I think, just we should. This is going
to sound random, but go a blue laundry, which is
a little bit rogue, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Because the rest of the house is mostly those warm pinks,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, And then we've got like the front door is
that kind of minty green. We've got some balustrade on
the balconies which is that minty green. Again, not really,
there's a little bit of blue in the mosaic, in
the in the fireplace tiles. Yeah, but I just thought
it'd be cool to just have something a bit random
and have a blue laundry.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
How did you sell it in.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
We did so many paint samples and Laura was like,
I still don't know about at it, and people on
the page of the Instagram for shut Mayor were like,
we don't know about this either, and I was like,
it's just gonna work. I think this is what we're doing,
similar blue to your shirt.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's a good blue.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And so we did it, and I was shitting myself
because I was like, as if they were painting it.
I was like, I really hope this doesn't look shit,
but I was like, we can repaint it. It was
the cabinet tree because you had the blue cabinet tree.
That was hard to fix. If we didn't like the blue.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
For anyone listening and not watching, how would you describe.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The blue, I'd say it's like a light blue. Imagine
in the morning, when there's not a cloud in the sky.
It's that kind of softer blue.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
It's a good blue.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Thank you, I think so. And I'm very proud of
that laundry, and I think Laura likes it. I'm not
quite sure she does. We still get some people we
show a photo of the laundry. Yeah, They're like, that's
the wrong blue, And I'm like, shut up, Susan.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Do you know what I've got something that will help
you there. We call it decorative tension good terms. So
there should always be something either in a room or
in a house that just it throws it off. It's
that wild card that makes you go, hmm.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
That's that's the laundry of tension. That's the laundry. And
then I think elsewhere, do you know what I'm trying
to think of? Like the decisions that I made, actually,
do you know what one thing that I'm very proud
of as well is the kitchen sink.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Tell us why why you're proud of the kitchen sink.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Because there was great debate in our household about the size.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Of the same Yes, when we renovated, I get it.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So it's a big white porcelain sink and we weren't
sure if we should have more bench space or a
bigger sink that's kind of has a divider in the
middle with two sections. And I bought it to Turner
and Hastings and it's big, yeah. Big. When it arrived
to our place in Sydney and the box was enormous,
(22:04):
and Laura was like, this is a fucking disaster. And
they're really expensive as well, and it also weighed like
thirty kilos. It was so heavy as well. So I
called Thomas said the sink's going to need to be
reinforced because it's crazy how heavy it is, and Laura
was like, this is wrong, and also because we're getting
(22:24):
the marble was being cut.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, you can't get that wrong.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
And I was like, don't worry, it's going to work.
And now I think you can't have a sink that's
too big. When you've got lots of people in the house. Yeah,
when you're doing lots of cooking. And so I'm so
proud that I didn't fuck up the size of the
kitchen sink.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yep, I agree. You have to go as big as possible.
And I don't get the duel sinks, that tiny little one.
Who's using that? What is that?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
It's yeah, it is it's I mean I could almost
bathe in the sink, it's that big.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So, speaking of bathing, take us through the bathrooms and
the bedrooms. What do they look like if you're a
guest staying.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So we have two bathrooms. I'll take it through the
first upstairs, which is the en suite, and we used
to have it was a really thin, long bathroom, so
there was a little corner shower in one end, the
sink was in the other. We used to have a
bidet and then the toilet. As much as I love
(23:24):
a bidet, we decided to take that out and there
was an enormous debate whether we keep a bath So
it was a corner bath sorry, oh, a corner bar,
a bath shower like a two and one that's of
an era. And it was tiny, really really small, and
we were like, there's no bath downstairs. So we were like,
do you even need a bath in a house?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Says the dad of three.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
But then I thought the girls are growing up so quickly.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And they can bath in the sink.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
And I thought a shower is more efficient, I think
with the kids. And so we were like, put it
out for debate. Do we have one shower, one tiny
little bath or a double shower, And that caused a
lot of people to give their opinions. A lot of
people discussed it at the thought of a house not
having a bar, and people were like, double showers don't work.
(24:16):
It's good like on paper, but you don't really share
a shower with someone else that much. But we went
with the root of a double shower, and.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Actually, I imagine you would with kids, and if it
is as it is a holiday home, you just bung
them all in. Yeah, both showers on it.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
And we've got a little bench in the corner bench
seats so we can sit there and yellow kids to
wash themselves and brush their teeth. But we went with
it's a stripe a stripe subway tile, so it's like
a like a light beige and a white natural white
that's striped all the way through it, and it has
a little blue trim as well. That's a little nod
(25:00):
the downstairs laundry.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And how did your tyler feel about doing that job?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Poor guy? Poor guy. I now know, like tiling, a
good tyler is the difference between a great job or
a bad job. And he I now know he is
an amazing talent. And I'm sure he absolutely hated every
second working on our house. But he did such a
(25:25):
great job.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Of course, because you have tiles all through.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah, yeah, okay, And so we have it up to
the up to the like the corner, not in the ceiling,
but then we've got Calcutta marble that we use for
the bench sea and also the countertop gorgeous. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
So the bedroom connected to the en suite is.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
The main bedroom, yep. And so then the downstairs we've
gone with. It's a bit of a funky little layout
which we've we've kept it the same, but it's as
a leitch, a kind of like a pearl white wall tile,
and then it's like a it's like a chikutery hand
type spiral white and marone for the for the floor.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I love that you say that because a few years
ago I was asked about emerging trends and we were
talking about the different stones and the marbles, and I
referred to it as salami. Yeah, and everyone in the
room just went what how could she be saying these things?
And I just went, oh, sorry, I mean, ah, just joking, but.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
That's very much it is. Yeah, it's a cold meat,
yeah for the floor tile, but it's a really nice,
bold pattern for such a small room. And then we've
got like antique brass finishings for the door handles, the
towel racks.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Because they age so beautifully as well.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah. Really, I mean I remember when we were first
going throughout the suggestion of age brass and I was like, oh, no,
it's too old fuddy duddy. But I'm an age brass guy.
Now I'm converted.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
It works well. A house that gets used and is
supposed to be used, Yeah, how good is a blue laundry?
And can't you just picture Matt driving all the way
from Sydney to Aladalla with a giant sink in the
back of his car. I sure can. I'm excited to
say you haven't heard the end of my conversation with
(27:22):
Matt there was just so much to talk about that.
We have a Part two of this conversation coming soon,
when Matt reveals why the mental load at home matters
so much more than ever, and he shares his somewhat
controversial house rules. You'll find Part two wherever you're listening
or watching this episode, same time next week
This is an our media podcast, And what does it
feel like in that space?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I hope it feels warm when you first come in,
Like even we went through so many paint samples, but
we went with a real warm white and we wanted
it just to feel like a really nice, warm home
as soon as you come in and open the door.
This is gonna sound random, but go a blue laundry,
which is a little bit rogue, and I was like,
(00:33):
it's just gonna work.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I think this is what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Similar blue to your shirt.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's a good blue. From reality TV to a real
life renovation, Matty j and Laura Burne's South Coast home
transformation has been followed by thousands of people online. But
today we're going past that pretty reveal we're talking about,
but what it really takes to make a homework renovating
(01:02):
with kids preparing for a third baby, opening up their
beloved champ mayor to guests, managing the laundry, the mess
and the stains, and the mental load and the tiny
systems that just keep family life moving. This is Matti
J on what it takes to turn a mold riddled
house quietly falling down by the sea into one of
(01:24):
Australia's most coveted airbnbs. Will let me welcome you formally
or informally to our home here at the Edit.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It's great to be here, Matt.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It's great to have for you. I have a question, Matt,
Maddie J Matthew.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I will answer to anything. Huh. But it's Matti J's
kind of stuck back from the original days of reality TV. Yeah,
but it does feel a bit immature when I'm being
called Matti J and I'm always forty.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
That's fair. It's time to be Matt.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I think so. But then at the same time, I'm like, well,
I've been mattye J for so long now, it's like
not to sound like a way cub. I'm like, it's
kind of the right. But when I'm talking like a
big boy adult, like these conversations, if you refer to
me as Matt or if I'm in trouble Matthew, that
has got it totally fine.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Understood, understood. So this morning I was thinking about you
and your wife Laura. Yes, So I was away for
work last week and when I get home from a
work trip, my husband always puts out fresh towels and
he has the more nice and folded hotel style. And
it's just a little thing. I was thinking, Oh, that
makes me so happy. Now you and Laura have an Airbnb,
(02:42):
and I was wondering, do you have any hospitality habits
that filter into everyday life? Do you have corners on
your toilet roll?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
There is I remember when Laura and I were together
for a while and we started living together, and I
didn't realize that there is a right and a wrong
way to fold towels.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely, and so I used to just like clut them together.
But I wish I could have a tower. I have to.
You have to fold them in away and put them
in the cupboard. So the fold kind of it's Nita
where the curve is showing.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
You exactly what you're saying, and.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The ends of the towel are then facing the back
of the cupboard, if that makes sense to people listening
right now. But I once I learned how to fold
a towel correctly, it gave my wife so much joy,
It really did.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It's just one of those things. It's life changing for us.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, it is. And then when I speak to other men,
I'm like, how do you fold a towel? Now what
are you talking about? And I'm like, can I teach you? Have?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I got the tip for you here?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I share the wisdom of the tower fold for
my wife.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So you renovated a home, yes, and it's shant Meyer yes.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And people came for me because I would say it wrong.
And I say it, I was like, sant Mayor, No
chant mer.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Chant sounds like her like a swear.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, it's it's but it's French. My mum speaks a
little bit of French and and it shunned Mayor like
hair I think. And if I'm saying that wrong, I'm
so sorry to anyone who's French who's listening. But it
means sing the sea.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
That is beautiful. Why did you name the house chant Mayr?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, we didn't name it. It was her name was
Val of Valerie. She was the previous owner of the house, okay,
and she had named the house that term, and it
was like on a board at the front of the
house above the garage with that name there. And we
wanted to keep the name to honor the work that
val had done and her original home.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And where is the home?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So it's Ala Dalla and from Sydney Look, if you're lucky,
you could do it in three hours. It's about three
and a half hours south.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Got it, And let's I'd like a and after tour,
So we do home tours at home beautiful and on
the edit. I love an audio a sensory tour.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So could you talk us through when you bought the place?
What was it like? You get to the front door,
you open up, what are you looking at?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It sounds bad because the way I'll describe it, when
we first saw it, it wasn't a pretty picture. Val
who originally was the owner of the home, she built it.
She was ninety four when she passed away, and her
family were all in Europe. She was French originally, and
(05:41):
she was in a home unfortunately, and she passed away
and for about four years while she was in the home,
the house just sat there. So the family couldn't agree
on what to do with it. So over the course
of four years it had been battered by the weather.
Plants were completely overgrown, windows had smashed in, and it
was a bit of a time warp as well. So
(06:02):
it was built in the seventies and eighties. Yeah, coming
down the stairs from the garage into a courtyard area
where the front door is. The bricks were completely like
green and black from mold. Really, there was the plants.
There was these enormous ferns, just all the plant life
had just completely gone bananas. And you had these bogan villia, yeah,
(06:26):
which was kind of like growing across the stairway to
come down into the courtyard, so you had to like
dodge the bone and villia crop a couple of thorns
to come to the front door, and as you open
it you were hit with the smell of mold. That
was like what hit me first. But it was a
really quirky design.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's gonna say, why did you buy it?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, I'm not giving the house the justice it deserves
because the bones of the house were amazing. Like we
loved the fact that it was this beautiful open and
four you that came into then split level dining room
into a living room. All the rooms downstairs or even upstairs,
almost every room looks onto the ocean on racecourse.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Beautiful now name makes sense.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yes, and then you always have this slight murmur of
the ocean smashing against the rocks on the cliff side.
That's just you know, it's a stone's throw down to
the beach, and so you have this undertone of waves
crashing everywhere you go. And as much as the carpet
was completely disgusting, mold black mold was growing almost in
(07:37):
every other room at the same time, standing in every
little nook and crevice every bedroom looking out at the ocean.
We were just like, oh my gosh, this is this
is amazing what you know, you would dream of as
a place. But it was never it was one of
those visits where we were like, let's just go and see.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, you never know.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't like let's go and buy it.
It was like, just imagine. Let's just imagine. And there's
a photo that Laura took of me with Marley and
Lola Poppy. Our third wasn't born back there's a few
years ago, and it was up in the master bedroom,
the main bedroom upstairs, and you did have these beautiful
glass windows which looked onto the ocean, and this is
(08:20):
on the second level, and we kept going back to
this image and I was like, I'd imagine waking up
there and having that view. And the auction date was
a little while away, and we kind of thought, let's
just chat to the accountant and let's just see what
they say. And it was a bad idea financially.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Was it.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we kind of we are
in a mountain of debt and we were paying off
this house very very, very long time.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Really, however, we were like, fuck it, just do it.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
It's not real. It is real, obviously, but we were like,
you know, what's a bit of debt for the rest
of your life.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Maddie has just taken us inside the first walkthrough of
Chantmyer and what it was like to renovate with Laura,
two kids and a baby on the way, with an
audience watching online. After this, we get into the next
part of the story. What changes when your family holiday
home becomes somewhere other people can stay. So, now, of
(09:27):
course you make money from it. You have just started
letting it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, so we had it. We finished it. It took
us about twelve months to finish the renovations. Yeah, and
then we enjoyed it for about another eight months. And
then we had our third child, Poppy, and work's been
really busy. And then it kills us to say it,
but we just weren't able to get down there as
much as we wanted to, and also the renovation costs
(09:55):
a lot more than we anticipated. We thought we're just
going to you know, make it water tight the look
of paint on and we got sucked into the renovation
and made it a lot bigger than we originally planned.
So we were like, we need help painting off this mortgage.
So we decided we would start renting it out.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's a great idea. Yeah, So if I'm a guest
and I've booked a weekend, let's do the pretty home tour. Now.
So I'm a guest, I've arrived, what do I arrive to?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
As you open the front door, which is the original
front door with stained glass, we've painted that like a
mint green color. But as you open up the foyer
is a check tile, so it's a rosso like a
Morone marble and a Krema marble, and that checkerboard pattern
goes all the way into the bedrooms on the ground floor,
(10:44):
into the kitchen and into the laundry. And the layout
it's exactly the same. The only structural change was opening
up the servery in the kitchen that looks down into
the dining room. So layout wise, no difference whatsoever. The kitchen.
Wasn't this old wooden kind of similar to this table.
We've kept that look and feel. So the kitchen, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I noticed that. I love that you've honored the spaces
that were there.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, So we went with a black button vinear, which
is really similar to the original wood. We had this
old pink laminate bench top in the kitchen. Ye, as
much as we love laminate, we went with Brescier Pinice.
Is the marble of that. It's like a pinky tone marble.
So it's kind of staying true to the original color palette. Yeah,
(11:36):
but you know, everything is kind of as it originally was,
Like the sink is still exactly where it was when
it was first built. We just changed a few little
things like the oven and what.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Does it feel like in that space?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I hope it feels warm when you first come in,
Like even we went through so many paint samples, but
we went with a real warm white and we wanted
it just to like a really nice, warm home as
soon as you come in and open the door. But
at the same time, we've got this little bursts of color.
So you've got the checkerboard tiles at the front. The
(12:10):
fireplace is the original fireplace, but we've just clad that
in this really bright pattern, this mosaic that Laura found online.
So you've got these little bursts of color and personality
everywhere you go in the house.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, and who set the design.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
As a team effort, but definitely Laura took the reins
from a design perspective. Yeah, I kind of did the organizing.
She did a lot of the design, but it was
in collaboration. We didn't really have like a like there
wasn't like a look we were trying to replicate. We're
just on Pinterest every night, just saving things that we
would like and then we kind of accidentally found out
(12:50):
that we liked. We didn't really know that that it
was like a style, but like a maxim minimalist mid
century vibe is kind of what we now know were with.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, and were you guided by the house?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, so we you know, like the original colors, all
the natural wood, these pink tones that came through. That's
kind of what we wanted to replicate, but in a modern,
luxurious feel. And I think the checkerboard entrance was what
we went with first. So that cream and that marone
marble kind of then followed through into every other room.
(13:25):
So with the like the tiles in the bathroom, the
cliche and like another marone, like the brush upro in
each a kitchen and laundry. It's all kind of off
the back of that entrance tile, which was just that
very first decision that we made. And we just love
that checkerboard. Yeah, that was kind of like that was it.
It wasn't like we're trying to create this theme. We
(13:48):
kind of just got a little bit lucky.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's so good. That's so rare to get to get
lucky with design.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I mean, Laura will be like, well, thanks, Very's not
giving you much credit. It was pure luck. But we
were going to use an interior designer. And why I
think just because we were moving so quickly. So the
second we got the keys, we were in there and
we were ripping things out. Well, I said, we were
(14:15):
a builder was ripping things out and we just wanted
to try and get it done as quickly as we could.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
How did you find a builder?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
So my brother in law is a builder here in Sydney,
and I said, do you know anyone in Molly Mauk
or that area which is down south? And he said,
I've got a number. This guy is someone who used
to be like a somewhat of a competitor with me
back in the day, but in a friendly way, good terms.
So we called Tom from Bespoke Constructions and he was like,
(14:43):
I'm pretty busy. I don't know if I can take
on a new project. And we said, well, we're going
to be down there. Can you just come have a
look at it? And he's like, this is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
The mold is amazing, and he was.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Like, I love the house. And it was a house
that was really well known in the area because Valor
was a bit of a presence. So he was like, hey,
let's let's let's do this and we were only going
to be small. Don't worry, it's not a massive project. Yeah,
and he was like a godsend he was finding him
was the best find other than the house that we
(15:14):
had with the project.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Now, that is genuinely rare to get a good builder
who shares your vision and really treats it like it's
their own.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah. We like we hear other people's stories of renovating
a place, yeah, and we're like, oh, what do you
mean They like they don't return your phone calls and
what do you mean they're way behind schedule? And what
do you mean they're charging you like, you know, thirty
percent more than what they quoted. Because Tom was just incredible.
That's so true, so honest, so reliable. Yeah, and also
(15:47):
just amazing from a construction perspective. And he's very much
like an Aussie bloke ye, you know, typical when you
look at him like big alpha mail drives you, hey,
you going. And then it's funny because it's in contrast
to that, he really likes design and he was really
invested when we're talking about colors and different finishings and tiles.
(16:11):
You know, he was the third voice and those big
decisions were being.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Made absolutely, and so he was based there. How often
did you get down.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So we were down there probably every couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And then what's that like managing a project from a distance.
And I'll say, on top of that, you were having
your third child? Was that at the same time?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
It was poppy luckily came after we finished.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
And also an audience was watching.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, and we documented the house has its own Instagram
page and so we brought people along for the journey,
which was great. Like we genuinely loved having everyone's input.
Sometimes didn't agree with what we were doing and made
us question if we're making the right call. But yeah,
there's a lot of time spent in the car, and
(17:04):
even delivery times was so bad, especially because everything was
last minute. Tom needed things yesterday, so it was quicker
to get them delivered to Sydney and then I would
drive down, deliver it, drive back same day, and so
I would do that quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
And do you have a ut a truck or did
you did you get it?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I've got the Kia Family Wagon that I would load up.
I remember having a car full of like a porcelain
sink and tiles and probably way too much in the
back of the car that was recommended. And then it
was great that I could then drop drop it off
touch base with Tom. He was just absolutely nailing it.
(17:48):
And so the more we trusted Tom, the more we
could kind of just do it over FaceTime as we
got towards the pointy end. But then it was great
as well to be able to like there were parts
of the project that, you know, the garage is one
that I was like, I really want to do some
jip rocking and I really want to do some some painting, and.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
He was really going to be a builder.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
I wanted to get scratch that builder itch that I've
always wanted to have, and so Tom was almost like
like part teacher for me as well, Oh.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
How is there a space that you can claim this
is my work?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
The garage is Yeah, I mean in the least impressive.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, I was going to say, in the scale of
rooms to be given, yeah, suite No.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
However, if it was, it was just an absolute mess.
Like at the jip Rocket all it was all warps.
We had to rip it off read jip Rocket.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Is that the space you show people first?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Not first, but it definitely it's it's on the tour.
I'm like, after the kitchen, let's go quickly to the garage.
And they're like, okay, this is this is not that
great and I'm like, how dare you? Blood, sweat and
tears went into this standing back the floor, the concrete
floor in the garage. Then like repainting that. Yeah, but yeah,
I think the laundry is one that design wise, like
(19:13):
we kind of Laura and I would pick and choose
ye like certain areas, certain decisions. There were ones that
Laura was like, we definitely need this, and I was like, cool,
I'll trust your judgment. The laundry was one where I
was like, I think, just we should. This is going
to sound random, but go a blue laundry, which is
a little bit rogue, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Because the rest of the house is mostly those warm pinks,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, And then we've got like the front door is
that kind of minty green. We've got some balustrade on
the balconies which is that minty green. Again, not really,
there's a little bit of blue in the mosaic, in
the in the fireplace tiles. Yeah, but I just thought
it'd be cool to just have something a bit random
and have a blue laundry.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
How did you sell it in.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
We did so many paint samples and Laura was like,
I still don't know about at it, and people on
the page of the Instagram for shut Mayor were like,
we don't know about this either, and I was like,
it's just gonna work. I think this is what we're doing,
similar blue to your shirt.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's a good blue.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And so we did it, and I was shitting myself
because I was like, as if they were painting it.
I was like, I really hope this doesn't look shit,
but I was like, we can repaint it. It was
the cabinet tree because you had the blue cabinet tree.
That was hard to fix. If we didn't like the blue.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
For anyone listening and not watching, how would you describe.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The blue, I'd say it's like a light blue. Imagine
in the morning, when there's not a cloud in the sky.
It's that kind of softer blue.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
It's a good blue.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Thank you, I think so. And I'm very proud of
that laundry, and I think Laura likes it. I'm not
quite sure she does. We still get some people we
show a photo of the laundry. Yeah, They're like, that's
the wrong blue, And I'm like, shut up, Susan.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Do you know what I've got something that will help
you there. We call it decorative tension good terms. So
there should always be something either in a room or
in a house that just it throws it off. It's
that wild card that makes you go, hmm.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
That's that's the laundry of tension. That's the laundry. And
then I think elsewhere, do you know what I'm trying
to think of? Like the decisions that I made, actually,
do you know what one thing that I'm very proud
of as well is the kitchen sink.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Tell us why why you're proud of the kitchen sink.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Because there was great debate in our household about the size.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Of the same Yes, when we renovated, I get it.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So it's a big white porcelain sink and we weren't
sure if we should have more bench space or a
bigger sink that's kind of has a divider in the
middle with two sections. And I bought it to Turner
and Hastings and it's big, yeah. Big. When it arrived
to our place in Sydney and the box was enormous,
(22:04):
and Laura was like, this is a fucking disaster. And
they're really expensive as well, and it also weighed like
thirty kilos. It was so heavy as well. So I
called Thomas said the sink's going to need to be
reinforced because it's crazy how heavy it is, and Laura
was like, this is wrong, and also because we're getting
(22:24):
the marble was being cut.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, you can't get that wrong.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
And I was like, don't worry, it's going to work.
And now I think you can't have a sink that's
too big. When you've got lots of people in the house. Yeah,
when you're doing lots of cooking. And so I'm so
proud that I didn't fuck up the size of the
kitchen sink.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yep, I agree. You have to go as big as possible.
And I don't get the duel sinks, that tiny little one.
Who's using that? What is that?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
It's yeah, it is it's I mean I could almost
bathe in the sink, it's that big.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So, speaking of bathing, take us through the bathrooms and
the bedrooms. What do they look like if you're a
guest staying.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So we have two bathrooms. I'll take it through the
first upstairs, which is the en suite, and we used
to have it was a really thin, long bathroom, so
there was a little corner shower in one end, the
sink was in the other. We used to have a
bidet and then the toilet. As much as I love
(23:24):
a bidet, we decided to take that out and there
was an enormous debate whether we keep a bath So
it was a corner bath sorry, oh, a corner bar,
a bath shower like a two and one that's of
an era. And it was tiny, really really small, and
we were like, there's no bath downstairs. So we were like,
do you even need a bath in a house?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Says the dad of three.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
But then I thought the girls are growing up so quickly.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And they can bath in the sink.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
And I thought a shower is more efficient, I think
with the kids. And so we were like, put it
out for debate. Do we have one shower, one tiny
little bath or a double shower, And that caused a
lot of people to give their opinions. A lot of
people discussed it at the thought of a house not
having a bar, and people were like, double showers don't work.
(24:16):
It's good like on paper, but you don't really share
a shower with someone else that much. But we went
with the root of a double shower, and.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Actually, I imagine you would with kids, and if it
is as it is a holiday home, you just bung
them all in. Yeah, both showers on it.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
And we've got a little bench in the corner bench
seats so we can sit there and yellow kids to
wash themselves and brush their teeth. But we went with
it's a stripe a stripe subway tile, so it's like
a like a light beige and a white natural white
that's striped all the way through it, and it has
a little blue trim as well. That's a little nod
(25:00):
the downstairs laundry.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And how did your tyler feel about doing that job?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Poor guy? Poor guy. I now know, like tiling, a
good tyler is the difference between a great job or
a bad job. And he I now know he is
an amazing talent. And I'm sure he absolutely hated every
second working on our house. But he did such a
(25:25):
great job.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Of course, because you have tiles all through.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah, yeah, okay, And so we have it up to
the up to the like the corner, not in the ceiling,
but then we've got Calcutta marble that we use for
the bench sea and also the countertop gorgeous. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
So the bedroom connected to the en suite is.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
The main bedroom, yep. And so then the downstairs we've
gone with. It's a bit of a funky little layout
which we've we've kept it the same, but it's as
a leitch, a kind of like a pearl white wall tile,
and then it's like a it's like a chikutery hand
type spiral white and marone for the for the floor.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I love that you say that because a few years
ago I was asked about emerging trends and we were
talking about the different stones and the marbles, and I
referred to it as salami. Yeah, and everyone in the
room just went what how could she be saying these things?
And I just went, oh, sorry, I mean, ah, just joking, but.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
That's very much it is. Yeah, it's a cold meat,
yeah for the floor tile, but it's a really nice,
bold pattern for such a small room. And then we've
got like antique brass finishings for the door handles, the
towel racks.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Because they age so beautifully as well.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah. Really, I mean I remember when we were first
going throughout the suggestion of age brass and I was like, oh, no,
it's too old fuddy duddy. But I'm an age brass guy.
Now I'm converted.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
It works well. A house that gets used and is
supposed to be used, Yeah, how good is a blue laundry?
And can't you just picture Matt driving all the way
from Sydney to Aladalla with a giant sink in the
back of his car. I sure can. I'm excited to
say you haven't heard the end of my conversation with
(27:22):
Matt there was just so much to talk about that.
We have a Part two of this conversation coming soon,
when Matt reveals why the mental load at home matters
so much more than ever, and he shares his somewhat
controversial house rules. You'll find Part two wherever you're listening
or watching this episode, same time next week
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