Welcome to Sweet Digs where we take a look inside the sometimes small, sometimes spacious, and always unique homes of women and gender-diverse people across the world. This week, we tour the newly-renovated apartment of model Roberta Pecoraro in Bellevue Hill, Sydney.
Model Roberta Pecoraro’s apartment looked completely different six months ago. The freshly-renovated apartment is now a marriage of the Sydneysider’s style inspirations; it’s a little Parisian, a little Scandinavian, a little mid-century modern. Stripped back, it’s an Art Deco two-bedroom apartment nestled in Bellevue Hill, a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney. Though she pays a mortgage every week, she tells us that she could rent the space out for $900 (£526.10) a week.
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It’s an area that she’s happy to call home, the kind of place where everything is within walking distance. Up the road is her favourite bakery and coffee shop, a friendly grocer and her regular nail technician. Bondi is just a hop, skip and a jump away, too.
After purchasing the apartment through a real estate agent who showed her the place before putting it on the market, Pecoraro spent six months renovating the space — all while still living in it (there was a lot of dust, she says).
She splashed out on real timber herringbone floors that cost just over $7,000 (£4091), knocked down the wall that divided the kitchen and the living space, turned the study into a walk-in wardrobe with customised shelving (she’s “obsessed with buying bags”), installed a sage rendered wall and a new vanity into the bathroom, and inserted a built-in wardrobe and study nook into the second bedroom.
But the biggest updates happened in the kitchen — what Pecoraro calls her happy place. As a natural entertainer and host, she wanted a light-filled area where she could cook while her guests could sit and chat with ease. She drew inspiration from Parisian kitchens, as seen by her butler sink complemented by Art Deco tapware. Encasing the kitchen workspace are slabs of Arabescato marble. The Italian marble adds texture to the space, and nicely accompanies her vintage fridge, though she notes that the marble is hard to maintain.
The model of almost eight years made sure to pay homage to the original Art Deco features in the apartment. In the bathroom, you’ll find the original mirror and chandelier still hanging. The previous door to the study has been thoughtfully turned into an arched story cupboard and bookshelf, filled with Pecoraro’s knick-knacks and decorations.
Her styling touches are restrained and effortlessly enhance the space. From the set of Cesca chairs she found on Instagram to the large print by local artist Jakey Pedro hanging over them, it’s clear that Pecoraro has “created something that [she] loves and [is] proud of”.
Watch the video above for a closer look inside Pecoraro's home, and hear her renovation advice and why she would do it all again in a heartbeat.