Photography: Rachel Tagg/ Styling: Kayla Gex
When Rachel Carr was a child, family holidays to the same spot on the Hawkesbury River were what she looked forward to most. “To be honest, it was run-down, but to us it was Buckingham Palace,” she recalls. “Still to this day, when I think about my childhood, I think about that place down by the river.”
Decades later, now living in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, Rachel and her husband Ryan, both 40, dreamed of recreating that magic for their own children, Everleigh, Mila and Tommy.
Who stays here?
Rachel and Ryan Carr of ‘The Block’ fame, pictured with their children Everleigh, eight, Mila, seven, and Tommy, four, plus Charlie the family’s Cavoodle.
Do you get out here very often? “It’s a holiday rental and it’s bookeed up constantly, so we try to block out time to stay. Since our TV show “Holiday Home Makeover’ aired earlier this year, it’s been mayhem.”
What’s your festive style? “Every year we do a different tree theme, but I like to keep things quite traditional when it comes to Christmas. I’m a red, green, gold and silver girl.”
What’s your favourite feature? “Definitely the Cosentino stone – the kitchen benchtop is five metres long; it’s a real showstopper. We also have the stone on the wall in the living room. Everybody walks up to touch it and asks, ‘What is it?’”
(Credit: Photography: Rachel Tagg/ Styling: Kayla Gex )
Fresh from their stint on The Block in 2022, they “had the taste” for renovating and decided the time was right to create their own family escape.
The couple set their sights on the South Coast of New South Wales as it was “so accessible and so beautiful” and found their dream property just eight minutes from Berry and five minutes from Seven Mile Beach, offering “the best of both worlds”.
The home itself, a ’90s suburban build with a boxy layout, didn’t put them off. With its brick veneer walls, floral feature tiles, and matching drapes and bedspreads, the original house was a true example of Australian vernacular style. They loved the nostalgia, but could see fresh finishes and a more inviting floor plan in its future.
“I think where Ryan and I work well together is we don’t necessarily see a property as it’s currently standing. We see how we can change it,” says Rachel. “It had a triplecar garage connected to the home by a brick wall and we thought, ‘We can knock down this wall and it’s going to give us the extra rooms we need’.”
Renovating with three young children is challenging enough – add a film crew and an hour-and-a-half drive from their Sydney base, and it becomes a logistical marathon. Channel 9 greenlit their project as a new television series, Holiday Home Makeover, but the doting parents were determined not to be away from their kids again.
WE LOVE…well-dressed walls
“The wallpaper was a last minute choice, as I felt the bedrooms needed a bit more character,” shares Rachel, who had motifs custom-made by Olive et Oriel to tone with the paint colours in the bedrooms. “Each design tells a story about the overarching style; the main bedroom wallpaper is olive leaf. The designs are linen, so there’s a beautiful, tactile layer.”
Dado rails from Swadlings Timber & Hardware underscore each motif. “We love working with mouldings, so try to incorporate them in all of our designs,” she says. For wallpaper inspiration, head to oliveetoriel.com.
What followed was a 14-week sprint of renovating and filming. “We were driving back and forth every day,” recalls Rachel. “We wanted to have someone with the kids the whole time.
The makeover began in 2022, though the television series didn’t air until mid-25. “It’s funny, in the opening scenes you see our kids, and Tommy is only two, but he was actually four when the show came out,” says Rachel. In each episode, viewers watched as they transformed a perfectly ordinary home into Cinque House – a modern Mediterranean-inspired holiday retreat that feels as though it’s always belonged.
“When designing, we tried to create a hybrid between a luxury hotel and a home,” says Rachel.
“People come and stay and they say, ‘Oh, you must have built the house around the kitchen,’ because of the way we’ve done the rendered rangehood canopy over the beautiful Smeg ‘Victoria’ oven. It looks like it’s been there for 50 years,” says Rachel.
Now, the Carrs have exactly what they set out to create – a place to make memories. Whether they’re at their home in ‘The Shire’ or holidaying here and awaiting Santa’s arrival, it’s sure to be special. “The countdown’s already started for Christmas,” says Rachel.
The house will twinkle with lights, Ryan will smoke the ham and the family will settle in to watch Home Alone on Christmas Eve. “We try to make it as magical as possible.”
SOURCE BOOK
Interior design Rachel & Ryan Carr, The R&R Design Co, rachelandryan.com.au
Architect Neate Projects, neateprojects.com.au
Builder The R&R Design Co with Armstrong & Co Projects, armstrongandcoprojects.com
Landscape design & construction The R&R Design Co with Trim Your Bush Landscaping, 0432 672 918.
Joinery Carrera by Design, carrerabydesign.com.au. Stay Cinque House, cinquehouse.com
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