The new look appealed to Keira Bourke and her fiance, Nathan Corrigan. They bought the home and moved in with their puggle, Otis. It is the third home the savvy young couple has bought within 10 years. They've carefully designed and styled it, but this isn't just a home it's a business opportunity.

"We bought our first place when I was 21 in Adamstown. Then we built at Fern Bay which is now our full-time Airbnb," Bourke says.

"I put it online to see if it was (sellable as) a private room, and within a couple of hours we started getting people booking.

"It got really popular, and we started Airbnbing the whole place,"

They decided to do Airbnb full time along with their regular jobs. (She's a marketing manager at Funda Finance, and he's a civil works coordinator.)

Fern Bay is a 20-minute drive from town, and they wanted to find somewhere else to live, somewhere with a bit of a yard for Otis. They wanted it to be close to the beach and their work.

The Merewether location was perfect, plus it holds many memories. Bourke remembers going to Sharpe's nursery with her mum as a kid. (Appropriately, Sharpe's played a role in designing the landscape for all the townhouse plans.)

A year ago they moved into the three-bedroom two-bathroom home. The builders had specific selections available for the interior style and design, but Bourke is a self-described "control freak". She asked to change things a bit.

"We bought it off the plan; it took 18 months. We had drawings of what it would look like," she says.

"There were a couple of different options and colour schemes. I changed how the design was supposed to look. I was like 'can I have this floor with this splash back colour?'

"I picked between both, which they let me do, which I was appreciative of.

"The staircase is something (else) I changed. They were supposed to come with carpet staircase, but I wanted timber staircases; I thought it would look a lot nicer."

They have lots of plants and they love how the light comes into the house. They want it to be a fun place with floating floors and lots of wooden tones and off whites.

They have a bar cart to enjoy cocktails with friends. Upstairs is a small lounge area and the bedrooms, the open-plan kitchen is downstairs.

"I tried to go with a bit of a bohemian feel with the rugs and wall art and the colours of the furniture," she says.

Corrigan made the small circular dining room table from timber and concrete.

"Nathan made that from scratch," she says.

"There was one I liked in the store; it was quite expensive. Nathan said 'I'll have a go at making one'. He went to Bunnings and got the stuff."

Along with the house, they love the Merewether lifestyle. They get along well with their next-door neighbours, and they love the nearby restaurant Don Beppino's.

They've loved personalising their home to their specific tastes and getting comfortable in the area, but now they're excited other people can enjoy the experience as well.

The home has begun making appearances on Airbnb, proving to be particularly popular with out-of-area tourists, and visitors from capital cities like Sydney and Darwin.

"The plan (is now) to Airbnb out Merewether and live in the one which isn't booked out. We only listed this one a month ago and it's been booked out most of the time. We've been living between both our parents' place (at the moment)," Bourke says.

It's not necessarily something one might expect from a pair of full-time employed millennials. It's impressive to see how much they've worked and how their efforts are paying off.

"We love Airbnbing. We love looking at the property market. I love the interior design stuff," Bourke says.

"It is a lot of work, but we're young. It's something we can both manage."