Writer and photographer Simon McCarthy wouldn't really call himself a stylish person. Two years ago he moved from a share house in Waratah to his one-bedroom apartment in Islington.
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Due to COVID lockdowns and unexpectedly spending more time at home, he's recently put more effort into making his little rental a fabulous place to live.
"Overnight I was sort of here all the time. A few weeks into that I was reading this article in The New York Times, and they were talking about Instagram influencers in lockdown who had turned their houses into photography sets," McCarthy says.
"Beautifully clean, minimal, everything in its place, very aesthetic kind of places.
"It was fascinating to watch these places becoming more and more domestic because these people can't go outside."
It was fascinating to watch these places becoming more and more domestic because these people can't go outside.
It really got to him and he realised how little time he actually spent at home. He had no art on the wall, no plants, no pets and little furniture. There were no inviting fluffy cushions strewn about.
McCarthy got to work. He started with a painting Into the Blue, a 2019 work by Sydney-based artist Michelle Khourey.
"I love a rainy day. It reminded me of a rainy day and I thought I'll hang that up in the bedroom," he says.
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Then he brought out his typewriter, a gift from his aunty. McCarthy's grandfather had given it to her, and she took typing lessons on it when she was young.
"She gave that to me for my 28th birthday. She wanted me to write something on it."
The expressionist painting above the bookshelf is called Late Again. It's by Melbourne artist Melanie Bardolia, also painted in 2019.
"If you're up close you can see the texture when you go further away it's sort of a peculiar thing - up close you can see the brushstrokes but take a step back and you get this hazy kind of picture," he says. "Wherever you stand in the apartment, you can see it."
He's sworn off cushions for a while as he was buying too many.
"I started with three. Every time I got another one I'd make sure it only matches with one other cushion. I'd think 'if I just get this one it will tie everything together'," he says.
He's owned fish before, and the decision to get his latest tank was a split-second one. He came home with a betta fish. He named it Patrick Bateman after the character in American Psycho.
He began dabbling in aquascaping thinking 'how hard could it be.'
"I noticed how all of the plants in the tank were synthetic. I thought 'if I'm going to do this aquarium thing, I've got to figure out what the really stylish ones look like . . . aquascapes'," he says.
Turns out, aquascaping is really hard. You have options to inject Co2 into the tank, you can choose between funky plants, you can carpet the tanks or include rock formations.
He found that there was an art to it. McCarthy stuck with it, and now he's quite pleased with the results.
"It looks great at night; it's a different way to light up the apartment," he says.
"At the moment there are a few rummy nose tetras and Patrick Bateman, with a smattering of micro fish - little cleaners that keep the tank going."
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On his kitchen bench he keeps a chess board where he plays a very slow, but enjoyable, game with his father in Inverell. McCarthy gave him the board game for his birthday, and every day they text each other moves.
"He sends me a move more often in the morning and I send him my move when I get home from work, so what usually happens is I'll move a piece as I'm walking out the door and then 15 minutes later he calls and says 'I knew you were going to do that'. It turns into an hour-long chat."
McCarthy jokes that he speaks to his dad more regularly now than ever.
He may not call himself a man of taste, but it's the chess, the typewriter, the fish, the art and the soft furnishings.
McCarthy's sophisticated little apartment speaks for itself.
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