Fashion designer Daniella Dionyssiou’s slice of Mediterranean-Australiana for sale

Fashion label VRG GRL co-founder Daniella Dionyssiou and restaurateur husband Tim Varitomos take us through the dream home they’ve put on the market.

Restaurateur Tim Varitimos and Brisbane fashion label VRG GRL co-founder Daniella Dionyssiou at home. Picture: Jeff Camden.

When fashion designer Daniella Dionyssiou and her restaurateur husband, Tim Varitimos, were building their family home in Brisbane, they didn’t know they would only be there for a few years at best.

But an opportunity came up that they couldn’t look past.

The couple purchased the run-down Queenslander in the inner-city suburb of Highgate Hill for $830,000 shortly after the first pandemic lockdowns of 2020. Half of the original home was raised and the space below was built-in to create a modern, open-plan, four-bedroom home.

It was designed in a Mediterranean-Australiana style, drawing inspiration and incorporating traditional elements from the water-loving regions to create a laid-back home perfect for entertaining. So perfect, they rushed to move in a week before hosting Christmas in 2022.

Daniella Dionyssiou and husband Tim Varitimos’ Highgate Hill property. Picture: NIRA Collective

“It was a character home, so we obviously had to keep that facade, so we just tried to modernise it,” Tim said.

Daniella added: “It’s Mediterranean but keeping that Queensland summer feeling.”

She and her sister, Natalia Suesskow, founded fashion label VRG GRL when they were teenagers.

Ariana Grande has been spotted wearing VRG GRL.

Singer and actor Jennifer Lopez.

In the 17 years since, it has amassed one million Instagram followers and their designs have been worn by Jennifer Lopez, Kendall Jenner, and Ariana Grande.

While the home lends itself to the present trend of neutral and minimalist, this interior treatment has been rejected wholeheartedly. Bright artwork of a farmer collecting flowers hangs over the marble terrazzo kitchen countertop, while a green onyx coffee table complements a marble hall stand in the living room.

The property’s living room with its green onyx coffee table.

“We like a splash of eclectic,” said Tim. “That’s the perfect kitchen painting because they are food colours, the reds and yellows.”

Daniella said: “I feel like you need a bit of colour. We don’t personally like the homes that are just all neutral.”

Pots and jars of different oils and spices line the countertop and cookbooks are tucked into the butler’s pantry given the pair’s shared love of food and cooking.

The Highgate Hill home’s large kitchen and dining area. Picture: NIRA Collective

Tim has operated The Lighthouse restaurant in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Cleveland for the past 17 years, and does a lot of Greek cooking.

“We do a lot of Greek barbecues here, I’ve got a charcoal barbecue with the rotisserie,” he said.

“We also like Southeast Asian food. I’m not the best at cooking it, but I like to try.”

The city-loving couple enjoy the restaurant options in the area, regularly eating out to see what Brisbane has to offer.

Daniella said the top floor’s open-plan living is perfect for entertaining. The master bedroom and main guest room are on the second floor, which is where they spend much of their time.

The couple’s home is the perfect blend of a Queenslander with a Mediterranean twist. Picture: NIRA Collective

“I love this main area because it all flows when we’re having dinner parties and people over. It’s so nice because one of us can be doing stuff in the kitchen and we can all stand around together,” she said.

While they love their home and had no plans to sell so soon, the opportunity to buy in the trendy Brisbane inner city suburb of New Farm just two doors down from Daniella’s sister and a street over from her parents, was too good to pass up when a property came on to the market.

“We are trying to have a baby, and that was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said.

They bought the house at auction for $3m last year, and plan to undertake a similar project.

“It’s really, really old but we are going to do a reno. We’re sad to leave but I’m excited,” Daniella said.

The home at 42 Blakeney St, Highgate Hill, will be put to auction on March 16 by Place Kangaroo Point agent Michael Hatzifotis. Queensland agents are unable to give a price guide prior to auction.

Originally published as Fashion designer Daniella Dionyssiou’s slice of Mediterranean-Australiana for sale