The dream room Wendy Moore didn’t believe would ever be hers

Forget Prince Charming on a white steed – the Selling Houses Australia star’s girlhood wish was for a luxe room of one’s own. And now she’s finally got it.

Hesitating isn’t something Wendy Moore is known for, but there’s a long pause before the interiors maven can say why she’s so blown away by her very own newly renovated bedroom.

“It’s the room I never thought I’d have,” she eventually admits, breaking into a grin.

The princess suite of her girlhood dreams has actually come to life – and the working mum of two clearly can’t quite believe it.

After what she describes as “a pretty typical suburban upbringing”, Moore’s many years as editor-in-chief of a homes magazine exposed her to “so many amazing” rooms just as Australia grew up and developed its contemporary style credentials.

Selling Houses Australia interiors expert Wendy Moore at her home in her newly finished master suite. Custom leather upholstered bedhead and base, linen sheets and pillowcases all by Snooze; Linden Throw by Linen House. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

MASTERCLASS

“I really saw the rise of the master suite,” she says. “The ensuite went from being the smallest bathroom in the house to being the biggest (and) most opulent … and obviously we all fell in love with Carrie’s walk-in wardrobe at the end of Sex and the City.”

Moore says her fantasy boudoir was always a space that felt “very calming, quite spacious and luxurious”.

“I don’t know, really, that I ever thought that it could happen – I don’t know if I ever really thought it was going to be my room,” she says.

Moore joined millions of fans around the world in falling for with Carrie’s walk-in wardrobe at the end of Sex and the City. at her home. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

She’s the gal with the movie star smile, but Moore’s loving update of the Greystanes home in the current season of Foxtel’s Selling Houses Australia is a quiet nod to her ordinary Aussie roots. No one watching the on-screen transformation of that modest little time capsule in Sydney’s west can fail to see the project touches Moore personally.

It makes for a moving episode in what’s proving to be an emotional Season 15, as when the team visits landscape gardener Dennis Scott’s mining hometown Clermont in Queensland, retracing what Moore playfully calls Scott’s “origin story”.

It’s a lump-in-the-throat Season 15 of Selling Houses Australia, including the Clermont QLD episode featuring Dennis Scott’s “origin story”complete with a cameo by his father Dale, pictured here with Scott and Moore. Picture: supplied

Of her own house, the very typical single-fronted facade in Sydney’s Inner West remains unchanged. Internally configured like a standard semi, the second bedroom and lounge were originally dark and small.

Now light floods in via a great void and the kitchen, dining and living space opens up to the backyard. Two bedrooms upstairs are for Moore and her husband, and twins Darcy and Ruth, 12, who still share a room.

“After we say goodnight, we hear them kind of download their day and talk about everything,” Moore says. “I like it and I don’t think they’re ready to give that up either.”

While freestanding, the very typical Inner West single-fronted facade is on a narrow block and was originally configured like a standard semi. The back section of the house was demolished to make way for open-plan living and the upstairs extension. Picture: supplied

As befits her home’s journey from Art Deco original to modern fairytale ending, Moore did hold out for a hero of sorts, but hers is a giant, freestanding white bath.

“I do love a bath, but I don’t really like being stuck in a bathroom,” she says.  “Having a master suite that incorporated the open bath was a bit of a dream of mine and the design allowed for that, so I just grabbed it with both hands and ran with it.”

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Moore was determined to strike the balance between the suite’s open living space and the discreet needs of the toilet and shower zone.

“The bath is really the centrepiece of the room,” she says. “You can see it as soon as you walk into the bedroom, so it becomes a real feature.”

Yeah, baby: the glamorous hero of the master suite is Moore’s decadent, deep Julia bath by Dado Quartz. On the wall behind the bath is a treasured artwork by the late Australian artist Craig Ruddy. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

CONTEXTUAL CURVE

A curved division encloses the toilet and shower space, wrapping around to join the walk-in wardrobe and creating two perfectly concealed spaces.

“Even when you’re in bed it’s completely private,” Moore says. “But the bath is completely open and I love that. It’s the best bath I’ve ever had.”

The curved wall, seen here during construction, demarcates the open living area of the suite from the toilet and shower. Picture: supplied

Visible from the bed and light-filled reading nook is a cherished artwork by the late Australian artist Craig Ruddy. Hanging on the wall behind the bath, it adds drama, depth and beauty, the work’s layers of meaning only made more poignant by Ruddy’s tragic death last year from Covid.

“My husband and I bought a duo, two-piece artwork about 15 years ago and we’ve never really had a room big enough to be worthy of that amazing artwork,” Moore says. “(Buying it) felt so frivolous … almost irresponsible. And I remember ringing my mum and saying, ‘Oh my god, we’ve just bought this’. In retrospect, it wasn’t that much money, but at the time it felt like a lot. I remember saying, ‘Oh my god, there’s so many things we could do with that money’.  

“Obviously we didn’t have children then … and my mum said, ‘Wendy, you never have money for art. There is never going to be a time to spend money on art, so if you find something that you both love, that’s the time to buy it, because it’s quite rare for you both to love something equally’.

Moore enjoying her bedroom’s light-soaked reading nook with the family’s whippet Kink. The Moroso Rendondo swivel chair is by Hub Furniture. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

“That has always stayed in my mind. We don’t have a lot of art but I kind of forgive myself for buying it because I love it. Every single time I look at it, I love it and I just cannot believe it’s ours and it’s endured.”

“Even talking about it now I can’t believe that I’ve actually been able to do this,” Moore says of her suite. “It feels like another version of myself. If I was talking to myself in Year 12, and saying ‘One day you’re going to have this’, I just wouldn’t believe it.”

The new kitchen is part of an open plan living area leading out to the small backyard. The stairs leading to the girls’ bedroom and Moore’s master suite lead up from the kitchen. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

Learn from the lady who does this for a living

Budget basics

“Have a really clear communication line with your builder about how the budget (will) be managed and communicated,” Moore says. “That broke down for us. It was just a real lack of communication over what was being spent, then suddenly big, nasty surprises like, ‘Oh sorry, for some reason we’re $20,000 over’ and you’re just like, ‘But … how? We went through the budget with you, how did you make that mistake?’ It’s expensive and time-consuming to take someone on over that.”

How the budget would be managed and communicated broke down between Moore and their builder. Picture: supplied

By name, by nature

“Most builders prefer to do cost plus … but a cost plus contract is much harder to manage. Have a lawyer look over the contract and make sure you’ve got safeguards to control the budget and be able to say: ‘Stop’.”

Time is money

“Have a realistic idea of what delays are going to cost and make sure that is built into the contract. In most standard contracts there is a liquidator damages clause. How much is it actually going to cost if you’re out of your home and you’re having to rent or pay storage?”