Georgie Abay’s Paddington home was love at first light

Some interior design tweaks make this Paddington terrace a shooting star.

Georgie Abay’s Paddington terrace. ‘I just love terrace houses and love walking around the area absorbing each home’s character,’ she says. Picture: Adam Yip

Ask Georgie Abay what she loves most about her Paddington terrace and she quickly nominates its Victorian-era charm and the northerly aspect that bathes almost every room in the five-level house in Sydney sunlight.

But on a walk through her stylish home, the former Australian Vogue deputy editor gleefully reveals another favourite feature — the washing chute that links her daughters’ bathroom to the family laundry two floors below.

Concealed in the ensuite wall, it’s a discreet addition that speaks volumes about the attention to detail Abay has applied to the renovation of the Glenmore Road property she and her husband Mark bought in 2012.

Georgie Abay at her home in Paddington. Picture: Adam Yip

It’s also a pointer to the strong organisational skills that Abay brings not only to family life in the multi-tiered terrace, but to her successful business, The Grace Tales, an online community chronicling modern motherhood.

Abay launched The Grace Tales website after leaving Vogue in 2013 and has since co-authored two books, Grace Mothers: Letters to our Children and This is Me, and created a podcast celebrating parenthood.

While establishing her business and starting her family, Abay also oversaw a substantial renovation of the couple’s new home.

Among the changes, the kitchen was replaced and an adjoining courtyard transformed into a glass-roofed dining area flooded with natural light.

The downstairs living room in the Paddington terrace. Picture: Adam Yip

A floor above, the walls between three rooms were demolished to form a serene master bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe, generous bathroom and French doors opening on to a veranda.

Beautiful antique furniture, stylish cabinetry and striking light fittings now feature throughout the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home, alongside designer linen fabrics, floral prints and large artworks, including two pieces by Sydney artist Laura Jones.

The stunning interior is a tribute to Abay’s considerable design flair, honed at the London College of Fashion after she graduated in media studies at Sydney University.

“My mother was an interior decorator, so I grew up with someone who loves interiors, which can be good and bad because, as my husband will attest, I do like to change things around,” Abay laughs.

Two enormous framed mirrors from Lawsons Auctioneers create an impressive welcome in the front hallway. Picture: Adam Yip

Like her mother, Abay enjoys buying antique furniture from auction houses, with her latest acquisition, two enormous framed mirrors from Lawsons Auctioneers, creating an impressive welcome in the front hallway.

“I’m not drawn to new and shiny pieces of furniture. They feel so generic to me,” she explains. Abay has taken particular delight in creating an enchanting bedroom for the couple’s daughters, Arabella, 7, and Lottie, 6.

Delicate porcelain balloons hang above the girls’ bunk bed, while curtains featuring Jane Churchill’s Flower Fairies pattern frame French doors leading on to a sun-drenched balcony with views to Sydney Harbour. Baskets of toys lie on the floor and a large lounge sits below custom-made wall racks filled with books.

Abay has taken particular delight in creating an enchanting bedroom for the couple’s daughters, Arabella, 7, and Lottie, 6. Picture: Adam Yip

Abay says it was important to make the girls’ bedroom an inviting sanctuary, given the space constraints of terrace living in the fashionable inner-city suburb.

“They spend hours in there together and my husband and I often hear them say to each other, ‘imagine if …’ at the beginning of a game with their dolls. It melts my heart knowing their little imaginations are running wild in their room.”

In their desire to create more space for their children, the couple made what many Paddington residents may regard as the ultimate sacrifice, removing a coveted carport at the rear of their 241sq m property to install a cubby house.

The play area sits next to a sunny courtyard filled with camellias, lavender and magnolias.

“The lovely thing here is the outlook — no apartments or ­houses look on to us. It’s just super private and green,” Abay says.

Abay adores the village atmosphere of Paddington and attributes her passion for terrace living to her time in London.

“I just love terrace houses and love walking around the area absorbing each home’s character,” she says. “Even though all the houses look similar, every house is unique.”