Inside Art Apartment, a Small Home with Huge Creative Energy

There’s a reason the aphorism “two heads are better than one” endures. In the best creative partnerships, ideas expand – but they’re also challenged and refined. C.S. Lewis captured it neatly: two minds are “unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.” For Jermaine and Annie, the visionaries behind Art Apartment, that shared direction led to a compact apartment in Sydney’s Inner West – and the opportunity to transform it.

In just 18 months, the couple has amassed an Instagram following of over 150,000 by documenting every colourful detail and charming corner of their home. Their audience is enamoured equally by the duo’s discerning taste and refreshingly accessible approach to curation. “We wanted to show that even in a small space, you can do something fun and creative – and really make it your own,” says Annie. To date, there have been no renovations, no DIY projects – just impeccably styled furniture, art, and décor.

Arriving as strangers in Australia 11 years ago, Jermaine and Annie hail from the UK and Germany respectively. They met a few months into moving, crossing paths at a backpackers’ hostel before working on the same farm to secure their visas. Back in Sydney, they moved into a series of sharehouses – putting down roots and building a life together.

When they were ready to buy, they bid farewell to their rental in Surry Hills, an Inner City suburb known for its rich history and chic lifestyle scene (as well as rising real estate prices). Moving to the Inner West opened up a new chapter for Jermaine and Annie – and the freedom to fully invest in a space of their own.

Jermaine describes their Inner West neighbourhood as “still a bit of a secret,” comparing it to London’s Camden – a place defined by its music scene and counterculture. “It’s a similar vibe on a smaller scale,” he says, “filled with artists and creative people.”

Growing up, Jermaine was drawn to architecture and interior design, citing the British TV series Grand Designs as a formative touchstone. It makes sense that he found himself in a career as a builder, a natural extension of that early interest. “Having our apartment as a project on the side is really fulfilling,” says Annie. Her day job is in Human Resources for a charity, a role she loves, but one that sits outside her creative life.

They each bring their own perspective to the Art Apartment project. “We've been together for so long, Annie trusts my judgment, and I trust hers,” says Jermaine. While Jermaine takes the lead with the layout, Annie captures the photos and content, honing her keen eye for composition.

Jermaine puts the success of the Art Apartment venture down to “The combination of us, our personalities joining in this space,” calling it “a shared passion.” Annie agrees, explaining, “Jermaine and I learn from each other. We may not always agree, but we always come to an understanding.”

The couple took a considered approach from day one. “We looked through the floorplan, measured everything out and bought pieces that worked exactly within the dimensions of the space,” explains Jermaine – a plan designed to maximise every inch. The next step was grounding the apartment with a core colour: orange. This wasn’t a conscious choice as much as a happy accident. First came their speaker by Orange Amps, then the Evedal lamp by IKEA, fitted with an amber bulb. “It gives that really mid-century feeling without being too over-the-top,” says Jermaine of the base hue.

From there, they began introducing complementary tones – yellows, creams, and olive greens – alongside textures like timber, chrome, and leather, to make the space “feel more welcoming and interesting.” The combination creates a unified feel, “we try to mix beautiful, natural materials together… Everything really feels very cohesive that way,” says Jermaine.

The strategy when furnishing the apartment was to have one or two standout pieces in each room. “We decided to spend money on the important key pieces, and then try to find small, unique bits to make it more fun and colourful,” explains Jermaine. He continues, “It's about finding and purchasing pieces that we feel are going to last for a long time, rather than throw-away items. If we’re going to spend money, we want to buy items that are solid or have a story behind them.”

Annie’s favourite piece is a double-sided mirror from Ellison Studios which stands pride of place in the living room, “It's called the Block Mirror… It makes the whole apartment look and feel larger. Having mirrors in the apartment, especially in a smaller space like ours, adds so much value to the room.”

For Jermaine, it’s a tie between the travertine coffee table from Life Interiors and the armchair from Welcome Home Furniture. “Usually people go for a small or circular coffee table, but we’ve gone for quite a large rectangular shape that lines up perfectly with our sofa and the TV,” he explains. The idea was to position the table as the central feature, rather than having everything point towards the screen.

“[The coffee table] just doesn’t look like it would ever go out of style. We could have this when we’re in our 60s – hopefully in a nice big villa somewhere – and still look at it and think, ‘This is our best buy,’” he laughs.

“The armchair is beautiful as well. We had to wait almost eight weeks for it to arrive – it’s made to order, in Tasmanian oak and leather.”

The living room, where Jermaine and Annie spend most of their time, is their mutual favourite space. “When we come home after a busy day, it’s just nice to settle into the living room. It really does feel like home,” says Jermaine. Filled with eclectic art and objects, it’s as cosy as it is inspiring: “Wherever you look, there’s always something fun to discover," adds Annie.

Their other sanctuary, the bedroom, sits on the darker, more secluded side of the home, creating a cooler, tranquil place to unwind. “Sleep is so important, so it's just so nice to have a space where you can get some good quality rest,” says Jermaine. “We spent a little bit more money on getting a good solid oak bed frame, a good mattress, and the right bed sheets. It’s so worth it.”

As self-confessed homebodies, they cherish their time spent inside, but balance it with an active routine. Mornings are about gearing up for the day – an early rise and exercise, followed by breakfast together. Evenings, meanwhile, bring a slower pace, whether that’s watching TV or listening to music (their 2026 goals include getting off their phones earlier and “avoiding the big light”). “After work we like to spend time together, be present and wind down,” says Jermaine.

Weekends at home are for taking it easy. “It still feels like a bit of a holiday home for us,” adds Jermaine – a sleep-in, breakfast and coffee, and spinning vinyl from their extensive record collection. Anyone can immerse themselves in the sounds of Art Apartment via their Spotify playlist – “a mix of jazz, RnB, hip-hop, and soulful tunes that fits the apartment perfectly.”

One of the reasons Art Apartment has resonated so strongly online is its balance of designer and one-off pieces alongside stylish, more affordable finds. Over time, Jermaine and Annie have learned that investing in larger, everyday furniture items pays off in both quality and longevity.

“We have a lot of smaller, more affordable pieces from IKEA, but we try to choose things that are still unique and good quality,” says Jermaine. “For our online community, it’s important to show a bit of both – and to be transparent about that.”

“People often think you need a massive budget to style an apartment,” adds Annie. “But you can do a lot on a smaller budget, and we’ve shown that in every room. There are more expensive pieces, but there are also plenty of affordable ones.”

Inspiration comes from all over – artists like Andy Warhol and Daniel Arsham, local streetwear stores, and perusing the streets of Marrickville, Surry Hills, Redfern, and other Inner City spots. Hundreds of ideas and references are pinned on Pinterest and saved on Instagram.

Displaying work from local creatives is a central pillar of their home. The living room hosts some standout works – a statement piece by Byron Bay artist Cassidy Jackson, and there’s an expressive painting by Northern Beaches local Jakey Pedro. “To be honest, we’re just running out of space,” laughs Annie. “Maybe one day we'll get a bigger space and have more walls for art!”

This desire to support the creative community extends to those starting their own interior design pages, too. “When we started our account, we did a lot of research,” says Jermaine. “We messaged other creators in the interior design niche asking how they got started – some responded, some didn’t. Now we receive messages from creators who are just starting out, and we always take the time to reply. We share accounts with barely any followers because we genuinely love their work, and we remember what it was like trying to grow at the beginning. It feels like an ecosystem of creatives supporting each other.”

Their number one piece of advice when approaching a new space is to really study the floorplan – walk through each room, measure carefully, and draw it out to scale. Pay attention to where the windows and doors sit, and how the space flows. From there, they recommend considering how every piece of furniture will interact with the next.

According to Annie, the feeling they hope to evoke in visitors is one of wonder and intrigue. “We’d love for people to feel inspired – knowing that anything can be accomplished. You can decorate a small apartment and make it your own. We want guests to feel inspired by the different colours, shapes, and materials throughout the space.”

To Jermaine and Annie, home is somewhere you look forward to coming home to after a long day, somewhere to feel at peace. Jermaine describes it as “a magnet that pulls you back,” and Annie as a “safe space where you can relax, look at the outside world, and just enjoy your time together.”