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Flex Mami (@flexmami) gives a tour of her Hobart house in Tasmania, Australia. See what she is able to get in this area for $820k AUD ($531k USD.)

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High rent, small spaces, nosy neighbors — we put up with A LOT of things to live where we love. In Sweet Digs, Refinery29 gets a peek inside the homes of the coolest people we know, from tiny studios to sprawling houses, and ask the real questions like, "Wait, how much is your rent?" 

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Transcript
00:01Hello team, it's Flex. Welcome to my sweet digs. Fun fact about the house.
00:08Honestly, the backyard is two times the size of it. I wish you could see it, it's not right here
00:12yet.
00:13Come in, come in, come in.
00:19In case you don't already know, I am an award-winning influencer, a best-selling author,
00:25a DJ, a TV presenter, a radio presenter at Cater, and the CEO of many a company.
00:31So we are in Dodgers Ferry, Hobart. I mean, I've owned the house for four months, give or take,
00:38and that whole time has been renovating. We just finished minutes ago.
00:42I bought it for just under $700,000 and we've invested, when I say we, I mean me and all
00:47my personalities,
00:48have invested $120,000, give or take. We're not even done yet, so we're not even done.
00:54Worth it!
00:57My theme with the house is a pastel dreamscape. All contrasting colours, but not Clown College.
01:05And it's a very hard balance, but clearly I nailed it.
01:08A lot of what's in this house was handmade by our builders.
01:12We have to point to this heat pump, because it was an eyesore.
01:16So I was like, can we paint it? Jacob the painter said, yeah, of course.
01:19So I said, okay, great. This bread with butter yum table was the first furniture item I bought.
01:26I didn't want to get stuck into buying a neutral just because it's like the safe purchase.
01:30It's a two meter aluminium table. Okay. It was never going to be a neutral.
01:35These amazing vintage chairs are from Luke's Furniture in Melbourne. I'm obsessed with them.
01:42Got them in this yellowy mustard and this pink gorge, right?
01:47The set was about $4,000.
01:50Sneak peek into the backyard.
01:52But it's sneaky. Okay, away. Be done with that. Be done.
01:55So I've come to realize very recently, I'd say in the last 12 hours, that my life's purpose is to
02:01table skate.
02:02But also to host dinner parties. The idea of like, preening and be like, hey, what do you guys want
02:07to eat?
02:09It's like sparking joy. Just thought of it, sparking joy.
02:11When I went to the florist, I was like, oh, could you help me do a bouquet?
02:15And she was like, what are you going for? And I said, princess alien.
02:20Right? You would give these to an alien princess and she would love them.
02:26The aspect of my life that influences my home the most.
02:30It's kind of like my compulsion to make my inner reality match my outer reality.
02:35That is creative. That is like sentimental and fulfilling and bright.
02:40I want Casa de Flex, my home to be a full sensory experience.
02:45I want every room to have a sound. I want every room to have a scent.
02:49Now it's time to have a look at the bedroom. Let's do a big reveal though.
02:54Ready?
02:58The theme for this room was ultimate comfort, saccharine sweet, but still chill.
03:05We got this bed custom made, which is so sick.
03:08And I think this was $2,000 for the bed head and the base.
03:13Favorite pillow ever. It's barbed wire from Shai Talaga.
03:16Special mention to the outlet covers. USB-C accepted.
03:21I want every space to be both functional and aesthetic, which is a really hard balance to match when I
03:27am so aesthetically centered and driven.
03:29And like everything can just be pretty. I'm like, no, it needs to work.
03:32This used to be two rooms. I said, make it one room, but then it was too big for one
03:37room.
03:37So I said, put a wall back in, but make it a fun wall.
03:40This was heavily inspired by Peter Piloto's takeover at London Design Week.
03:45This is like a semi-functional clothes railing. You put one or two key pieces up and that is it.
03:50We spray painted it pink and it's genius.
03:53This mirror used to be a nineties frangipani surfboard monstrosity.
04:00It was on Facebook marketplace for $10.
04:02Spray painted it to match the railing.
04:05Now it's worth a bajillion bucks roughly.
04:07And one can't forget the roly poly chair by Faye Too Good of Dryade.
04:12When I bought this, everybody was like, that's not a staple. That's not a staple.
04:17And now look, three years later, it's a neutral. It goes perfectly in this house.
04:23The big question, why Hobart?
04:25A good friend of mine moved here about four or five years ago.
04:30She invited me down and I was like, what is this face?
04:33A whole city where arts, culture, music, fashion, food is interwoven in the fabric of its being.
04:41Anyway, flex for me.
04:45So we got the cabinetry and the bench tops all handmade.
04:50In addition to the shelves, handmade.
04:54In addition to these shelves, handmade.
04:58I knew that I wanted to buy a house to live in eventually.
05:04Not now, not there yet.
05:05Think about it as like my home away from home.
05:07So when I'm here 30% of the time, I'm here.
05:10And when I'm not, it'll just be like a short casual stay for other people.
05:13I just felt like planning for future flex involves something that was a little bit more conscientious.
05:20I want to build a place that reflects me and I don't want to be in crippling financial debt to
05:25do it.
05:26Have you seen the Sydney house prices?
05:28There's mirrors everywhere.
05:29But this one has been my favourite for forever.
05:32I coveted it.
05:34It's from Celeti and it's a toilet paper magazine collab, which is super exciting.
05:40It is heavy.
05:41This is not a command strip deal.
05:43Lounge room is this way.
05:45One thing about the sun.
05:48Every single swatch I had was a different colour once it was on the wall.
05:52And I hated to be that person who was like, it's not right.
05:54You think I can get more swatches?
05:56But it had to be right.
05:58Now, let's start with this TV cabinet because what is it?
06:01Handmade.
06:01Who designed it?
06:02Me.
06:04Again, I was like, how do we get more arches in?
06:06I need more arches.
06:07If you think we have enough, we do not.
06:09Now I think I'm in my furniture design era.
06:11Unlocked.
06:12Because what else can I make?
06:14My DIY and purchasing era.
06:17I'm done.
06:17Everything from scratch.
06:19If we come to this coffee table here.
06:22One word.
06:23Maybe two.
06:25Facebook marketplace.
06:26I find the best stuff there because I'm committed.
06:30I am diligent.
06:32If you could see the picture of what this looked like, it was like blurry in some kind of dungeon.
06:36I was like, I see the vision.
06:37So I spray painted it.
06:38Took two whole cans.
06:39I forgot to wear a mask.
06:41The fumes went to my head.
06:43But it's worth it because it looks so good.
06:45The wood panelling.
06:47It's just genius.
06:48It adds so much depth and dimension to the room without having to do too much.
06:53Please look up.
06:54It's a donut life.
06:55A tip I would give somebody undertaking their own home renovation is to not get too attached
07:03to ideas before you understand the labour involved and the time to source materials and the overall cost of it.
07:11The other thing is, once you renovate one room, you're going to want to do every single room.
07:17And the zeros keep zeroing.
07:19Just last hit.
07:21Always ask.
07:22A lot of what you're seeing in the house was the result of me just posing a question.
07:27Is it possible?
07:28Can we turn a door into an arch?
07:30Yeah.
07:32Let's say that somehow you had an untimely and you found yourself at the gates of heaven.
07:38And they said, hey, we're not sure if you can get in yet, but we have a little room that
07:43you can stay in for the night where we figure out if you've been good enough.
07:45You know, this is the vibe.
07:46Please come in.
07:49A week ago, there was no bed.
07:51It's one thing to be able to conjure up a creative representation of something you'd like to sleep on.
07:56But then how do you get things made?
07:58How do you go from concept to item in a week's time?
08:02Well, you call on Roberts and Rogers.
08:04You send them a little sketch that you did while you were in Heyman Island.
08:07And you say, can this be a bed?
08:09And they say, maybe.
08:11But we got here to this cloud-like, beautiful, futuristic spaceship.
08:18Once the sun sets, let me tell you, it's just impeccable.
08:22The little section in the middle, naturally for your phone and a reading light.
08:26This bed cost us maybe 5K, 4K, five days.
08:33Five days?
08:34What could I do in six months?
08:36I'm about to build a whole nother home.
08:39Cohesion was very important to me.
08:40I wanted it to feel like every room had its own moment.
08:44Think of a boy band.
08:45They wear similar outfits, but they have their own solos.
08:48You can tell they're part of a group, but they shine separately.
08:51Same vibe for the house.
08:53The thing that I had to be mindful of is that this house is a time capsule of what Flex
08:58likes in 2022.
08:59So I had to also be mindful that there is time.
09:02It can be built into something fantastic.
09:04I just need to give it space.
09:05Buying a house is not a chill process.
09:08But if this is the manifestation of it, I'd do it again.
09:11Right?
09:12Like, it feels like this is worth having a mortgage.
09:15Having an investment, they say.
09:17Hats a little guy.
09:17I will stay on the train, but I'll stay on the train once a day.
09:22Bet ya'll...
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