Sutherland, Darling Point, Sydney (Vrbo): When it comes to staying in a boutique hotel or buying your forever home, anything brand spankin’ new has a certain appeal. The most modern amenities, carpets that haven’t been trampled on by hundreds of feet, and the trendiest decor are all very attractive features. Choosing to rent a fabulous holiday home, on the other hand, generally equates to finding a place that’s charming and a bit lived in. Unless you’re renting Sutherland, that is. This property is both a vacation home and a gleaming new build that has all the impeccable design chops that you normally equate with big dollar signs and a mortgage.
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Stepping inside the home and taking a tour of the grounds at Sutherland is often one and the same. In many areas like this living room, the inside and outside seem to bleed into one, which is really our perfect real estate environment. Here, you get to feel like you’re living in nature, without the option for climate control and without the threat of getting rained on.
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Look at this beautiful kitchen! If you’re like us, you will opt to dine- or take-out every night of the week and blame your laziness on the fear of messing up the gorgeous piece of art that is this room. (As if you needed an excuse! )
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When in Australia, it’s only right that you should leisure like the Australians do. That means, firing up the barbie, grilling some prawns, and having an outdoor feast. Sutherland comes with not one but two areas for you to barbecue in Sydney’s decently mild winter weather.
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We’re getting a real theatrical vibe from this outdoor living room (yes, here’s another one!). While you could hang out with your crew here and indulge in a little gossip or pinball, we also wouldn’t fault you for deciding that this vacation might be the perfect one to channel Jane Austen’s fictional families and stage a holiday show on this perfect platform.
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One of the biggest benefits of staying in a tony, four-floored house is that every single one of the five bedrooms has a gorgeous water view. You know what they say: equal rooms on vacay keeps the holiday monsters away.
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It seems like every modern home today crows about their “open plan spaces.” They were all frauds. This, friends, is a true open plan home. It may be four floors, but it feels like one big space that all just melts together and invites the outdoors in. It’s a dream vacation home, though, be warned: this house may ruin you for life when it comes to any other space that claims to be “open-plan.”
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Sleepless nights are an endangered species in this room. But if one does creep up on you, please note that the rules of the house state that you must count sailboats rather than sheep to help you fall back asleep.
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While we admire all of the gorgeous wood accents in this room, please note that you will never find us parked in front of the boob tube on vacation when there is a gorgeous infinity pool just outside.
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Sometimes you meet a house whose math doesn’t entirely make sense. Consider Sutherland: there are five bedrooms for your sleeping pleasure here, rooms that come with eight bathrooms. As if that weren’t enough, some of them are big enough to count as two or even three.
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When you look up “happy place” in the pictorial dictionary, this is the image you will find. We’re getting a contact zen just by looking at it.
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If you are going to indulge in a little TV at Sutherland, may we suggest you do so in a room that is completely open to the great outdoors so you can enjoy the best of Australia while you check out the latest viral hit?
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Mid-century modern meets minimalist meets coastal chic — we’re here for this design aesthetic that fits right in with the views of the Sydney Harbour available from nearly every nook and cranny of the property.
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And now for a list of all the bonus spaces: this private gym is all yours at Sutherland, as is the game room, and the media room. As if you needed to be entertained when you are within a close commute to some of the best beaches in Sydney.
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We were going to make a joke here about spending your vacation watching your ship coming in…but then we remembered that this is a holiday home and all two-legged ships that land at Sutherland must walk right back out again. So soak up all that Down Under sun and open plan gloriousness while you can and remember—there’s always next time. Bon voyage!
Book Your Stay: Sutherland, Darling Point, Sydney, Australia: $7,000/night via Vrbo