Chrissie Swan has sold her Judy Garland-inspired home for $2.5 million.
Earlier this year, the 51-year-old put the Hawthorn East property on the market for between $2.6 million and $2.86 million and it’s believed it sold for just under the lower price range.
The radio star bought the 600-square-metre allotment in the leafy inner-Melbourne suburb in 2022 and has spent the last couple of years renovating the property.
Garland House features two homes — Judy, which is named after Hollywood actress and singer Judy Garland and sits at the front of the property, and Liza, a smaller two-bedroom home at the back of the property.
Both Judy and Liza, the latter of which gets its name from Judy Garland’s daughter and cabaret star Liza Minelli, include private entrances, outdoor entertaining areas and undercover parking.
Judy features three bedrooms, a large kitchen and living area, new timber floors, ducted heating, air-conditioning, high-end appliances, plus interiors that nod to the home’s rich history.
Liza, on the other hand, boasts light-filled living spaces, a secluded courtyard and plenty of privacy.
In a video the former Big Brother star made for the home’s sales campaign she said she felt all houses needed names because they’re “a member of the family”.
Chrissie said the homes were “completely original” when she bought them and she’s since given them a retro makeover.
“I actually just walked in and thought, ‘Oh look, I’ll just pull up the carpets and polish the boards and then that will make all the difference’,” she said in the video.
“Then the more time I spent in here, the more I fell in love with it and the more I thought, ‘I’ve really got to do a great job here, I’ve really got to do her justice’.”
Before she purchased the property, Chrissie would admire it on her daily walk around the neighbourhood.
“I just thought, ‘You’re really cute,’ because I like a bit of a rebel,” she told Domain. “[There are] all the period homes in East Hawthorn, and then there’s this brave mid-century lady.”
The cookbook said she made sure to take her time and to preserve as much of the original features as she could.
“It was really important I didn’t just remove everything that made it unique,” she said. “We’re all too quick to rip everything out and put in something that’s going to be in landfill in six years. It was really important to me that I didn’t do that; I wanted to keep the story but make it brighter.”
She replaced the carpet, gave the walls a fresh coat of paint and even designed the bespoke wallpaper herself.
“I had my Bluetooth speaker and my toolkit, and it was just so lovely to be there,” she said. “It’s really peaceful and quiet and spacious; it was like a little escape for me, physically and mentally.”
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