House Eight in TH Brown’s In Residence series
A soft place to land
Some homes are bought because they tick the boxes.
Some are chosen because they make sense.
And then there are the homes that become something more over time.
When Marina first bought this Patterson Lakes townhouse, the reasons were practical enough. It was within reach financially. It was close to her parents. It had the right number of bedrooms. But practicality was only part of the story. There was something else here too, an energy, a feeling, something less measurable but just as real. Her brother walked in and said, “I feel like we’re going to have some good times here.” Looking back, that instinct feels exactly right.
Because what Marina has made here is not just a house.
It is a soft place to land.
After coming out of a marriage, Marina began again here with almost nothing. Since then, she has chosen everything herself: the kitchen, the bathrooms, the tiles, the floorboards, the furniture, the art, the plants, the atmosphere of the rooms. She says it herself: “I feel like I’ve become who I really am in this house.” That line sits at the heart of the story. This is the home where she rebuilt her life and learned to trust her own style.
What she wanted was never perfection. She wanted softness. Safety. Warmth. She wanted a home where her daughter and her friends could spill into easily, where girlfriends could turn up and unload the week, and where people could sit down, exhale and feel welcome. Not a show home. A real one.
That intention runs through every room, and so do the plants.
What began as a hobby after Marina moved in has become something much more. The plants are not there simply to decorate the space. They have become part of this new chapter, and part of what gives the home its softness, calm and life. They climb, gather and soften the edges of the rooms, making the house feel warmer and more lived in. In the photos, they are everywhere, and that feels exactly right. This is a home that has grown around the things Marina loves.
Her daughter’s room is full of collections and colour. There is a spare room ready for sleepovers. There are prints and artworks gathered through travel and everyday life, chosen not because Marina can recite their provenance, but because they spoke to her. “I just like things, and I buy them,” she says. But that instinct is more thoughtful than it sounds. Every object here has earned its place.
The clearest example of that is the TH Brown Aquarius Coffee Table. It was the first piece Marina bought for the house, and in many ways the room grew from there. She knew this living space would be the heart of the home, so she searched until she found the piece that gave her what a friend calls “the butterflies.” The Aquarius did exactly that. She bought it before almost anything else and has never regretted it. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought with my money,” she says. “I absolutely love it.”
What she responded to first was the feeling of it. Then came everything else: the curves, the whimsy, the way it stood apart from anything else she could find, the fact that it was built to last. Once it was in place, the rest of the space began to make sense. The curves in the TV unit. The round side tables. The greenery around it. The way people end up sitting on the floor beside it over platters, wine and conversation. It did not just fill a space. It set the tone for one.
That is what makes Marina’s Patterson Lakes home so compelling. It is not finished. There are still things to fix, change and grow into. But it already feels deeply true to the life being lived inside it. Not because everything is perfect, but because it has been made honestly.
This is not a house built around perfection.
It is a house built around repair.
And that is what makes it so moving.
Explore more from our In Residence series.
Photography by Georgina Egan
