Toby Allen tries to avoid the "pop start" lifestyle. Sure, he maybe a member of Australia's most successful All-male band, Human Nature, but the 26 year old say's he's happiest just hanging out at his innner-Sydney home with his flatmate and dogs, Napoleon and Josephine. NW hung out with him for a day to see if that was true.
Something everyone who visits his home notices is that everything matches his pets. "It's funny. Everyone laughs and says that the black and white blends with the dogs!"
Toby says on of the best things about moving into the inner-city apartment was that he could bring his beloved Napoleon and Josephine back from his mother's house in Canberra. Like a proud Father he dotes on them, and they adore the attention. Yelping and barking when anyone new walks into thier home, they certainly let you know who's boss. "They're great companions," Toby says fondly. "I've had Napoleon for a while longer than Josephine, so he's settled down a lot more than she has. But they still like people to know this is thier space."
A few months ago this would have been difficult, as Toby's former house was severely damaged during last April's violent hailstrom. Frist, his windows were smashed in and, as Toby was cleaning up that mess, his bed room celling collapsed.
"That pretty much forced me to end up in this place," he says "I moved around from place to place for a while after the storm. But eventually I had to find something that could be my own, so I could be surrounded by my own things again."
One concession to thier master's fame is that the dogs get to have special weekends away, which Toby say they love. "Every now and then they go for little doggie breaks," he explains. "This weekend they're both going down to doggie paradise (at a luxury dog hotel), which is just better treatment than sending them to a kennel or something like that."
These include a wide selection of modern black and white furniture that Toby says he's been saving for him "dream home". "It's been a mission to collect. They're all classic things, but i went throught a phese with different stuff, so it's been a real challenge."
With everything black and white, the only colour comes from Lichtenstein-style pop art prints on the walls, and flowers on the glass coffee table. But, sooner or later Toby saya he'll get around to hanging his platinum and gold albums, as well. "At the moment they're not up, but, hopefully oneday I'll have a shrine to my music," he says "It's always great to look at, sit back and think that this is what we've done."