Karlie Verkerk: MasterChef Secrets, Building an Outdoor Kitchen & Why Bouclé Has to Go

After decades spent thinking deeply about food, beauty and family, Karlie Verkerk has finally built a home that reflects all three. 

In this episode of The Edit, Karlie joins Home Beautiful Editor Elle Lovelock from her Northern Rivers home to talk about the many moves that brought her family here - from inner-city Sydney to the Blue Mountains, Singapore and finally the coast, and what each place taught her about what she really wanted from a home. 

She also shares the story behind FIN, the world's first food fragrance she's just launched with her husband James, why she went on MasterChef and kept it secret for months, and the outdoor kitchen built from recycled bricks that's slowly becoming the heart of the house. 

Plus, the renovation mistake she and James made under cover of darkness. Hint: it involved a tin of paint, a washroom, and very misplaced optimism about the colour yellow. 

Warning: If you have boucle items at home, this episode could be triggering! 

This episode covers: 

• Karlie Verkerk's Northern Rivers home tour 

• Moving from Singapore to the Australian coast with young kids 

• Going on MasterChef and keeping it a secret 

• Launching FIN, the world's first food fragrance 

• Building an outdoor kitchen with recycled bricks and Facebook Marketplace finds 

• Cooking over fire and wood-kissed flavours 

• How to transform a small courtyard for entertaining 

• Collecting art as a couple and what it means to inherit a collection 

• Raising kids with an eye for art 

• Why cooking is Karlie's greatest source of calm 

• The butter yellow bathroom disaster 

• What homemaker means in 2026 

• What makes a home beautiful 
• The soundtrack of Karlie & James' lives: https://bremermccoy.com/
• Karlie & James' Fin Food Fragrance: https://www.finfragrance.com/
• Karlie's recipes on Home Beautiful: https://www.homebeautiful.com.au/author/karlie-verkerk/

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Credits:  

Host: Elle Lovelock 

Guest: Karlie Verkerk 

Supervising Producer: Leah Porges 

Head of Vodcasting: Rachel Fountain 

With thanks to our wonderful Home Beautiful team. 

The Edit is a production of Home Beautiful and Are Media: https://www.homebeautiful.com.au/home-beautiful-the-edit-podcast/  

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