A few months after interior designer Britt Ross took a break from hunting for the perfect Sydney home, a real estate newsletter listing this one-bedroom apartment appeared in her inbox. She had the keys within the week.

‘[It] sounds cliché, but when I walked in I knew that I loved it. It had the perfect amount of quirky features that it immediately stood out from the sea of beige I was used to viewing,’ she says.

The original blue bathroom and etched glass doors were the main selling points, along with its location down a quiet cul-de-sac — an enviable five-minute walk from the beach.

‘I showed the listing to a friend who said she could imagine me living there in a vintage kimono, listening to Fleetwood Mac,’ says Britt. ‘I think subconsciously this stayed in my mind when I was designing it.’

Over the next four years, Britt slowly transformed the apartment, leaning into the building’s ’60s aesthetic by retaining the original parquet timber floors and injecting colour, texture and patterns at every possible turn.

Soft pastel hues flow through the home, with the peach bedroom leading into a baby blue ensuite. Initially hesitant to wrap these colours from the walls to the popcorn ceiling, Britt soon loved the intimate atmosphere they bring to the room.

‘You’re pretty much colour-drenched as soon as you walk in, and it also creates a little blue pocket that you catch out of the corner of your eye when you’re in the bedroom,’ she says.

The original dolphin-shaped bath spout — a charming feature unique to all the one-bedroom apartments in Britt’s building (‘next door’s is a lion’) — is perfectly at home in this sea of blue.

But colour isn’t the only show-stopper in this apartment. Texture and pattern pop in every space, from the animal print armchair to the psychedelic kitchen bench seat, vintage floral pantry curtain and into the bedroom, where zig-zag carpet runs from the floor to the bedhead.

‘Creating a bespoke rug for the bedroom, then using matching carpet panels to create the headboard, was another way of bringing in an unexpected material… I am in love with the rug-to-headboard flame stitch moment; it was a long process of designing, sampling and waiting, so when it all came together it was very exciting,’ Britt explains.

‘It really gives the room a fun retro vibe — and we can vacuum the headboard to clean, which is such a win!’

This apartment’s charm doesn’t end with its character; it’s also functional — a nonnegotiable considering its 40 square-metre size.

‘[As someone with] A LOT of clothes, storage was a key priority,’ says Britt.

She reconfigured the kitchen to improve functionality, swapping the existing mini fridge for a full-sized integrated fridge-freezer and creating a custom banquette seat with in-built storage for shoes. Another bespoke piece, the pill-shaped dining table, makes the most of the limited footprint, while allowing easy circulation from one space to the next.

In the living room, Britt designed joinery to work hard without making the apartment feel cluttered.

‘I have a severe pet peeve of TVs taking centre stage in a room, but also have the conundrum of loving to watch them,’ says Britt.

She solved this problem by concealing the TV behind pocket doors in the joinery separating the kitchen from the bedroom.

‘Inside, it’s mounted on a bracket that allows us to extend and pivot the TV either way to watch from the banquette or the sofa,’ she explains.

After four years of slowly working away on her one-bedroom abode, Britt says it finally feels like a home.

‘I’m really happy with what we were able to achieve on a small budget,’ she says. ‘Working with the existing layout and being selective about where to spend money meant that relatively small changes could make a huge difference.’

When it comes to working on a home with a storied past, sometimes it’s best to call in the professionals.

This was the case for Bob Beriotto and Rose Antoun, the owners of a unique Petersham apartment within a converted Victorian mansion. The couple had already renovated the bathroom, but with the quirky kitchen and dining room also in need of a makeover, the couple reached out to Without Studio for guidance.

‘This building, Buena Vista, has seen a few different eras,’ Without Studio co-director Mel Hasic says.

‘Originally, it was a late Victorian mansion, which has over time been altered and ultimately repurposed as nine separate apartments.’

The kitchen in Bob and Rose’s apartment is especially unusual, as it sits in place of the mansion’s verandah, complete with grand openings, pillars, and moulding, while the floors reveal an eye-catching geometric pattern of tessellated tiles.

While it’s unclear if the tiles were original or part of the 1920s conversion, this feature played a big part in the home’s old-world charm — something the owners and designers alike were keen to preserve.

The renovation focused on improving the kitchen’s functionality for the family, without drastically altering the existing U-shaped layout.

‘Rose loves to cook, and her freestanding cooktop and oven took pride of place centrally in the kitchen — so this was to remain’, Without Studio co-director Sarah Shinners says.

Retaining the position of the stove, sink, and fridge, the designers introduced new cabinetry that stretches further into the long, narrow room, creating almost two metres of additional marble benchtop space.

The disconnected cabinets along the dividing wall were also replaced with custom, double-sided joinery between the kitchen and dining room. Crafted from durable walnut laminate, the new unit forms a generous pantry, storage and a practical drop zone for shoes, keys and dog leads.

At the client’s request, a sliding door was integrated into this addition, allowing the kitchen to be closed off from the dining area when required.

The new palette offers a beautiful combination of past and present. Vixel tiles from Artedomus line the splashback in a textural mosaic that feels like a contemporary counterpart to the original tiled floors, as the delightful croissant-shaped handles and a brass utility rail add extra character and charm.

After the renovation was complete, Rose and Bob reached out to Without Studio for the final detail: a custom dining table made from oak, and a banquette seat with a tessellated pattern — another subtle nod to the apartment’s tiled flooring.

‘One of the things we love most is that the kitchen feels as though it was always part of the original house. The same is true of the dining area,’ Rose says.

‘We feel that we have created something that will stand the test of time, and hopefully last for another 100 years.’

When Helen and Jack Halliday first saw this 1934 Art Deco home in Balaclava in the late ’90s, they just missed out at auction. Six years later, when the house came back on the market, they didn’t hesitate.

‘We were very disappointed and kicked ourselves for losing such a beautiful house,’ says Helen. ‘When the house came back on the market, we decided to bid for it come hell or high water.’

The couple — former owners of Acland Street institutions Cosmos and Metropolis Bookshop — have now spent the past 20 years making a home here.

‘When we came here, our neighbours on both sides were descendants of the original families, making its history very real to us,’ says Helen.

‘We found an original photo of the family under the floorboards… Still intact, no problems with damp.’

While the previous owners had lovingly restored many of the home’s period features in the early ’90s, adding a new kitchen and bathroom, Helen and Jack also put their own mark on the house: painting the walls in soft tones of limestone green and lilac; upgrading window coverings to ensure they were draught-proof; sealing air vents; and installing an underground water tank.

Although the home has been around for nearly a century, comfort was never compromised. There’s central hydronic panel heating, reverse-cycle air conditioning in the kitchen, a ceiling fan in the hallway, a separate laundry and a security system — all the practicalities of modern life tucked quietly into a home with plenty of old-world charm.

The sense of arrival in this old dame is immediate. A wide entrance opens to a timber-panelled hallway, leading through to generous living spaces punctuated by striking tiled fireplaces in the living, dining and family rooms.

Ample light enters the home from the living room bay windows and the dining room’s glass doors, which open to the backyard garden — a perfect place to spend long summer evenings.

Outside, Helen and Jack also revamped the front garden, planting native grasses, pygmy date palms, sages, eremophila and sedums that bring colour and texture throughout the seasons.

This beloved house has given the couple an enviable combination of history and gardens, as well as easy access to shops and public transport. Now, after two decades, they’ve decided it’s time to downsize, and this beautifully preserved slice of Melbourne history is looking for its next custodian.

2 Albion Street, Balaclava, VIC, 3183 is listed for sale with Skye Jefferys and Sam Paynter from Woodards Elsternwick.

You can learn a lot about an architect from their own family home.

As the new South Yarra residence of Lande Architects co-founding director Lachlan McArdle, Hawksburn House reveals a dialogue between heritage and modernity — a gap the Melbourne-based studio often masterfully bridges in their work.

Situated in a quiet cul‐de‐sac of single‐fronted terraces, the original home was a double-fronted timber block cottage they had initially intended to keep, before retention proved unfeasible.

While making the ‘hard call’ to demolish the existing house left them with a workable blank canvas, it also offered 20 metres of street frontage to fill.

The challenge was deciding how to design the new build in way that still felt at ease within its existing streetscape.

‘A new house in a heritage street can mimic its neighbours or ignore them,’ Lachlan says.

‘We wanted neither. We took the materials of the area, brick, timber and steel, and used them in a contemporary way, so the house feels both new and familiar.’

To avoid creating an imposing block, the new facade is deliberately broken down with varied set backs and curves, featuring cream-coloured Krause Bricks, customised for the sculptural articulation.

The front fence also stretches across only part of the boundary, leaving room for existing birch trees and foliage that softens the home’s interaction with the street.

This sophisticated conversation between past and present continues inside. Timber lined-windows adds warmth to the robust brickwork, serving as a ‘filter’ between inside and out, as sliding glass doors frame garden views across the open-plan living space.

Lachlan says the focus was on using a small number of quality materials that will develop a beautiful patina over time, rather than date.

Natural stone is a reoccurring motif throughout the interiors, uniting the kitchen, pantry, laundry and bathrooms; Manetti tobacco terracotta tiles feature underfoot; as timber flooring transitions to green carpet in the upstairs spaces.

It’s a forward-thinking house in more ways than one. It has room for the family to grow into, with spaces that accomodate young children now and teenagers later. And for all its contemporary appeal, the building still feels like it ‘belongs’ in the street.

Archterra lead architect Paul O’Reilly had long dreamed of a client who shared his vision for a thoughtfully detailed, compact, energy-efficient home with clever passive solar design, all for the price of a project home.

But when that dream client failed to materialise, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

‘As I’ve got older, I’ve become hyper aware of the waste and excess that humans seem so attached to and felt a bit driven to express my thoughts on how to address this in a small way.’

In 2019, Paul purchased a parcel of land just a stone’s throw from the centre of Margaret River. The site, uniquely positioned between a landscaped reserve tracing the route of an old logging railway line and a protected bushland reserve, offered an enviable balance of proximity to both nature and amenities.

Today, the corner block is home to his sustainable-meets-accessible design vision, dubbed Sibling Houses: one is Paul’s own residence, and the other a testing ground for small-home design.

Built side by side, the two 98-square-metre dwellings share the same pared-back, boxy floor plan. Repeating the same footprint helped streamline the build, bringing the construction cost of each dwelling to $294,000 (pre-COVID price increases).

Their differences lie in the finer details, with variations in elevation and materiality giving each home its own distinct character.

‘Where it’s normal to just cookie-cut the same elevations, we’ve treated these differently in roof pitch and exterior materials selections,’ Paul says of the differences between the houses.

While House 1 is wrapped in galvanised custom orb (corrugated tin) — which reflects dancing blue, green and pink hues at different times of the day — House 2 features an organic mottled look thanks to its durable and cost-effective grey cement sheet cladding.

‘The flatness of the sheet is articulated with a spotted gum batten at the vertical joints and at random centres so that as the sun tracks across the sky the shadow formed at the battens grows and shrinks and makes the elevations appear dynamic,’ Paul explains.

Inside, the homes are predominantly painted plasterboard for cost efficiency, but each dwelling also features a unique material palette for warmth and texture: plywood ceilings in House 1, and rammed earth walls in House 2.

‘In terms of cost-driven compromises, I had initially wanted to have rammed earth in both houses but had to drop this back to just House 2, where it forms a fire-rated and acoustic wall on the boundary, so it’s performing a few roles and maximising my investment there,’ he says.

The property also sits alongside the Wadandi Track, creating opportunities for Paul to chat with passing locals about more sustainable ways of building.

While features such as LED lighting, heat-pump hot water systems and solar panels are, in his view, becoming standard practice, Paul believes a home’s greatest sustainability measure comes down to its size. For him, building smaller is one of the most meaningful ways to reduce a home’s environmental footprint.

‘I think we still miss the mark on the whole, with houses that are way too large for what we actually need,’ he explains.

‘If you can get your head around building a house that is half the size of what you think you need, then you’ve potentially saved half of those carbon-intensive resources from being mined, cut down, manufactured, transported and so on. I believe that’s where true sustainability starts to take shape nowadays.’

Paul is optimistic about the potential to make everyday homes more energy efficient without adding significantly to the cost of construction. While there’s no shortage of high-tech solutions promising better performance, he believes the fundamentals of good design are what make the biggest difference.

‘There is a lot of hype about technology to make your house energy efficient these days, and the reality is that correct solar orientation, thermal mass, insulation, glazing location and size, ventilation and appropriate shading are the key principles to address,’ he explains.

‘With those nailed, you’ll be fine, and there’s no reason for them to add any cost to the price of a house.’

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For Not All Architecture, environmentally conscious design starts with scaling down a home’s carbon footprint.

And one of the best ways to achieve this, is simply by scaling down a home’s size.

Pandora House is a project that perfectly captures this ethos, on an especially personal level – being the home of practice co-founders Phoebe Clarke and Tim Stelzer.

‘Initially, this house was a run-down rental that I bought with my sister; then Tim and I decided to make it our family home with this renovation. We have then recently sold it to my mother as a downsizer,’ Phoebe says.

Located in the coastal town of Jan Juc, the property started as an old weatherboard, with pokey rooms and a legacy of poor renovations that Phoebe recognised as rather typical of a 1980s beach shack.

However, the silver lining of the 100-square-metre floorplan was that it offered a large garden, and the modest scale felt inextricably linked to the home’s nostalgic character — two things Phoebe and Tim were keen to maintain.

‘We decided to work with the existing footprint; partly because this is our design philosophy of the practice, to design small, considered spaces that are a joy to live in; but also, to focus on quality over quantity,’ she adds.

‘We used this as an opportunity to prove living in a small house is not a compromise!’

The renovation focused on improving every inch of the house, from the building envelope’s thermal performance to replacing existing materials with high-quality, sustainable alternatives.

This included installing all-electric appliances and solar panels, while expansive new blackbutt timber joinery enhanced the functionality of the ‘clutter free’ kitchen and living space.

In transforming the dark and pokey lay out, custom sliding glass doors were were introduced along the length of the living area — allowing the heart of the home to serve as an indoor-outdoor space when the doors pull back, opening to the elevated deck that hovers over the backyard.

‘We were influenced by Japanese timber detailing, this informed the large sliding doors that create a “window wall”,’ Phoebe says.

‘It didn’t feel like we had neighbours at all. The glow of the foliage in the morning through the windows feels like you are deep in the Otway forest.’

The bathroom was also consolidated with the laundry to create a more generous space, with the washing machine concealed behind bi-fold flush doors. Port Fairy bluestone features across the sunken bath, which also doubles as a shower.

And it’s all hidden away behind an assuming weatherboard facade. But once you walk across the timber entry bridge, through the foliage, and step inside, you’re transported a world away.

‘Spend on what you see, save where you don’t.’

This simple mantra is the driving force behind Fliplab, an Australian brand that’s offering a cost-effective alternative to custom joinery.

Founded by former Laminex Australia executive Sacha Leagh-Murray, the local business creates doors, drawer fronts, and panels designed to be fitted with modular cabinetry systems for kitchens, laundries, wardrobes, and more.

‘At Laminex, I saw how much people cared about the colour, material and detail of their joinery, but also how hard it could be to get the result they imagined within their budget,’ Sacha says.

As costs of construction, labour, and materials continue to rise, custom joinery often comes with a hefty price tag, while the standard flat-pack options are limiting in terms of style and design.

Having first seen brands designing custom fronts for cabinetry in Europe more than a decade ago, Sacha was inspired to fill the gap in the market locally — using exclusively Australian-made surfaces from industry leaders like Laminex and Polytec.

It’s a clever strategy for those wanting to personalise their cabinetry, without having to commission every component from scratch.

‘You can buy the cabinet boxes from IKEA or Bunnings without buying their doors and drawer fronts. That’s the starting point for many of our customers: they use the modular cabinets for the layout, then choose Fliplab doors, drawer fronts and panels for the finished look,’ Sacha says.

‘It means the budget goes towards the materials, colour and details they will see and touch every day. There are options at different price points, so someone can keep things simple with a flat front or make a bigger design statement with a painted profile.’

There are plenty of profiles and finishes on offer, ranging from shaker-style cabinetry, contemporary scalloped fronts in a woodgrain finish, or bold coloured doors.

For a small kitchen, prices for Fliplab doors, drawer fronts, and panels start at about $2000–$5000, while fitting out a larger kitchen typically starts at about $6000.

‘We have recently had a customer order our doors for wardrobes across four bedrooms in her Perth renovation, saving thousands of dollars compared to customised robes,’ Sacha says.

To simplify the process, customers can also visit Fliplab’s interactive Melbourne showroom where interior design specialists are on hand to advise on materials and finishes.

With free online design consultations and shipping available Australia-wide, Fliplab has already worked on projects big and small across the country.

‘Seeing a customer’s ideas become a real space is the best part,’ Sacha adds.

‘People often arrive with a collection of references and a sense of how they want the room to feel, but they’re unsure how to put it together. It feels wonderful to know that a choice we made together has become part of their everyday home.’

Create cabinetry that feels like yours with Fliplab. Enquire online, book a virtual consultation or visit the Melbourne showroom to explore profiles, colours and finishes.

Rather than resisting the slope of this Balwyn North property, Clare Cousins Architects embraced it.

The result is a home that gently follows the natural fall of the land, with a series of spaces stepping down towards the lush reserve beyond.

‘Rather than impose conventional storeys, we allowed the house to follow the land,’ says Clare Cousins, director of Clare Cousins Architects.

‘Four principal floorplates and two smaller mezzanines are arranged beneath a single sloping roof, all connected by a long stair that forms the circulation spine,’ she explains.

It’s a quiet architectural move, but one that has shaped almost every aspect of the house — from its relationship with the garden, to the way the family moves through the home.

The homeowners, a family of four, had recently swapped the density of Hong Kong apartment living for the leafy streets of Balwyn North. While their new suburb offered plenty of greenery and a convenient location, the existing house on the site wasn’t quite suited to their new way of life.

There was little connection to the garden or reserve, the entry felt awkward, and the closely positioned neighbouring homes meant privacy was in short supply.

For Clare Cousins Architects, the new design became an opportunity to create a stronger connection with nature — not just at the rear of the house, but throughout it.

Internal courtyards, skylights, side openings and elevated windows introduce different qualities of natural light, while the northern garden brings greenery deep into the plan.

‘One memorable part of the brief was the desire to encourage their sons out of their bedrooms after becoming accustomed to retreating into them during apartment living and the pandemic,’ Clare recalls.

‘[The courtyards] bring variation in outlook, privacy and atmosphere while allowing family members to retreat without feeling disconnected from one another,’ Clare explains.

These pockets of greenery give the family something the original house struggled to provide: privacy without isolation.

The home’s design takes cues from Balwyn North’s post-war housing, but doesn’t attempt to recreate the mid-century aesthetic. Instead, Clare borrowed some of its qualities — restraint, practicality and a strong relationship with the garden — and reinterpreted them for a contemporary family home.

The material palette is similarly restrained: brick, timber, polished concrete, stainless steel and limed cork. The muted colours and tactile finishes give the house a sense of warmth without visual noise, and create a serene backdrop for the greenery outside. As the seasons change, the garden brings its own shifting colours and textures into each room.

The most unexpected gesture is at the front of the house, where the existing fence has been removed altogether. In its place, careful planting and a recessed entry subtly define the boundary between the home and the street.

‘Without a front fence, the native garden can visually extend the landscape of the street and feels more like something shared with the neighbourhood,’ says Clare.

‘It is a relatively small gesture, but we think houses have a responsibility to consider what they contribute to the public realm as well as what happens within their own boundaries.’

It’s a sentiment that sums up not only this home, but Clare Cousins’ enduring approach to residential architecture more broadly – restrained, self-effacing, yet quietly, consistently excellent.

Beci Orpin knows exactly how long she’s lived in her Brunswick West home — she only needs to look at her youngest son.

Ari was just three days old when the multidisciplinary designer and artist and her husband, ‘food truck boss’ Raph Rashid, attended the 2007 auction for this Victorian house with a converted shopfront, where they’ve resided ever since.

‘This house was much bigger than anything else we looked at and quite unique: a terrace house, but not your usual ornate style, with a utilitarian shopfront right on the street,’ says Beci.

‘Because of its uniqueness, we hoped it wouldn’t appeal to as many people and was the one for us. We pulled out all the stops to win the auction.’

Beci laughs about it now, but at the time, buying a house in Brunswick West after years of apartment renting in Melbourne’s inner east felt like moving to the ‘deep burbs.’

She explains, ‘I’d never lived more than a few kilometres from the city and this was a whole six kilometres! In retrospect, that’s ridiculous, and it now feels very inner city.’

The couple and their young sons — Tyke, now 22, and Ari, now 18 — quickly built a community in the area, largely thanks to their original neighbours, Nina and Dom, whose late parents previously owned Beci and Raph’s home.

‘They were a big Italian family — the backyards were joined and it almost operated as one big house,’ says Beci.

‘Our house was the “factory” where all the passata, salami and wine was made… The shed came with a wine vat and lots of salami hooks on the roof!’

In the early years of living here, Beci and Raph ran their respective businesses from home, while raising their young family. They mostly made do with their home’s many quirks, until it was finally time for an extensive renovation.

‘The journey to our current renovation is a long one — strap in!’ says Beci.

After some initial updates to the flooring and bathroom, they wanted a more functional home created with the help of an architect, but could never find the right fit.

That was before their main bedroom ceiling collapsed, forcing immediate works upstairs designed by Murray Barker, including replastering, painting, adding new windows with double glazing.

These urgent works were undertaken mid-COVID, and by their completion, lockdowns had dramatically impacted both construction prices and the way the family used their home.

Beci explains, ‘Our kids were bigger and more independent, so we decided to pull the pin on anything structural or expansive.

‘We still wanted the house to be more functional. Our kitchen had been slowly falling apart and we had been pretty much cooking outside for a good part of five years.

‘Plus there was the maintenance required of a 140-year-old house, which we had neglected because we were always on the verge of renovating.’

Rather than a full-scope architectural extension, Beci and Raph discovered a middle ground in Julian Patterson — co-owner of Mr Kitly and a registered architect — who designed them a simple but functional floor plan within the home’s existing footprint. They also engaged builder Jobe Homes.

‘It was exactly what we needed,’ says Beci. ‘Once we got the drawings from Julian, we did everything else.’

Over the next 12 months, the kitchen and dining areas were rebuilt, a study nook created, and the laundry became a butler’s pantry. A new powder room was added downstairs, as well as a new bathroom with a separate toilet upstairs across a reconfigured floor plan.

‘We were also able to install lots of cabinetry, new flooring, open up the back of the house to let more light in, redo the outdoor kitchen, and do all the maintenance the house needed,’ says Beci.

A natural creative, Beci took on the role of interior designer, selecting all the fixtures and finishes for the house.

‘I wanted it to be an ode to its Italian heritage, but also lean into the utilitarian Victorian side of the house,’ Beci says.

She admits the process was ‘terrifying’ at times, often resulting in frantic text messages to stylish friends, including Ben Mooney who runs Ma House Supply Store in Collingwood.

‘He kept telling me, “You won’t make a mistake!” I didn’t believe him but it was nice to hear from someone whose taste I trust so much,’ Beci says.

Italian influences are evident in the vintage Murano light fixtures (bought at auction from Leonard Joel), and the 1950s bathroom fittings, which Beci purchased via Facebook Marketplace and had re-enamelled in mint green.

‘It turned out to be quite expensive,’ Beci says. ‘I think the sink and bath were $50 each, but it was $1500 for the enamel… Still cheaper than buying them new though!’

The very last thing to go in was the Palladiana terrazzo kitchen benchtop made with stone offcuts over a six-month period with Breccia Stone & Terrazzo, featuring flecks of olive, sage green, rich purple and charcoal.

The whole project came together with a skilled team of tradespeople, as well as Raph, who took on some jobs to help keep costs down. ‘Jake from Kobra Tiling did such an amazing job, as did Softer Studio with the cabinets. It’s such a joy to work with people who are so passionate about what they do.’

Beci and Raph don’t know what the future holds, but with more room to move, they’re hoping Tyke and Ari stick around a little longer. ‘But even if they are not here it will still feel like a good amount of space for just Raph and me (and our British Shorthair cat, Chip!)’

Beci adds, ‘We are now so glad we didn’t extend the footprint of the house. It feels modest compared to some other renovations, but there is plenty of room for us and guests. Also, the 18-year wait made us love the new house 100 times more.’

An edited version of this story originally appeared in The Design Files Magazine Issue 04. Subscribe to the biannual print magazine here.

Without Studios co-creative director, Sarah Shinners

In addition to all the work I’m doing with my co-creative director Mel Hasic, I’m currently shopping for pieces for my daughter’s room. I’ve had my eye on the Puffy bench from HK Living for her, as well as the Rowena Pillow with its ridiculously oversized ruffle that makes me smile every time I see it.

This washable Glade Moss Washable Wool Rug from Double Studio would also be super fun in there and so practical!

With the warmer weather bringing us outside, I’ve been keeping my eye out for outdoor tables — the Sail Table from Design By Them has that little flirty folded edge detail that brings just enough quirk alongside its otherwise sleek simplicity.

Studio Isaza director, Jana Isaza-Smith

I’m currently hunting for more art and lighting. Layered lighting from multiple sources in a room makes a big impact on how a room feels and the quality of a space, while art brings in so much personality.

One of my favourite artists right now is Charlotte Ghaie. Her work is ethereal and beautiful, there is something so serene about her Dancefloor piece, and I love that it could sit just as comfortably in a traditional interior as it could in a contemporary one.

The Volker Haag Anton lamp in blue — I am obsessed with these sconces. They feel luxurious and bring a touch of glamour. I also think the Ingo Maurer Floatation Suspension Lamp is iconic, it feels almost like a piece of art in its own right, while casting beautiful ambient light through a room.

BY R.A director, Jessica Bettenay

We’re currently completing quite a few whole-house decorating projects, so we’re on the hunt for pieces for the entire home. Whether you’re completing a single room or an entire residence, the key to spaces that are uniquely yours is getting the mix of pieces right!

For rugs, Hali has a brilliant range of styles and price points, simple or decorative, modern or traditional. We’ve also selected the new Etta Sofa by Jardan for a seaside residence we’re working on — the high back is a welcome return to proper lounging, as sofas have had low backs for far too long!

To me, lighting makes or breaks a home. We always encourage clients to set a healthy lighting budget, and I love the Rein Drape Pendant from Articolo — a brand whose craftsmanship I’ve long admired.

Fieldroom director, Ryan McGregor

At Fieldroom, we work across residential, retail, and commercial interiors, so the homewares we’re looking for are always changing.

I grew up on the coast and, deep down, I’m still a big old surf kid. I’m always drawn to sculptural pieces and objects that feel almost as though they could have washed up on the shoreline — and the de Sede DS-1025 Terrazza Sofa from DOMO immediately makes me think of rolling sand dunes.

The Open Span Lampshade by Georgina Davies is another absolute favourite. It has such a feather-like presence, but once it’s suspended overhead, it becomes this beautiful sculptural moment.

If you know me, you know I’m a huge scent person. The Scallop Incense Holder by Corey Ashford is particularly close to my heart; it reminds me of growing up, and it was also part of our wedding day, so it has that extra layer of meaning.

Studio Shields principal + founder, Ruby Shields

Maybe it’s the smell of jasmine filling the air in the hills, or the rising level of stress that 2026 is nearly over, but I’ve found myself returning to my childhood obsession with fairies, folklore and whimsical things.

I’ve had my eyes on this Lilach Mileikowski piece, I’m drawn to the weirdness yet mythicalness of the creatures.

I also love diversity: something nostalgic, like the vintage Isparta Rug from Loom, sitting alongside something completely contemporary, like the Bark Stool by Studio Kaytar. Australian design mixed with international pieces, vintage with new, earthy brown with a punch of lime green. Those unexpected combinations are what make an interior feel alive to me.

Studio Doherty director, Mardi Doherty

We’re always shopping for pieces that have a strong sense of craftsmanship and character — homewares that can sit comfortably within a room but still have enough personality to become a point of interest.

I’m particularly drawn to sculptural lighting and furniture with beautiful, unexpected forms — pieces that can almost act as artworks within an interior. The A_N_D Pace Pendant is a beautiful and unusual pendant that we can see in a future project’s powder room.

We’re also loving the Overtone Speaker by Thomas Guida. The form is so delicious, and I’ve heard the sound quality is excellent too.

Studio A.mi director, Anouska Milstein

I’m always on the hunt for sculptural pieces that are eye-grabbing, interesting and timeless, and that will complement my already semi-ridiculous amount of belongings.

The Tiger Lightning Bolt Rug is OTT; I am obsessed, and admittedly, it’s way beyond my pay grade. Consider this notice of me seeking a client interested in it for their home.

I’ve wanted a vase by Gaetano Pesce. vase for about 15 years. I just simply cannot decide on the shape or colourway I want for my home…

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