Design Anatomy
Welcome to Design Anatomy, where we examine the world of interiors and design. With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled, and lived-in spaces, Bree Banfield and Lauren Li are excited to share their insights and inspiration with you.
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Design Anatomy
Metricon's New Lookbook: Designs & Styles For Real Families
Step behind the scenes of Australia’s most-walked display homes with Metricon’s National Display Home and Studio M retail manager, Lisa Goodsall. We dive into how a massive plan library, real customer feedback, and years of display learnings distilled into Metricon's New Lookbook that actually makes styling choices easier. Instead of boxing people into rigid labels, the Metricon's Lookbook offers clear style families—think Palm Springs, Japandi, Nordic, Coastal Luxe and an evolving Australian Hamptons—each with flexible expressions so you can mix, match and still keep a cohesive story throughout your home.
We unpack the everyday forces shaping design in Australia: climate that begs for indoor–outdoor flow, smaller blocks that demand multi-use rooms, and livability updates that make aging in place more realistic without sacrificing aesthetics. Lisa shares how home theatres now double as wellness or study spaces, why outdoor kitchens are becoming full outdoor living zones, and how cultural diversity drives planning choices like prayer rooms and adaptable layouts. You’ll hear how styling can make or break a great floor plan, why over-staging turns people off, and the simple cues—texture, light, circulation—that help a space feel calm, warm and real.
There’s room for nostalgia too. Hamptons hasn’t disappeared; it’s softened into a breezier, coastal take that feels distinctly Australian. Mid-century’s comeback makes sense when you combine clean lines with liveable materials and human-scale comfort. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by too many floor plans or finish options, this conversation offers a practical path forward: use a shared language, choose a flexible lane, and let Metricon's New Lookbook guide you to confident, enduring choices that suit your region, routines and budget.
Check out the Metricon Look Book 'Inspired by life, created for living' below:
https://www.metricon.com.au/lookbook
Metricon on Instagram:
@metriconhomes
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Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design podcast hosted by friends and fellow designers, me, Lauren LI, and me, Bree Banfield, with some amazing guest appearances along the way.
Speaker 3:We're here to break down everything from current trends to timeless style.
Speaker 1:With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled, and lived-in spaces, we're excited to share our insights and inspirations with you.
Speaker 3:Yes, and in this episode, we are getting a look behind the curtain of what it's like to shape the way Australians live or how they aspire to live in their homes. We've got a special guest today, haven't we, Lauren?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is Lisa. Hi Lisa.
Speaker 3:Hi. Hey Lisa.
Speaker 1:And it's very likely that you have been in one of their homes, or maybe you even live in one. Their ethos is love where you live, which is something that we believe in wholeheartedly as well. They are hugely influential in how Australians live in their homes every day. Their homes celebrate family life and we love that. So, yes, it is Australia's favourite volume builder, Metricon. So today we are talking to Lisa Goodsall, the National Display Home and Studio M retail manager at Metricon. Welcome, Lisa. Hi, thank you for having me. Thanks for being here. Um yeah, I mean, it's pretty incredible when you think about, you know, the impact of a volume builder like Metricon has just on the Australian landscape as a whole. And, you know, I think it is pretty fair to say if we haven't been in a Metricon home, we definitely know of Metricon. So I guess to get started, I'd just be curious, like from your background, how did you, what's your role in Metricon and how did you sort of move into that role?
Speaker:Yeah, so I lead the Studio M retail um retail team and oversee the design direction for um, I think we've got 150 displays open nationally at the moment. So, and that's constantly growing across four states South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and of course Queensland. My role connects design with with our customers and how they truly live. So it's a connection between our displays and and our studio and showrooms. And I've been here for a long time, 22 years yesterday, actually. Oh wow. Congratulations. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. So I mean, I think I just I just love the building industry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right. How did you find your way into Metricon?
Speaker:I started in um with another builder and and I was there for about five, six years and realized that I actually did love the building industry. I loved, I loved everything about the building industry. Um and then I moved across to Metricon and I was really focused on the customer service side to start with. And then, you know, that just evolved. Always had a love and passion for design and and interior design. But I I really just I really focused in on that connection of you know what we can do and what you know amazing designers can do, but how how do we deliver that for our customers? Uh so that's where I landed between in this role that really is the connection.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's so interesting because it what what I want to get into in our chat is how your designs can really impact how Australians live in their home. Um so yeah, I think the the thing with Metricon, and it's quite mind-blowing that you've got 150 display homes around Australia. And that's so much. That's just wild. Um and what um what we're quite interested to know is this um new sort of lookbook that you guys are currently working on. And it's like a Bible of different styles. So it's like the lookbook, it and am I right to say it pulls together some of the most popular styles that your customers around Australia are loving? So that must be such a fulfilling project to work on. How do you develop those styles?
Speaker:Yeah, I think I think the whole thing is rewarding when you're looking at you know what we do and and how designs come to life, how they inspire. The lookbook, and actually our Metricon lookbook, it it starts really with a lot of local and um global trend forecasting. So we start to try and identify what do Australians love, how do Australians live? Um, and then each each look is a collaboration, not just with our interior design team, but um with our architectural designers as well, given that um, you know, we work so closely. So, and then we we go through, we combine, you know, fresh trends, we look at what what else is timeless out there and how how are we going to bring that that enduring style through to our customers.
Speaker 1:So um how and how did you just still all of those before we started recording? You mentioned you've got like 350 different styles or something.
Speaker:350 different sort of floor plans and and and designs. Um, yeah. And then our current lookbook that that we have at the moment, I I don't I couldn't even give you the number of different images over there. There that's been collated over, you know, 15 odd years of presenting display homes. And we've had some amazing award-winning homes out there over the time. So what we've done is we've come up with our um new 2026 lookbook, and I think we've got eight or nine overarching headstyles, and then underneath that we've got about 19 or 20 expressions, is what we're calling that. And yeah, I mean, because it's confusing. You ladies both know out there and you're seeing customers and um clients all the time. It's just so confusing for somebody to try, I guess, pigeonhole what style they are. Yeah, yeah. And a lookbook is designed, you don't need to be pigeonholed, it has to be authentic to you as well.
Speaker 3:And probably the location. That's so important. Yeah, for sure. Like, because not all Australians live exactly the same way. I mean, there's definitely some, I guess, common things that Australians tend to do, which is probably outdoor living is probably one of the big things that connecting indoor and outdoor. But we all kind of have different lives and different family setups, and and that can change just depending on where you live as well. Are there particular looks that you know resonate well with different cities in Australia?
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, some styles just naturally align with the geographic area or um or the demographic area that they are, you know, coastal, obviously, you know, it's no surprise that really resonates with Queenslanders, but you know, Nordic and Japandy um are really resonating, and we're seeing a lot of that through our South Australian and our Victorian, um, through our Victorian customers.
Speaker 1:Okay. I think that's so fascinating, just regionally, what what styles people are gravitating to. And, you know, it is so interesting as you say, people Brie and I, and probably yourself, Lisa, definitely. We live in a lovely little design bubble. We live and breathe it, we think about it all the time.
Speaker 3:So true.
Speaker 1:But you know, your average Australian, whatever that means. Probably not. So it's when you ask clients, like if I have clients I work with, they don't know what style they they like. That's what they've come to me for to figure that out. So it might, it must be, it must be great to be able to pull together those key looks, those key styles. And then you've got um those other expressions as well. Because I think it's that thing where what is it? It's like, uh, have you ever stood like at the tomato sauce aisle? I just want tomato sauce. I don't need a 50 different varieties. I'm looking at them all and I just walk away because I can't even decide. Like, and it could be like that with all the houses. If you go onto the website and there's 350 different houses, you can't even, you don't even know where to start. So is that is that part of the reason why that is tomato sauce as the random reference.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm a little bit I'm a bit chocolate sauce. I was just trying to picture myself standing at the tomato sauce aisle and trying to gauge what I am. I'm like not so sure. Maybe if I was selecting olives, I might be a bit more confused.
Speaker 1:But um But I think the thing is I don't have a tr I don't have a problem choosing the right chocolate biscuits. I know which ones I like. But tomato sauce.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. I don't know. Because you don't know enough about it. Is that what you're sort of saying?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I really don't know what I'm talking about.
Speaker:But even as an experienced, even as an experienced designer, do you still have do you still have do you still struggle to select certain items?
Speaker 3:I do. Yeah. For myself, I would. Probably not as much for other people. I think we've we've talked about this before. For some reason, when it comes to my own um design, I find that quite difficult to decide. But I think if I was someone who didn't know a lot about it, and maybe they're just starting, like let's say they've come to you, they know they want to build a home, they're only really just starting to look at things and and they only knew kind of this much, like a tiny, a tiny amount. And then they realize there's so much more to choose from. And then it becomes so important for them to work out what they like because they can get overwhelmed with that, right? And then go down a path that actually isn't really them, but they just hadn't seen it before and maybe they do like it.
Speaker:So yeah, yeah. And that's where the lookbook is important because it really empowers our customers and gives them confidence in their selections because they come in, they think they know what they want. They've done hours and hours of research. We all do that every night, don't we? We're all spending on you know social media and everywhere else. And they think they know what they want, but then there's something that's just not quite fitting into you know the square box for them. So our lookbook is designed to give them the confidence that this is their style. But you know, there's all these other expressions underneath these styles. And you don't have to fit into one box. You you you might cross over a couple of different paths. So the lookbook is kind of like a guideline for them when they come in.
Speaker 1:I can see that it would be so useful because you're right. We we could say, Oh, I I like the aspects of this style here, but then I also like the way that this one has the da da da. So not everyone's gonna just want to pick from 10 different types. You've got to it's a good way to explain.
Speaker 3:But it sort of allows a level of customization, doesn't it? Oh, I mean, you know, like within the yeah, yeah, the look you want. Yeah.
Speaker:It gives them that confidence, as I said, but it's also, you know, here's here's a lot of in, you know, we've got a they're quite curated enduring styles. Um, but you've got your own personal style. And that personal style is what extracted from travel, family, geographic, demographic. So it it really just it, you know, doesn't give them a guideline. It hits like a loop, it's like a loose lane, isn't it? And then um they're they're confident when they walk out that they haven't gone, you know, too rogue, I guess, in in their decision, and that and they take and they take the confidence that you know our experts know what they're doing and they follow this look bulk. So the end result is gonna be um exactly what they're after.
Speaker 3:And do they do you start um before they even come in? As you said, they're doing a lot of research. Do you sort of point them into the lookbook beforehand and say, have a look, see, you know, what kind of resonates with you so that they have a starting point when they come in?
Speaker:Yeah, yeah. I mean, the first point of contact could be the website where um where our lookbook 2026 is going to sit. So that'll be a great resource. Display visitation, um, where you can really see all the inspiration across these 150 homes.
Speaker 3:I'm kind of excited to see it from myself. I find all that stuff quite I love doing the whole, you know. It's like taking the um the Cosmo quiz or something, isn't it? You know, when you were younger and you took the quiz?
Speaker:The old, the the old oh you might do you remember the old dolly quiz that you take. I used to love those. Yeah, it's been a great idea.
Speaker 3:We all knew what we were gonna get at the end, but we still wanted someone out. It's like it's the the thrill of someone else understanding you. That's what those quizzes are. So you think there's an understanding. So that's what you're presenting them. You're sort of when they when they get excited because they find their style and they're like, oh my god, this is me. Then they're you're creating that connection, right? That you understand what they want.
Speaker:Yeah, and it just gives you that, yeah. I mean, I can't say the word confidence again, but you go, Oh, actually, you know what? I'm normal. This is it, there this is it, this is. I'm not just coming up with something that, you know, when my friends and family come to visit my home, they're not gonna think, oh my gosh, what you know, what is this? Is this just a house full of joyful landfill or something like that? But it's it's something that's gonna be enduring and it's gonna be timeless, but still on trend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's still them as well. I think people really like to put also a a name on their style. Like that, I think that helps them feel confident, as you say, Lisa.
Speaker:Yeah, it does definitely. And because there's so much to select from when you're coming in to do when you're building with uh any builder, but you know, you're coming in through such a big long process to make one part of that as easy as possible, you know, that's our goal. So yeah, the display visitation is their inspiration, the lookbook online, and then they come in through Studio M in in each of our states, and you know, the the lookbook will be highly visible and they'll hopefully be able to take some, you know, really simple quick quizzes and you know, answer some questions and they'll understand, you know, what style they're trying to achieve.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a good roadmap moving forward for all of the other decisions they have to make. Yeah, yeah, that's it, Lauren.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So when I look at the lookbook styles, is it okay if I just read some of these out? Because I think it might help paint the picture. So you've got modern contemporary, you've got Palm Springs, Beach House, mid-century, French Provincial, Japandy, Nordic, Coastal Lux, Classic Hamptons. And that was just a list where you've actually given me before our chat all of the locations you can actually go all around Australia and experience those looks. I think I captured them all there. And they're they're very conjuring, you know, like Palm Springs. It's so very, oh, it just brings to mind such a strong image of lifestyle, sunshine, relaxation, like and entertaining sort of spaces. Like, yeah, the names that you've you've come up with, they're really, they're really great.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think they're relatable. I think palm, I think Palm Springs is everything that you said then, and it's playful, and you can have a play with colour, which uh, you know, a lot of people are scared to do, but they can do that in just a small way by it might just be the colour of the front door. Yeah. And and might just be a few decor items throughout the inside. So I think the night the language and the naming conventions that we've come up with, our customers um will find it easy to follow and easy to use. But also the the styles and the the expressions underneath, they're not so far out there that you've got to, you know, go and chat GBT to understand what it means. So you're gonna resonate straight away. It's aspirational and it's inspirational at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And um I love the yeah, the simplicity of it. I think that's well, not simplicity, but I think the the recognizable names is really important so that exactly that we don't have to be an expert in interior styles to know what it's talking about. And the fact that, you know, you would have I assume photography of each one of those homes that it represents too. So they've got great examples and not just kind of conceptual examples, so they can actually see how it plays out in real life, right?
Speaker:Yeah, we've got some amazing new photography that we're about to launch, which is really exciting. And and yeah, it is it is a simple and easy tool to use. It was also really for our whole team of really experienced designers, it was it was a really great process because it really made us look and question and say, well, is that is that right? Is that something that a customer's gonna resonate with? Is that style and that expression so far out there that it's not gonna be suited to any anywhere in Australia? Like, you know, it's so it was like a process of elimination to work out, well, how do Australians live? And we get all that information from, you know, constant surveys and visitation through iStudio. So we we understand we do have a really like in-depth understanding of how Australians live and what our customers do want, and that really fed into how we structure it. So simplicity was the key. We needed simplicity, we needed simplicity for us because this lookbook isn't just a tool for our customers either. This is a tool that we're following and using for our display interior team. Yeah, gives you that footprint.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and sometimes I think designers have a knack for overcomplicating things. Yeah, definitely. And um, I think it's really important to, you know, speak to who these families are that are going to be, you know, trying to work out for the first time perhaps, or even for the second, third time, you know, you don't go and buy a house every day. You're not worded up in the designers speak. So you really, I think these are really great to the point descriptions. So you mentioned then that you have like customer surveys, like what are some of the ways that you get a read on what people are wanting in their homes?
Speaker:Yeah, we gather direct feedback from our customers if they're coming through, particularly our studio, our studio M showrooms. Um, that's probably the best point of feedback that we get in relation to what interior design our customers would like to see. We do follow um design and and trend style shifts, obviously. Um, working from home, multi-gen living, you know, trends change, as you know, could be global economic um uncertainty in the world, and that just drives everything. So we do a lot, we do a lot of research around the trends and the shifting trends. So just to keep everything up to date in our lookbook, make sure that our display homes are on point. And so customers, when they're coming to try and pick their style, they're seeing what they're gonna get. And you know, there's lots of things that are evolving. You know, home theaters are still really popular, but they need to become a multi-use space, perhaps. They need to be able to turn into a home gym or a home wellness center or a study space for our children. So adaptability. Um, yeah, we're just constantly looking at how at how everything goes, listening to you guys on podcasts.
Speaker 3:We are a wealth of information.
Speaker 1:I was curious about that home theater actually, because um I wondered if it was still something that people are wanting, because um I feel like there is a bit of a shift from sitting down watching one screen collectively. We all sit down and watch one screen. Whereas even in my family, I see that everyone's on their own laptop screen device. Like, yeah, so I was wondering, I think that's uh makes sense as you're saying to make that home theater a multi-purpose space that can adapt.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I have I have a suggestion for you for a room. Okay. A podcast studio. We need a podcast studio.
Speaker:Yeah, that is a great suggestion. You know, we do and um we we have such a diverse customer base as well. So, you know, outdoor cooking, prayer rooms, um, the wellness space is massive at the moment. And you're right, podcast recording studios.
Speaker 1:Write that down.
Speaker:Well, I've had cupboard with good lighting. Yeah, with good lighting. Well, even when you think about work from home, when you think about work from home and the lighting, I mean if we've all sat on a team meeting and gosh, my gosh, I just look, I I need I need something here, but you know, like the right lighting would be perfect. It changes everything. And the right acoustics.
Speaker 3:Nice backdrop. Yeah, we'll we can talk about lighting till the cows come home cut when you're in a cow and how to get it, how to get it right. But I think flexibility and adaptability are probably two of the biggest, I guess, yeah, things that have changed, right? And are we still seeing um the other thing that we will talk about is like, you know, butlers pantries and and really big homes. Are they is there a shift towards smaller footprints or are we looking at still quite large homes, or are they because they're multi-generational? Like what are the what's the sort of direction there?
Speaker:The probably the only shift towards smaller homes is the size of land availability and the affordability issue, which for us is a builder is massive. Customers still, I mean, you know, they still want that kitchen that has the beautiful appliances and the as much space as possible. Butler's pantries are still actually, you know, in demand. So despite footprints, you know, reducing, people still like to have that butler's pantry, the option to room to move everything out behind so you can't see what's going on while you're entertaining. It's still popular. But I mean, with forecasting and looking ahead, multi-generation is going to be huge. And trying to fit um all that space into a smaller footprint on a smaller block of land is going to be difficult. Particularly to, you know, you're trying to uh you know meet livability criteria. So we're thinking about accessibility for for for customers. So yeah, it all comes into play. We still love lots of texture, lots of finishes in those kitchens, but like, you know.
Speaker 3:Um, just for for the the layman who when we talk about livability, that's that's making sure that you can, I guess, stay in uh plan to sort of stay in place, isn't it, as you as you age?
Speaker:Yeah. Can you just explain a little bit about how that plays into I'm not an expert on it, but just so um basically it's it's about aging in aging in place. So that you know, obviously, as we uh as the population's grown, there's just not that the facilities out there. So I guess the government came up with the concept that if we build homes that can cater for, you know, mobility and wheelchair issues, et cetera, as we all age, um, then it'll be less of a strain in the future and and you'll be able to stay in your home. So which would be nice, you know. You see the older generation and they've got to move on. It's gonna be a long time until, you know, all the Australi all Australian homes are have that accessibility feature. But I I I believe it's great that we're at least looking at it now and doing something about it. It does limit some of the design constraints that design, you know, this design constraints that you have around the home, but it's like anything, once it's introduced in a few years' time, it's just gonna be the norm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was pretty um pretty shocked actually when um I attended your Metricon Summit. What was it actually called again?
Speaker:The Metricon Masters of Design, uh Metricon Design Summit that we had, yeah, back in 24, which was the first one we'd ever held. Um and that was on the back of all the NCC and livability work that we've been doing or our design team have been doing. They'd spent a couple of years just locked in a room, redoes, you know, redesigning our plans to suit these new regulations. So the design summit was the sort of first chance to come out and have a look and what are we doing in the future and what's going to happen with design interiors as we move forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was it was such a great all of your design team gathering in Tasmania. It was it was amazing. My mind was blown that every single floor plan you had to adapt to meet that new criteria, which was uh one of the ones that um I remember was just a ramp into the front door. Like it's so impactful on so many floor plans. And I guess does that read into you know wider doors and as you were saying before, like accessible bathrooms? But then sometimes some of these things don't make sense if it's an upstairs bathroom and you can't even get up there in a wheelchair if you wanted to, like a few little loopholes that aren't quite closed up, but yeah, it's uh so uh must have been the most enormous undertaking to tick all those boxes and yeah, it was an enormous undertaking, and that's why it's nice that now we're behind that and we really were ahead of the curve, and you know, and it's nice now that we're behind that and we're focusing on design because you know we've got this massive creative team across our architectural and interior designs across all of our states.
Speaker:So for them to be able to actually use their skills now and design for the for the future in a creative way is you know it's great. It's it's been um it's been a really good 12 months.
Speaker 1:And um, you know, you mentioned before, I was so curious because you know, Metricon is such a big, you know, volume builder in Australia, everybody knows it. And I I started thinking about you know different uh different cultures within Australia and how you design for that. Could you just touch on that a bit? Like we sort of talked about multi-generational living, and I mean that's probably more more cultures kind of live like that than others. What else does MetroCon kind of look at?
Speaker:You know, Australia is a really diverse country, and so I guess that's really quite exciting from a design and interiors point of view, is that we're delivering for a really diverse range of cultures and people throughout throughout our full building state. So that's where we we really need to make sure that you know our layouts and our styling is adaptable, um, that it's that it doesn't pigeonhole anybody. We really want to ensure that every family is seen and that they're comfortable that so that everyone is comfortable in a metricon home. Yeah. And yeah, the the diversity is exciting in Australia. I think we're really lucky.
Speaker 3:It's cool. I do too. That's what makes us Australia, in my opinion. I agree, Brie.
Speaker 1:Even the outdoor kitchens, you know, that's in terms of Western culture, probably uh northern European, it's not really a thing. But then, you know, you think about uh maybe Italian cooking, and that's very normal to cook outside in Asian culture. It's outdoor cooking. So I feel like that's something that a lot of cultures have been doing for a long time. And I think maybe may some of the more Western or Northern Europe northern European cultures have gone, oh, this is such a great thing. It's beyond just barbecuing, it's an outdoor kitchen and it's in a whole extended living area. Um and you see that a lot in Metricon homes. And you mentioned like a prayer room as well. I've never, I've never known of a home to have a prayer room before.
Speaker:Yeah, well, I mean, we get all we get lots of these requests. So that's why we really need to make sure that our design and style is really adaptable. And it's not just being an outdoor kitchen, as you mentioned, it's actually an outdoor living space. It's an extended space from the indoor to the outdoor. We like to make sure that it feels completely connected as you go from one to the other. Um it feels like you're not even stepping outside. It's just so open out, you know, with our designs being so open with open plan living. And then, you know, we we really show customers how you can move from your indoor kitchen through your family to your outdoor living space, straight into your garden.
Speaker 3:Oh, how beautiful. Yeah. And I love that connection. Yeah. It's fun. I always find it fun to even just like go through some display homes just to see, you know, they're obviously kind of put together, so they're kind of the elite best version of themselves, the display homes. It's so fun to walk through and see for me, like how far a lot of that has come in terms of really having a great understanding of like just the flow and how um a floor plan works. Like, I get quite excited about by that stuff. Floor plans, like I I could even just looking them at them on the website. I love looking at floor plans and just seeing, you know, how something's been brought together. But it's always so exciting to see it, you know, in a display home as well.
Speaker:Yeah, I love it too, Brie. And you know, I spend a lot of time in our display homes. And you know, but it's important too that our display homes are so curated and we create these beautiful homes so people can actually see how they can live. But when you're doing your own home, you're not staging it like that. Um you know, your home is filled with all your artifacts that you've collected on your travels and it's inspired by your fashion and your love of architecture and whatever it is. So, you know, the display home's beautiful. We encourage obviously lots of visitors, and we do get a lot of visitors that even aren't looking at building a home, they're renovating. They might come to one of our displays to have a look at the landscaping. Um yeah, of course. Yeah, but they're but they're a great, I mean, they're a real life living visual tool that you can walk through.
Speaker 1:And and how rare? Like, I mean, when else can you just like look snoop around someone's house? Yeah, so something quite fun about that to have a lot of.
Speaker:Yeah, like you go in and look at a home and think, I'm not sure what kind of lighter or artwork or what color sofa should I get. I don't want just a cream sofa. Yeah, um, you know, what other fabrics can I put with it? It's like where.
Speaker 1:Do you have a personal favorite or favorite style?
Speaker:Or is it like probably I'm probably quite contemporary, but I'm also a little bit transient. You know, I I kind of get caught up in some of the latest styles and I love it. Same. And and it's I guess I have to be a little bit because otherwise I'd be directing and sort of, you know, we'd be going down the same path with all of our with all of our displays. So yeah, you've got to be open. Yeah, I love, I love Japan. I love the warmth and the simplicity around that. I think you know, there's so many times in our lives that you just create that you, you know, you crave that calm, simple life. So that kind of tends, I reckon, to, you know, lead me down to a style that I like at the time. My home's contemporary, but yeah, I mean, it's it's probably my favorite. It's a safety, it's a safety style, isn't it? Yeah. There's so many expressions underneath that that you can use. So true.
Speaker 1:And can you talk about the wellness? You sort of touched on that before. How are people wanting to include a sense of wellness in their home?
Speaker:People are really wanting that space that they can probably separate from from the rest of their home and um, you know, for the yoga mats and their Pilates boards and and everything else. So um people like to be able to access sort of one of those rooms and walk straight out into a pool. It's really it's just about the quiet time. It's about the shutdown space. It's important, you know, you can have those rooms and not even have any power in them so that you know you could disconnect it from the rest of the house. So you don't have white.
Speaker 2:What about my phone? Yeah, but it is. Or maybe just like we need like a blocker.
Speaker 3:I thought just like when you go in, you start power, but it doesn't allow connection to the outside.
Speaker 1:I probably actually do really need that to be honest, like just to have a space where you can see.
Speaker:But see, that's what you need a recording studio for your podcast. So you can go from you know, full digital social media onto um on into a room where you can really unwind and relax. Yeah, we're just seeing it come through as just a bigger trend at the moment.
Speaker 1:And what about in terms of um bathroom spaces? Does that kind of merge into uh you know?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there was a point there where bathrooms became quite big, right? And then they almost became the wellness space and not just a kind of functional, but they actually, you know, wanted a little chair in there or a seat or somewhere you would actually relax and wind down and do all the rituals.
Speaker:Yeah, more of a it was almost like a at home spa. And you know, one of our um one of our new styles in the lookbook is um escape and so underneath that we're just looking at what you know what we're going to put in under that one at the moment and that whole retreat is really big everyone wants to feel like they're on a holiday and if you design your bathroom so it's your own you know at-home resorts bar you get to do that or have that opportunity each weekend sounds like heaven yeah it does sound it does heaven yeah um you know you mentioned before that people will come to the display homes to even if they're renovating just for ideas so how important is that styling aspect decor furniture yeah it it is really important you know it's getting the right balance though don't want to you don't want to over style I mean custom you know people that visit um at a spray homes want to feel like they can live there you know they might not go they might not go to the excess of using cushions with full detail on it because that might not necessarily work with the children when they're throwing the cushion cushions or you know the partner when they screw the cushion up and put it under their head to watch TV. But um yeah we um it is important it's important that a customer can understand how their home will look and how and the styling in our homes is a key is a key part in that but you also don't want it to be polarizing either.
Speaker 3:Well that's yeah that that would be hard can make or break it couldn't it as in like whether you feel like you could live there. Because there's this there's this fine line I think where people people who can't visualize and then you show them something if it's not the thing that they connect to sometimes it can push them away from that idea instead of kind of because they're not able to kind of think through oh but we don't have to have this exact XXX or even if it comes down to finishes etc that are in a display home. So it can be really tricky sometimes to keep it broad and yet um hit a style that you're trying to represent and also still feel like it could be a home and not too stylized. Like it is a real skill I think.
Speaker:Yeah yeah you don't want to overstyle do you yeah yeah and you know great styling can or bad styling can make or break a really good floor plan.
Speaker 3:Yeah totally I agree.
Speaker 1:But as you say Lisa there's that um there's that tipping point of it looking amazing very tightly presented and then looking unlivable people are like oh God I can't even like be myself in here like it's too it's too uptight. Like there's sort of like a tipping point there like obviously you're not gonna have uh family photos on there because it's not a real home it's it is a display home so can I just touch on we were talking about styling and how important that is in the display homes.
Speaker:How when you're approaching the styling sort of how what is it that you're trying to are you trying to get the customer to have a certain feeling yeah I mean it's essential isn't it it helps people imagine how they live in that space be you want it to be aspirational but achievable achievable um you know use lots of textures and more than practical layouts but but when you over style it as we just talked about it can just feel staged and and not a home that you can live in and great styling tells a story. It show it it it shows it shows how your home can feel not just how it looks and we know that that's the important thing how do you feel not how it looks so true that emotive connection yeah and you're in you you got them you hooked them in do you have like a do you have like a customer avatar or some someone in mind like specifically when you're styling like a family and they with a son or daughter or something I don't know. Yeah definitely yeah yeah absolutely and that is almost and that's really you know geographically dependent on where the display home is you know we know that if we're styling a home in um an estate or an area that really is and I don't want to use the term you know you know two parents two kids but but you know that's the sort of that that's kind of what you have in mind and we'll go well this is an area where there is lots of young families was probably is probably the best term to use where there is young families we you we style a lot of nurseries we love doing nurseries they're so fun and a lot of kids' rooms because you can really have a bit of fun even in a home that that is a little bit more toned down. So yeah we we do think about who the potential um visitors would be to this home um and what the target market is.
Speaker 1:Yeah and I'm sure you'd have so much data on that so you know they're walking in and they're like this is our home this is my room this is your room this is where I'm gonna do this and this is where I'm gonna when we have our um gatherings our you know take that don't you oh you totally do that like I remember doing that with as a kid even like okay so then this is what we would do here and oh this would be my room and you'd find it no this is my room I want this room yeah yeah and when my friends come over this is where we're gonna hang out yeah and this is where mum and dad need to be when my friends come over you go through all of that.
Speaker 2:The other end of the house.
Speaker 3:Yeah the door closed yeah no definitely I do think that um you know as we said that the styling can absolutely make or break that connection so you can have the best floor plan and then the wrong styling and they and you just miss the opportunity of connecting to that person when they're walking through the home the styling is kind of the layer that creates I guess the more emotional response to a space because you love the way it feels and if it was just an empty home would just you'd never get that even with great finishes you still wouldn't have that kind of final feeling and creating that I guess total mood and connection.
Speaker 1:Yeah you need it's like the jewelry on top isn't it yeah isn't it funny that those are the things that people could really connect with emotionally but they don't come with the house though. You don't that's true though, isn't it?
Speaker:Yeah do people have a lot of the fun that's part of the fun going out and having a look and seeing what's out there and if you've got if you've got a good base and you and you know where your hard finishes is are going to end up it does help. I mean yeah we do sorry what did you ask oh you asked Lauren if we do do um offer that um in some of our higher segments because we build from you know first home buyers and investment builders through to forever homes or downsizers we do um we do have with with a few companies to offer that extra service but you know that's part of that's a part of the fun for people.
Speaker 1:Definitely and I mean as you said for inspiration you know people think think oh we need a neutral sofa but then they see a beautiful blue sofa and they're like that that sounds wild in my head to say a colored sofa but when I see it in a space it's absolutely beautiful and it makes sense so it's yeah giving that inspiration to people as well um good style and good design is what you remember when you walk out of a home and you it needs to be tailored to how you live.
Speaker:Yeah do you live in a rural area do you live you know in the city and yeah you can't have it definitely can't have it over style and staged nobody lives like that. We don't live like that. I've tried that at home um we'd go crazy if we all tried to live like that and keep our homes exactly like that every day.
Speaker 3:Totally I don't think I could do it even if I lived on my own I'd still make a mess.
Speaker:Yeah or you just move it from room to room don't you so make sure you think about your storage. So when you're moving your mess from room to room you've got plenty of storage to do that.
Speaker 3:Yeah um I'm curious when you're when you're going through and I guess finalizing this new lookbook and all the styles and stages obviously there's a lot of discussion about what stayed and what goad or what went what got kind of thrown out what goad I'm making up words about. It's really natural to me at the time too I like the confidence that you just um what I guess was there anything that you were surprised that stayed or do you feel like it's all or you know that you thought would have had its time that has become kind of a classic look. Can I say Hamptons?
Speaker 2:I was about to say I reckon that'd be Hamptons we're a bit sick of it. Like what's but it has become a classic style hasn't it so classic.
Speaker:I think it's merged now it's a close door Hamptons isn't it so yes not as uptight. No the buzzword was Hamptons but that's you know really over style like oversized furniture and a lot of dark pieces and you know when you think about you going on a summer holiday to the Hamptons and you've watched you know we've all watched those shows on Netflix. But I think I'm so I'm not surprised sorry that Hamptons is still around yeah but I'm surprised at how many people are still asking for it. But when you look at what they're trying to achieve it's really a coastal version of the Hamptons.
Speaker 3:Just because Hamptons is on the coast over there it's really a coastal style is it no it's far more decorative and uptight I use the word uptight meaning it's it's not a formal yeah whereas I think the Australian version of Hamptons is far more coastal. And I think people can get a bit confused by it. I think what they love about the idea of Hamptons and this is just my opinion is that it has a I guess a freshness about it from the Australian version. There is sort of like whites and blues and pale timbers and and you know flowing blinds through the breeze of the coastal air or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker:Yeah you said that really well holiday ish maybe is the yeah yeah it's how we want to live isn't it we want to live like I said before we want to live on holidays we want to live in the resort. Yeah um so yeah Hamptons I think Hamptons is evolving that's what we're seeing and that's what we're definitely doing. So but you know this is where lookbook helps a customer when they come in and they say Hamptons when they start working through it.
Speaker 1:You're not really you're coastal yeah yeah um I watched um something's got to give the other week Diane Keaton that was a bit sad to hear my favorite it was the interiors I was like pausing it I was saying to my daughters look at this look at this kitchen how gorgeous is it they're like it's not really my style and I mean it's not really it's not a hundred percent my style but I absolutely love it and appreciate it and I and and it's no surprise that those movies oh who's the um who's the director again I can't remember anyway they are so iconic you watch those films director yeah it's kind of annoying I was trying to yeah and then you're like I want to live like that I want white walls I want white linen sofas I want to the sight lines from room to room like they just move through nicely big pitched ceilings um hat and that's that's a that's a location specific to New York in America. But I feel like you know in Australia we have kind of made it our own style which is what yeah we call it the Hamptons look and it definitely you do get that Australian version of it conjures in your mind and it's probably a bit of the shiplap it is the whites it's fresh it's a subway dial but uh yeah and it's no surprise that it's so popular because it it also has a sense of familiarity like it feels comfortable it feels like home even if has it become nostalgic yeah maybe it has it's sort of messed like see this is a thing like I'm gonna throw the word sophisticated it's like a sophisticated coastal isn't it yes yeah so maybe more refined it's it's moved into that isn't it funny how I feel like there's a there's a stage where something can feel dated and then it moves into nostalgic which is the positive version of dated yeah yeah and do you think that's where a style such as like mid-century modern which is having a real comeback now in our world it is anyway so because that was dated for a while but it's like the cycle of everything it's a cycle of fashion isn't it it so is true yeah yeah very cyclic.
Speaker 3:Yeah uh wow yeah so good Lisa thank you so much for our chat well thank you thanks for having me I've been super interesting to hear about I guess things that we already know but like just like talking about all those different styles and how impactful that is on Australian living is yeah huge super huge.
Speaker 1:So this this new lookbook when can we sort of be when can we kind of see that? When's that going to be launched do you know?
Speaker:We'll be launching January 26th. Okay so soon exciting so very soon yeah we've just finished you know ph photographing some of our amazing new displays we've hoped opened over the last few months so we've got some beautiful photography and it's so exciting. Cool um yeah look out for it at the beginning of next year.
Speaker 1:Beautiful can't wait to see it Lisa nicely done thank you thank you ladies and thanks for having me. You're welcome thanks for the chat we've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. They're the OG custodians of this unceded land and its waters where we set up shop, create and call home and come to you from this podcast today. A big shout out to all of the amazing elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the present and the emerging leaders who will carry the torch into the future. We're just lucky to be on this journey together.