Leÿer Design Studio: Designing Spaces That Welcome Real Life

What if a home could feel calmer, look warmer, and bring you closer to your neighbours—all at once? We sit with interior designer Rebecca Leijer of Leÿer Design Studio to explore design with restraint that still feels generous, and the surprising community benefits of a street‑facing, glass‑fronted home in Torquay. From the first sketch to the final touch, Rebecca shares how simplicity, texture, and tactility can deliver spaces that welcome sandy feet, morning light, and real life without dating fast.

We dig into the budget realities shaping residential design right now and why pairing building design with on‑site know‑how changes everything. Rebecca and her builder husband are combining forces to deliver a full‑service studio: think early cost clarity, fewer nasty surprises, and smarter paths like extending at ground level instead of paying for scaffolding on a small second storey. We compare laminate and stone with open eyes, defend the “big three” of tapware, tiles, and lighting, and map priorities so clients protect what truly changes how they live.

Then we jump to hospitality, where deadlines are brutal and ceilings do the heavy lifting. Rebecca reveals the bamboo canopy that redirected the gaze in an Anglesea venue and the burgundy spray that unified a tricky Ocean Grove ceiling—proof that one bold, well‑placed move can transform a space fast. Along the way, we reframe trends and timelessness: cork can be cool or tired; stone is forever until your taste evolves. The goal isn’t to dodge fashion, but to choose materials you’ll love longer, and build confidence through a curated, step‑by‑step process.

Check out Rebecca's socials: Insta  @leyer_td & website Leÿer Design Studio

If you’re craving a calmer home, fighting scope creep, or curious how a single design gesture can carry a room, you’ll find practical ideas you can use tomorrow. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s the one element—lighting, tiles, or tapware—you’ll never cut from your budget?

Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment. 

Bookings now open -  Book now

Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn: 

• What has worked for Lauren over the past year
• What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
• The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects

For more info see below

The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.

Transcript

Meet Rebecca Lea And The Theme

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to Design Anatomy, the Interior Design podcast hosted by friends and fellow designers, me, Bree Banfield.

Speaker 2 0:07

And me, Lauren Li, with some amazing guest appearances along the way. We're here to break down everything from current trends to timeless style.

Speaker 1 0:14

With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled and lift-in spaces, we're excited to share our insights and inspiration with you.

Speaker 2 0:22

Today we're chatting with interior designer Rebecca Leijer, whose work is quietly, confident, deeply considered, and never sort of trying too hard. So beautiful.

Paris–Milan Trip And Consultations

Speaker 1 0:32

Her approach to design is a balance of restraint and warmth and create spaces that feel calm but never flat. We're going to chat about intuition, good editing, long-term thinking, and how to design homes that actually hold up to real life.

Speaker 2 0:48

So before we get started, I just wanted to remind you guys that next year Bree and I are going to do our Paris and Milan trip. So we're going in a few weeks' time, but we've already had interest for 2027. So if you want to get some information, just send us a DM. Also, I can help you guys if you if you're listening and you want help with your interiors. I can help you with an interior design consultation. We can meet online or in person. Bree, you can do that too. And Rebecca, I guess all of us. So if you're a client that's listening, like a potential client and you need some help, um, you know, you can kind of get a sense, perhaps, with our chat, if you feel like we might be the right of kind of person to help you.

Speaker 1 1:39

Yeah, just reach out.

Speaker 2 1:40

Cool. So today um I I was thinking about when I first met you, Bec, and thank you so much for being a guest on our podcast. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm so excited. I know, it's so cool. Because I think we met quite a few years ago now. I think the first time was I had a studio on a little space above a shop on Chapel Street, and I did different sort of workshops and things like that. And I I met you, and then I have just seen your career just grow. Like I think the house that whenever I think about you always think about your beautiful home that just got a lot of like media and uh did really well. But um, yeah, when was that? Like that must have been when I first met you.

unknown 2:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:29

2017 or 18. Yeah.

Speaker 3 2:33

Yeah, I would say probably we finished the sites in around 2018, I think. So it would have been somewhere around then. Yeah. I was um did one of your SketchUp, one or two of your SketchUp courses, and then went on to do um during the design stage. Yeah, I did quite a few sessions with you there. That's great. And then I've met you account to your book launched and bring you probably there. Yeah. And met you at that. So yeah, that's been I was at the second one.

Speaker 1 2:59

I thought I was I missed one of them. I was at one of them.

Speaker 3 3:02

Yeah, I was just at one of them. Yeah, yeah. But we've met, yeah, and then just been Instagram friends for a long time.

Origins And The Torquay Move

Speaker 1 3:10

It's very that's how most of us keep up with each other these days, isn't it? Exactly. On Instagram, yeah. Um, and you and obviously to introduce the fact that you're not Melbourne based. No. Um, you worked down on the source coast and you is it Torquay that you have?

Speaker 3 3:26

Yeah, yeah. So we moved down to Torquay um, gosh, 10 years ago now, I think it was. Yeah. So we um have lived here and built this house in the last kind of eight years as well. So just call this place home. And as much as I miss Melbourne and the vibrancy of of living in a city, um luckily Torquay in this area has become very, very vibrant over the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 3:51

And it's really changed so much, hasn't it?

Speaker 3 3:53

Yeah, it's it's really quite amazing how different it is now. It's so buzzy and such a huge, um welcoming community. I love living here. You just can't leave the house without meeting somebody you know, and I like that feeling of kind of um community and comfort, just always having those familiar faces around. So it's a really amazing place to raise children, obviously. It's a very nice, relaxed lifestyle. So very lucky to be living here.

Speaker 1 4:18

What drew you there? Like what how were you holidaying in that area, or did you already have friends or family there?

Speaker 3 4:25

Or yes, my um, I'm not Australian, as you might have gathered. So I married an Aussie. Yeah. So his family, he moved here from um Dubbo in New South Wales when he was in his teens, and his family all still live here. So in our early years in Melbourne, we used to come down here all the time at the weekends because he used to love surfing. Um, doesn't do it so much anymore because we're too busy. But um we used to come down every weekend and then um loved the lifestyle here, but it was very kind of quiet back then, and I was always complaining that I couldn't live here because there wasn't even a coffee shop or anything that I could could relate to. So yeah, eventually, you know, like most people, we had kids and decided we needed to put down routes somewhere, and Melbourne just kind of seemed a little bit out of our reach in terms of where we wanted to live. So we started to consider moving down here, and then it all just kind of came about quite quickly in the end. Damo knew this area. Um, he grew up um in Janjak, but we ended up buying a house, some land in Torquay, sorry. Um, the worst house on the best street. So that's the um the route we went down and we rented for quite a few years and decided what we were going to do with the um house. It was just a really old kind of fiber bead shack full of asbestos. You know, we we couldn't really do much with it, so we always thought we might knock it down and and rebuild, and that's what we did. So I've been living here ever since.

Living Street-Forward And Community

Speaker 2 5:48

Sounds like an idyllic setting. You know, I love how you said that you walk out the house and you always sort of bump into someone, which is good, sometimes bad. Exactly. Exactly. Depends on quickly one of those. Exactly. Exactly. Well, but beautiful.

Speaker 3 6:04

Our house is very, if you've seen it in pictures, we're very much on front front onto the street. Like we're our whole front of our house is all glass. So actually, that talk I was went to the other night with Welsh and Major as part of the design speaks, I really resonated with what they said about the house that they built, that it was kind of on the street and the neighbors could almost see into the their house, which I really like that it's not for everybody, but I quite like that we became friends with our neighbors very, very quickly. And our house kind of is so open and welcoming, which I really appreciate. So if we're ever outside and just in the garden, people just stop and chat. And it's just a nice way to live, certainly in this sort of community that you know is pretty safe and and quite quiet, the area that we live in. Everyone knows everybody, and everyone kind of stops for a chat. And I really think that that sort of design sensibility that we went with for this house has really kind of resonated with a lot of people in the area. We still get people all the time stopping and chatting and looking at the house because it looks quite different to a lot of the houses in this um specific part of Torquay. So I just like that kind of connection you get and people when they're walking around. Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:11

I feel like it's quite unheard of. I think everyone's building brick walls and closing themselves in and it and to hear about even just like designers and architects thinking about that as a as a way to design a home so that's more open and more welcoming is kind of so refreshing.

Speaker 2 7:27

It really is. Is it more of a European thing, like northern European? Like you hear about like um in Scandinavian countries, they have like the they open up their windows and they have like a little lamp on the windowsill, and it's it's bringing, I guess it's another way to bring the indoor, outdoor, sort of connecting to the community. Is that something is that something from your background that you are more open to living like that?

Speaker 3 7:48

Um I guess so. I I think probably I just like I guess moving to a a location where I didn't really know anybody and we're trying to make new friends from the minute you arrive somewhere. I think it's a nice idea to kind of look friendly and look open and want to talk to people rather than hiding behind these big fences and kind of enclosed and hiding away in your backyard. I our house, I suppose, does look a little bit Scandinavian, but it wasn't necessarily their the way they live their lives that we drew on. But we certainly like the style of house that we've built, which is that kind of timber cabin looking house that has the openness to the front of it. And yeah, it's just an it's a really nice way to live. And we've thought about over the years putting in a gate and kind of giving ourselves a little bit more privacy because sometimes you're a bit walking around in your pajamas and everyone can see you. But I still, I still think it's just such a nice open way to live. And just it is, it's a it's certainly different in this area, I feel, when lots of people, I even our neighbors have lots of big gates in front of their houses. Yeah.

Speaker 2 8:48

It's uh interesting what you said, Bree. Um in Australia, in suburbia, a lot of people are like, I want to feel safe. I'm gonna put up a huge big wall. Whereas I feel like almost the opposite is true in terms of if there are people in the community, if there are people walking past, it's like that it's like a passive surveillance that that happens. And I can actually feel quite safe when I see people walking past when because what in my home, we don't have fences. So it's um it's just the next house is sort of sort of separated by a bit of landscaping and things. So you do see your neighbors and you do see people walking past and they do peer into the window. And I couldn't care less, like just scrolling on my phone mostly. I'm not doing anything interesting. In your pajamas on your arm. Nothing to see. Totally. Yeah, nothing to see here exactly. So I find it really, I find it really unwelcoming when people put on these huge, big fences and gates, and it's like, oh, just like relax. It's like you're blocking out, it's a fortress. Like are we in a gated community? Like I just personally couldn't think of anything worse than that. But yeah, it's a really, really interesting way of living, um, Bec.

Speaker 3 10:00

It is interesting. I think, yeah, exactly. As you said, it's a good kind of neighborhood watch. Everyone knows what they're doing and keeping an eye on everybody. And it's a good talking point for people because lots of people loved looking at houses and discussing architecture and standing outside someone's house and just asking about how did you build that and who who who did that for you and what cladding did you use? It's just interesting. It's a nice obviously we're in the industry, so we enjoy talking about it anyway. But I find a lot of people just really like admiring houses and they're walking around the neighborhood and oh, I watched you build that house. And they all have their little stories over that period where my husband built it in five months, which was obviously quite quick. So everybody kind of witnessed him blood, sweat, and tears pulling it all together. Yeah, it was super fast. Yeah, he was on long service leave from work, so we were under time pressure, and he just wanted to do it himself. So he worked around the clock and with with lots of trades, obviously. But yeah, he was a little bit tired after that, actually.

Speaker 1 10:58

He had left long service leave, did that, and then went, I need a holiday.

Speaker 2 11:02

Exactly. Exactly.

Speaker 1 11:04

Yeah, but it was great.

Building Fast And Open-Home Design

Speaker 2 11:05

Can you tell us a bit about this back? Like, so how what's your business and and your husband's business? Like, is he a builder by trade or yeah?

Joining Forces: Design Meets Build

Speaker 3 11:15

So actually, he is about to join my business in the next couple of months because he has just finished studying advanced building design and architecture over the last four years. At night, he's been studying. So it's been a huge, huge couple of years. But he is going to become a building designer. He's going to get registered mid-year this year, and we're going to join forces and become a full service studio, which is really exciting. But he is a builder, like a registered builder by trade with over 20 years' experience. So I think he is going to be in demand because a building designer that also knows how to build and price a job is kind of quite unusual. And what we've really felt is missing in this area is that combination of a really beautiful building design plus bespoke interiors all in one go, all in one house. And then we just kind of manage that process with the selection of builders that we recommend and know and work with and just really help people through what's a really stressful time in most people's lives. And most of them are only doing it once and will never do it again, and they just don't know where to start. They don't necessarily want the kind of, you know, plug and play model that some of the bigger kind of corporations are offering. They want something unique to them. But I often will get plans through from a building designer, as I'm sure you guys do as well. And it's kind of quite simple plans and material spec on top of that, but nothing really very detailed in terms of how they're going to live in the house, what the joinery looks like, et cetera, et cetera. And equally, as a builder, my husband has seen so many plans cross his desk that he's like, I couldn't possibly build this for this budget in this time frame. It's just not going to happen. So he's been frustrated by that. And he also just wanted to become a building designer because he has a really good eye and really enjoys that side of the process and really is really, really passionate about creating just some beautiful um buildings around this area and really kind of leaving that legacy of beautiful homes around that you can be really, really proud of. So that's our plan towards the end of this year. But we have worked together obviously on this house and then um across a couple of other projects over the years. So hopefully we'll work well together. But time will tell. You might have to give me some advice, Lauren, on working with your husband.

Speaker 2 13:34

Oh my God, Bec, this is so exciting. Like, I mean, not only you're like the triple threat because you've got the interiors, you've got the building experience, and you've got the building design. But I guess like another layer on top of that is that you and your husband, like, what a beautiful team to work with and to, you know, guide the client through, as you said, the most stressful experience. Because building can be definitely stressful, but to have all of that knowledge about just your, you know, you and your husband haven't met your husband, but you're so lovely and gorgeous, and just to have a client to guide, be guided through the journey with you, like what what a cool, what a beautiful offering. It's very, very unique.

Budget Reality And Scope Control

Speaker 3 14:17

Yeah, I think so. It's just kind of we help a lot of people that we know, just as we all would, you know, anecdotally, friends always ask you, well, what about this and what about that? And they're trying to figure things out. And I guess just being those safe hands to help people through that process because we have the experience and we love what we do and we really want a really great outcome for them and obviously for us. So I think it would be making life a lot easier for people if they could just come to one um studio and have, you know, in Melbourne, there would be plenty of big architecture firms that have huge interior design teams, but you just don't get that down here. A lot of people are just working by themselves and they're either offering architecture or building design with a little bit of interiors as well, but not big teams. So there's only usually one person. Whereas, you know, if we can offer that sort of double whammy service of giving them the building design and having honestly, having a builder design your house, I think is like game-changing in terms of budget for people because you we've all heard the stories of people just going through a really lengthy process with whatever designer they choose or architect, and then getting three or different three or four different crowds from builders and just heartbroken at the cost of something. And it's such a waste of time and money for everybody. And then more often than not, they will just be gun shy and just decide not to do it and sell their house and go and do something else. But um, I think budget is obviously always has been, but now more than ever, a huge um talking point for everybody and to be able to understand what different um design details and certain things that you do in your house, how much that would impact the cost. You know, even things like when people are doing a renovation, my husband nearly always advises people not to do a second level if they can at all avoid it, because he says you're basically just paying for scaffolding and to hold up that second level. If it's just going to be for a bedroom or one extra room, he said, just put the money into what you've got, try and extend on the footprint wherever your land is, and just try and work with the space that you've got rather than just throwing money into getting that extra little room so you can maybe get a tiny little view, or it's all those little things that I think people don't know, but would save them a lot of money in the long run, and they'd probably get a better outcome just by somebody understanding how that extra bedroom that they're really, really wanting is gonna cost so much more, and there might be another way. It's just all of those details.

Speaker 1 16:41

I feel like um it's definitely become a lot harder to to work even as a designer and have a budget to meet. And we we all kind of have our ideas about you know what we know is gonna cost more or save money, but I'm still, um I think in the last two years, have just been shocked still at quotes that come through because I I think there's just been such a big shift that I can no longer um confidently predict how much something's gonna cost. And it really does um, it really does create a bit of a problem because you don't want a client to spend a whole heap of money on a design and then find they can't afford it. But then there's, you know, only so much you can do at the beginning um in terms of conversations, unless you've got someone literally with you through the process of documentation and designing, which you would have kind of pointing out, well, actually, this would be a better way, and that's gonna keep it tighter to the budget. I just feel like it's it's that would be a bit of a game changer for sure.

Pricing Shocks And Trade-Offs

Speaker 2 17:40

Yeah, it's it's so true. It's like a project that I'm working on at the moment. We just got the pricing back from a builder. And in the beginning, the client wanted to extend, you know, as you're saying, Rebecca, people want to go out, they want to extend, they want more space. And I thought, no, we don't need to do that. We're just gonna work within the footprint and we're gonna reconfigure. And instead of taking down that load-bearing wall, we'll put some bank banquet seating so that we can. So I was like, oh, clever, clever me. However, and then I thought, no, we'll just do a um, it's a laminx kitchen. It's got we we want to push for a stone top. So I'm feeling like I'm not going over the top. But we're getting the and so we have our sort of trade day where we try to capture what's a ballpark here, where can we save, done all that, yet we still get pricing back, and it's just so expensive. And so even though though we're trying to be conservative, it's just um yeah, it's just it's super disappointing for the clients. It is, and within a matter of sort of months, it's yeah, the pricing is going up. So um, but yeah, we try to protect as much as we can. But at the end of the day, it's it's labor, it's human hands, putting together something bespoke, one of a kind just for your home. It's just going to be expensive.

Speaker 1 19:00

I'm paying for good trades too. Like there is a difference between, I feel like everything can be expensive, but it's worth paying maybe just that bit more for that particular person because you know they're going to do a great job. And there are bad trades. Like there are people who will still price, you know, it'll still be expensive, but you won't get the same finish. So yeah, it's I think it's a really tricky part of a project. Um, you know, I'm in it at the moment with a project as well where there's some easy things, like, you know, I've got a some some wish list lights in there that are gonna have to come out. Um, so you know, you can replace those and and reduce some of that scope kind of easily. And like you said, Lauren, like kind of knowing, okay, well, maybe it's not this stone, but it's this laminate or whatever it is. But then there's things that we designed that were so specific and that the client really wanted that they're they're sort of going, no, we have to keep that. And we know that there's a lot of money in it, but it's part of how they'll live. So it's kind of weighing up those priorities, right? Like, did you find Bec when you were doing your own home? Did you have those moments where you had to do that? Or were you pretty kind of smooth sailing because you had um your husband whose whose name is Damo saying your husband?

Planning, Study, And A Career Pivot

Speaker 3 20:11

Dame Damo is his name, Damien. Damo, I love that. Oh, you're such a builder. I know Damo the builder. Um, yeah, we did 100%. And I think that's the like, don't get me wrong, it was stressful building our house. But if you know from the outset you need to spend X amount on lighting, you need to spend X amount on joinery. And if you have it all laid out from the outset, and yes, you might want more expensive joinery because you really want to use that specific trade. People don't know that and they don't understand the breakdown of costs and what is important to spend where. So I think if you're having the upfront conversations of going, okay, you want this style house, you have this budget, you like these interiors. If we're to put all of that together, this is probably the best way to go. Maybe you might need to take this out. You know, it's just giving people the knowledge and the power to say, your money can still get you a beautiful home, but we have to be strategic about where we spend it. And if they don't know that they need 50, 50k for lighting until they're about 12 months into the build, well, they're not just going to be able to find that from just anywhere. So if they know it at the start and lighting is really important to them, it's just better communication and less kind of gatekeeping of information that we have and just kind of trying to help people achieve that outcome because we know most of the places where all of the nice things are hiding. And it's just showing them that this, this if it was me, this is what I would do, and this is where I would spend my money, and that's how you're going to achieve a really good outcome. And I think it's just that confidence that they know, okay, these guys know what they're doing, they have the knowledge. We're not going to be able to say to the dollar what your house is going to be costing, obviously, but within a broad range of if you have X amount, this is probably what you're going to be getting. So before you even go down the path of kind of wowing them with all of your amazing ideas, at least you're all on the same page and know that you can actually get them to that destination that they're looking to to land at. I think it's it's a good way forward for the industry just to be um more collaborative, collaborative, can I ever say, with designers? You know, there's a lot of building designers and architects around here who would be reaching out to different interior designers to help them too, for the same reason that they need to kind of pull a full um scope together before they even approach builders for cost, rather than just leaving everything just kind of in limbo land. And then it's just generic finishes that no one really wants. And then when they actually come forward and say, oh, I I'd actually prefer a nicer tap than that, the budget blows out, everyone starts to lose confidence and then just becomes like such an uphill battle for the next 12 months. It's a long 12 to 12 months to four years sometimes. It's a long process to be kind of working with people. So you need to just be upfront and transparent about all of these things at the start, I think.

Speaker 2 22:55

And sometimes those conversations are not easy. You don't want to tell the client that all of those amazing things that they want are beyond the budget. I know. I know no one wants to but I I think it's really as you say just giving them the knowledge, taking that mystery out of it. And also um you touched on time then, you know, um this this project that I mentioned I was just chatting to my client the other day and we're like do you know that we met almost a year ago it's actually taken us a whole year to get some firm pricing back. It takes a long time and that's something that I don't think clients realize as well because you can do it quicker. It just means that you can only choose between that tile and that tile because that's all that's in the stock that's in your budget and we're not going to have time to look around. So okay quickly just choose that one. And then that bathroom or that kitchen that's you're going to live with that for the next 10 20 years. Like it's a real missed opportunity. Yeah it's it's it's that thing about the time and the money. It's just yeah yourself more time.

Authenticity, Simplicity, And Media

Speaker 3 23:58

Exactly yeah and I think rushed is going to be is going to date pretty quickly in my opinion if they're just pulling things together because it's inevitably what's of what's on trend and what you're seeing on Instagram and they're just grabbing it and just want it straight away. Whereas if you're working with a design professional the process takes a bit of time as you've said because it should take time because you're trying to decide on amazing finishes that you will live with for years to come. So if you are taking that step-by-step approach, I just don't feel like your home will date because you have been more considered and more thoughtful with how you're putting it all together and you love it because you've been to a couple of suppliers and seen what's out there and then you're really committing to it. So therefore I just think it's it's going to be a better end result for everyone and you're going to live with it and love it for a long time to come. So it all it all makes sense when you work through it as we do in that kind of step-by-step process that's so important that I know you I learned a lot from you Lauren about you know just taking clients through you know slowly and carefully and explaining to them why you're making all the decisions that you're making and how each connects to the other and how important each one is so that when they get to the end and they go, oh maybe I can't afford that tap and you're like, well the tap kind of is the whole point of that kitchen because it's really you know I've chosen that one because I we went very simple on the um stone or the joinery, whatever it is, whatever that story is that you've been kind of working through it's how you kind of get them to that endpoint of not just like seeing the next flashy thing that they their friend told them about and just kind of slotting that into place. I think that's it makes it more enjoyable. And I think the clients enjoy that too because they understand that there is a method to the madness of what we do and there is a reason why when you're working with a design professional of some description that that the value that we add I guess in this very big investment they're making in their lives that is probably the biggest amount of money they'll ever spend.

Speaker 1 25:54

So yeah yeah not that it's scary at all no yeah so life savings. Did you spend how much time did you spend designing your place?

Hospitality Projects: Ceiling As Fifth Wall

Speaker 3 26:05

So it's built in five months how much time was spent actually in the planning wasn't too long like because we were the builders and owners and designers we did do a few things on the on the fly as you do and made some design decisions like our boxed window seat that we have in our main living area that is probably one of our favorite spots we kind of just decided that as we were going but my husband sketched out the house um design that he liked and then we had a drafty design it for us and then I was studying so I had just we had just moved to Torquay. I I'm a second career interior designer as some of your other guests will be as well. So I used to work in um experiential marketing which is basically um brand brand events like bringing brands to life which is quite interesting with what I do now because it's all everything just kind of lines up all the dots connect for me anyway. A lot of my job was kind of managing clients I was an account service um manager. So I'd be taking in the brief and running it through our team of various different creatives and then delivering the end results. So it'd be things like at the Australian Open LaCost were our client one year. And so we had to bring to life their massive retail experience at the Australian Open. It wasn't as fancy as the Australian Open is these days because this was like quite a long time ago. But um it's that whole idea of the brand experience and people coming along and living and breathing what what your brand is and your brand value. So super creative but um I've been working in that for about 10 years went on maternity leave with my second daughter and we moved down to Tolkien. I didn't quite know what I what my next step was so decided to go back and study um with design school in Melbourne as a lot of you will know a lot of people from there I sat beside B Lamboth. She was my um next door neighbor in my class so um studied that was a big yeah huge there was lots of great designers in that was that one of the first or second intakes I think we were like the second or third yeah Jenna was still teaching when we were there so she was she had founded the school and she was still teaching us so incredible experience and life changing for so many of us. Yeah so we were building we were sorry designing this house while I was doing that course and I really went and studied that course because we were building this house. So I had never really um specifically done anything interior related although I was very creative um creatively minded it was my first step in that direction. So I used to present my ideas to Jenna actually for her feedback on this house and just kind of get her opinions on what we were doing. So yeah I put pulled together most of the ideas learned SketchUp in that course and designed up the kitchen and that sort of thing. So it was really just for this house and then I'd never really planned to move into this as a career it didn't even cross my mind. Really? No didn't even cross my mind it's quite crazy. Yeah it was really just for the purpose of of building this house and my husband obviously had so much knowledge and I felt I had absolutely none. So I really needed to kind of fight my corner and have a few opinions on things so I thought I will just go and study and and figure it out.

Speaker 1 29:08

So um that's where it all started on most of the things with the like so you said he sort of sketched up a plan did you just kind of go oh yeah that looks fine or did you go hmm they didn't no luckily luckily the that side of things were very aligned which only as well became apparent once we designed this house.

Speaker 3 29:26

I never knew because how would I that we had such a similar design style but it just all came together with this house and I think that's crazy how much this house has given me personally in terms of my career. It became my showroom for my clients for many years and because of the publicity from this house it just gave me the confidence to go forth and do more study get my diploma and just launch myself into the industry which I have done. So yeah it's been a big couple of years. It has changed your life yeah it really did yeah yeah I never would have expected it like we couldn't really believe that it resonated so broadly with so many different types of people I guess it's the simplicity of it is what I think people resonate with so much. Like it's a really really simple palette just really warm really easy to live in that kind of sandy toes living where you're just rolling in from the beach nothing's too precious. I think people especially down here just really enjoy that sort of concept and that idea of a home is just not somewhere that's kind of too staged or too kind of like uncomfortable to live in.

Speaker 1 30:35

So I think that's that's how it got where it was hearing you speak about it, I also feel like there's a layer like a really strong layer of very authentic kind of living that comes through and the way that it's evolved from you know you know your husband doing a sketch and you you basically have both put so much of yourselves into it. So it's I think because it feels very authentic that's what is probably drawing people to it because there's simple and then there's simple done well which I think is what you're sort of giving us that best example of I think so. Simple is actually quite hard to achieve and I think yeah I think it is yeah I think it really is knowing when to stop like when having having the eye I think you you either learn that over a long period of time or you just kind of know instinctively where to kind of restrain the design and I I think that's a really hard skill to learn. I think so it is for me anyway.

Speed, Constraints, And Bold Colour

Speaker 3 31:32

Yeah it is I mean don't get me wrong more is more and I love all of that too there's so many designers doing incredible things that I think wow like that I don't know how they do that with layering so many different types of colour and textures like the YSGs of this world they just blow me away. But there's room for everybody and I think for a lot of people the way we live and the way we design our interiors is probably achievable and accessible because it's not a crazy amount of money to achieve the look that we achieved. We you you know the the cost of this house would not blow your mind at all. Obviously my husband built it so I saved on him but um we spent it in certain places like the topware or certain types of tiles and whatever it might be. And I think looking at it you would know that that house wouldn't break the bank sort of thing. And I think that also appeals to a lot of people that it's not of course a mansion with 25 different laundries and media rooms it's it really is and it is what it is. I know same same yeah so it's that sort of easy living I think which is a lot of people especially in a coastal setting a lot of people really gravitate towards that sort of lifestyle.

Speaker 2 32:43

And when you were studying at design school how did you sort of lean into learn how to trust your own taste?

Speaker 3 32:51

Oh um I think because I I guess you through through feedback and over time you just build that confidence don't you like don't get me wrong I'm second guess myself a lot but um it's it's just through um time in the chair just just working away and just having a lot of online friends that are designers just feeding back oh that looks great and how did you do that and whatever it might be. Lately I've been doing a bit of hospitality work which has been really fun and I think you know there's nowhere to hide with hospitality because absolutely everyone's going to see your work. So it's really had to force me to become a lot more confident in myself because it's I'm working with mostly male clients that are in the hospitality industry so they're saying well whatever you think works will be fine. I'm lying awake at night going but is that going to be fine? Is that going to look nice?

Speaker 2 33:43

Yeah why didn't we set up our meeting to go to that beautiful restaurant you designed we're gonna have to go down there Bree. Yeah I'd love to so I think I saw that on your Instagram and was like oh my god that looks so beautiful because what I could see was um you'd done an interesting ceiling treatment can you kind of describe what you did?

Trends, Timelessness, And Tactility

Speaker 3 34:03

Yeah so down in a surf club down in Anglesey the Anglesey Surf Lifesaving Club there is um a restaurant there called Lovehouse and it's like an Asian kind of Miami inspired menu and next door to their restaurant the owners also had ownership of the event space which was kind of part part of the surf club um event space but also theirs and they wanted to I mean they do hire it out for events but mostly weddings because the the view as you might have seen in some of those photos is like spectacular out to the sea like it's probably one of the nicest views in terms of a wedding location in Victoria I think is the the view is like second to none. But the venue itself was just lacking they said they were getting the inquiries people coming down and kind of walking in going yeah I'd have to do quite a lot to make this look nice and it's not really feasible for a lot of people to bring in big event teams and sort out a whole venue. So they called me down for a brief and said you know we just need to make it look a bit more feminine I was like okay great so what what exactly are we looking for here? So um they had you know throwing ideas at me of kind of Miami floral pinks and sort of I was like oh okay yeah I'm not sure I'm your designer but I will have you seen have you seen the sort of terracotta vibe that I like and they're like yeah yeah but just what yeah that's fine. Yeah yeah and then I was looking around and it had this grey um floor tile like a gray carpet floor tile dark grey through the entire venue and I said so are we pulling up the floor or and they're like no no we just put that down and I was like oh my god that's so depressing when that happens spent spent a fortune on that floor like we can't put it down we we can pull it up and I go oh my god and I just walking away going how on earth am I going to work with that floor like it was like the biggest thing you see when you walk in so that was when and what I learned in I studied in Sydney Design School for my diploma and one of our teachers there that taught us hospitality always said to us don't forget the ceiling in hospitality said the ceiling is really really important it's the fifth wall and don't forget how much you can do at that space. So that was in the back of my mind the whole way through and so I just thought if I can just distract people away from that floor and look up at the ceiling then my job will be done. So I looked into some different options of using different um you know colours it there was timber beams on the ceiling the whole way across so I was just focusing on the the main bar area that was kind of one quarter of that room. And I just originally was just looking for different materials and I found um the House of Bamboo in Sydney and they have lots of different um materials and fabrics and things that they they use and I got some samples from them but one of them was this beautiful bamboo. So we decided to do a canopy ceiling with the bamboo the whole way down through all of the beams and it just gave that most incredible sort of a lot of people said it looks like kind of European and kind of Greek influence of something you would see in a coastal town in Greece or something like that. It's just the it's a waved ceiling and it kind of directs you your eye out towards the sea. So really all you don't really worry about the the floor anymore. All you're doing is looking at the ceiling. But that's good. It was actually super easy to install and yeah they just put up some batons and just weave the material through and there was about honestly 60 emails between myself and the supplier and the builder trying to figure out something that was actually ended up being very easy to do. But it was again one of those things that nearly didn't happen because everyone was thinking it was too complicated and um I had to pick the massive roll of bamboo from a zoom call in this woman's warehouse in Sydney because I couldn't get I was going to fly up there but it just didn't happen. And so I had to do it over a zoom call and they ordered it and I was so nervous but it went up and it looked well in the end. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 37:51

I love that it looks gorgeous. It worked out well, weddings there yet?

Speaker 3 37:55

Yeah they've had lots of weddings and the luckily the bookings are a lot better these days because people are a lot happier with how it looks which is the end result that they were looking for you know getting the the cost back for what they've spent to have all the weddings being booked yeah oh that's great.

Speaker 2 38:11

What a good result yeah do you want to lean more into some hospitality or do you want to sort of stay within Resi or happy with a bit of both yeah whatever both yeah yeah yeah it's such a different type of project I mean you know you work into you walk into a commercial space and you're dealing with dark grey carpet tiles. You're like what the hell are these things? Bit of a different vibe to Rezi but yeah it's so nice to have you know people's have their special wedding day in a space that you designed that's cool.

Speaker 3 38:42

I know it is cool that yeah there's often a lot of um parameters around hospitality and I guess the biggest one is well the two biggest ones are budget and timing they happen so fast and it's really kind of a white knuckle ride because it's just like we need this now it's going in tomorrow.

Speaker 2 38:59

Oh my God I know yeah not none of this project taking for a year before we even do anything.

Speaker 3 39:06

No no and then I've the the other one um that I'm actually um shooting on Monday was out in Ocean Grove and we did that burgundy ceiling on that one. Oh so that came up nicely so that place was just basically navy sort of walls black floor smelt not very nice and so we went in and um just gutted it yeah and just went with this I just thought because the the the timber beans in the ceiling that they had there were not the most attractive of timber beans as much as I love an exposed ceiling um in my mind I was just going we didn't have time or we didn't have a huge amount of budget to work with. So I just thought if we have to start working with those beans and start sanding them back and etc etc it's the budget will be blown. So I just thought let's just spray gun the whole ceiling every single part of it including the fans and just absolutely wash the ceiling in one colour right just to give that massive impact and it was an easier job than any other job that we were trying to do. So um that worked out that worked out really nicely because it's a nice it's a beautiful colour and everyone's resonating with burgundies these days so um it worked out well. So is this a cafe or a restaurant?

Speaker 2 40:18

It's a bar. It's a bar. Oh where's this? It's in Ocean Grove. Okay another place we have to go bring I love it down there.

Speaker 3 40:26

In the for research purposes oh I can't wait to see the photos of that yeah I'm getting um Madeline Burke do you know that photographer she's amazing you'll look you will have seen a lot of her work if um you look her up yeah she's great so I'm looking forward to doing that.

Speaker 1 40:46

Yeah quotient Grove's changed so my um I've spent a lot of time surf coast way and my mum lived in ocean grove so but like the last time I went down there which was actually well I've been down on day trips but last time I stayed in Bowenheads was a couple of years ago and I I used to love Ocean Grove as sort of my favourite place and I'd be like I'd go live there and now it's I think it's changed so much and grown so much and there's so you know it's almost connecting to you know Point Lonsdale and expanded that far that I'm sort of like oh it sort of lost a little bit it's very I don't know lost a little bit of its kind of coastal town charm to for me. Whereas I feel like Bowen Heads which was never really I I didn't I was like oh yeah bow and heads whatever that's kind of remained small because you can't really expand on it right it's sort of surrounded by um sort of like swampland and things like that or wetlands. And I find now I I gravitate more towards sort of bow and heads but Ocean Grove I just can't believe how different it is from when you know I spent a lot of time there in my youth my teenage years. Yeah but yeah so I I'm trying to let go what would a bar look like there yeah I can't wait to see what you what you've done.

Client Confidence And Closing Thanks

Speaker 3 41:59

Yeah well um they just took a a three year lease on it so we the outside doesn't look as pretty as the inside because we just focused on what we could but um yeah it's really up and coming I think that area now because there's so many new restaurants and and bars going in there. And kind of young families right like yes yeah yeah it's becoming yeah a nice place to be and Bar and Heads I love as well. It's so gorgeous there. It's such a beautiful main street it's really really nice. Yeah the Lovehouse um client that we did that Anglesey place with are doing a place in Bar and Heads next which we're doing the next few months. So the one of the roundabouts when you're just driving in there's a couple of restaurants there and it's one of those little houses on the left but it's actually got some heritage overlay on the building which is really interesting. Yeah so they're working with their building designer to try and come up with you know what the expectations are from council to in terms of what we can do with it. But I think that's that'll be really fun one to work on over the next couple of months because it's such I love all of the shop fronts on that street. I just think it's really pretty.

Speaker 1 43:01

Yeah it is yeah oh that'll be really good yeah should be good you you're working on that one and then your husband's coming into your business so that's a lot going on is there anything else you want to tell us about that you've got going on that's no no they're the main things yeah that's cool yeah um I you did mention about so with the bar and the burgundy and you sort of touched on you know everyone's loving that at the moment because it's it's quite on trend let's say we use the we'll use the dirty trend word um but you know your I guess your aesthetic tends to lean away from trends in that way that you're looking for things that have longevity and dare we say the word the other T word timeless yes these are the the words a lot I love to like throw into things and you know like little drop a little so what is timeless and like can it be timeless? And what's your thoughts on that I guess do you Deliberately avoid trends, or are you just sort of like, oh, well, it's just something that is is there to take in and pay attention to? But you and you mentioned before about, you know, I guess even choosing materials that are are simpler or putting that sort of time and curation into selecting things and then you feel like it doesn't date. So I'd love to hear like I guess kind of what you think about timelessness and and trends. Yeah. The T words.

Speaker 2 44:27

Triggering T-words.

Speaker 3 44:29

Yeah. Exactly. Well, two more T-words that I like are tactility and texture, which are the ways that I like to move forward with my interiors. And I guess what most people looking at my projects will probably notice that that is what I enjoy the most. But I think in terms of trends, I'm obviously client-led. So if they have a particular desire for something that I think might date over time, you know, there's there's ways around, there's ways around these conversations. And I don't think anything is particularly off the table. Like recently I worked on a renovation and the client had cork flooring all through their house, which they absolutely hated because they've been living with it for so many years. And I said, Yeah, I'm only putting that into two other projects at the moment, but then that has become back in fashion. But I think, as I said earlier on, when you're going through that process and building that story with your clients, and there is just an evolving kind of narrative through the project. And for me, I just think that timelessness comes from that joy and that love that you're putting into your house as you go through those stages of putting together your interiors. And if if it is that sort of building of the confidence with your client as you're helping them figure out, I always say to them it's it's it's their house and whatever they like is whatever they like. And they tend to know when they see it. So they might present to me 50,000 Pinterest boards that they've been gathering for 10 years. And you know, all of us can usually see a bit of a pattern between what they're liking. It it kind of jumps out. So it's our job to curate that for them and deliver it back to them and help them pull together the little bits and pieces that are the small details that are really going to bring that home together for them and stop it from feeling kind of cold and and soulless, which nobody wants, obviously, and having that sort of appeal that they'll love it for years to come and grow with the house and evolve with it. So it's it's the tactility of the tapware. I guess tapware tiles and lighting are my big ticket items that I will always fight for. And I'm really reluctant to kind of budge on those because I just know that they more than anything is what are what are going to bring your interiors together and give you that sense of timelessness, which is really just loving your home eternally, I guess. And it will evolve over time. That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 46:46

It's like I love your well, when you said about your clients that have lived with cork for so many years, I mean it's it's a funny one because it's it's a good intersection of like a trend and what's timeless, because we with cork, it is quite on trend as a material. However, if you've lived with it for so long and that was an a stage of your life and you you're ready for something new, it doesn't mean that it has to be timeless because, well, sometimes you just want something new. If you've lived with something for so long, if you've already had it in the in the 70s and you're like, you see in a certain time frame which you've been there, done that. Sometimes people just want something new and something fresh. But it it is so funny, isn't it, when you mention cork? Because I've got a client that absolutely hates cork because they've been there, done that, and it's it's this orange, she just sees it as this orange thing, and I'm like, I kind of love it. I think it's cool. Yeah, yeah. So um I love it too. Yeah, it's it's it's so interesting, isn't it? The way that you know, what could be on trend for someone, what could be timeless for someone, could be the most off-putting thing for someone else.

Speaker 1 47:49

So I think you make a really good point though, Lauren, that something can be can be timeless. I think cork kind of is a good example where, or let's say stone is maybe an even better example that's sort of always been a material that's been used in interiors and probably has never really gone out of fashion. Maybe it's become more common. But it doesn't mean that you don't want to change at some point. And I think to your point, Lauren, is it can be timeless, but it doesn't mean you live with it forever because we all change our, you know, mode and evolve and and go like we need something fresher or we feel like we're in a different stage of our life now, and now we want to have colour in the home or whatever it is. So it doesn't mean that it wasn't timeless to begin with, it just means it's not for you anymore, right?

Speaker 2 48:33

Oh, yeah, I like that. Exactly. And I mean, stone is a good example as well because I I think that stone was out of fashion. Remember when like everyone was going for like the Caesar stone, the the white or the black, very non-pattern. And then there was this shift again to quite heavily patterned and veined. I think I was thinking of real stone, not well, true, but yes, I mean real stone, I it went out of fashion in a way. The heavily veinish marbles.

Speaker 1 49:01

Ah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 49:03

Yeah, yeah. And people had this other option, so they they went with that. But you know, something as timeless as natural stone has been out of fashion as well. I don't know exactly.

Speaker 3 49:15

It's a bit of an ever-evolving conversation, isn't it? But I Well, that's why we love to have it. Yeah. And everyone, everyone is concerned about it. But I think if you are engaging somebody to help you with your home, you're you are already on the right path because you're just going to spend that extra time and really consider it. And at the end of the day, if you love what it is, then it's the right choice for you rather than what you think is on trend or not on trend or what everyone else thinks. And you just have to love it. And that's that's how it'll be the right decision for you. And often they just need a second set of eyes to say, yep, that's a great decision. I think you should go with that. And it's a confidence. Exactly.

Speaker 49:52

Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 49:54

And I love what you've chosen, you know, to say to a client, I love what you've chosen. But imagine if we put it with this, and they're like, Oh my god, I I had a consultation with a lady the other day, and she's like, I just got goosebumps. I was like, so did I. Like, you know, when you just feel so excited about something and you just like that, but she already had the stone and she actually already had she had a whole bunch of materials, but sometimes it's what you say, Bec. It's like the confidence to say yes and yes, but what about with that? And they actually kind of had the answers, but it was just um, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 50:25

They often know, yeah. They often know, and they've spent a lot of time thinking about it, but they just don't know how to put it all together and then just have that confidence to push the button and make that decision. So that's obviously our job to to back them on that and say, Yeah, I think I think we should go for it. Yeah, it is so fun. It's not our money anyway, but yeah. I know, I know.

Speaker 2 50:47

So good, Bec. Hopeless. All right, thank you so much for the chat. It was so good to catch up with you. And when are we gonna come down to the beach, Bree, and have a drink with Bec at one of her many venues she's designed? I know. It's good. Or maybe we'll just walk past her house and look in the window.

Speaker 51:06

Oh, how just you're welcome anytime.

Speaker 3 51:12

Oh, that's so sweet. Thanks, Bec.

Speaker 1 51:14

Well, maybe we need to wait for the the bar to open so we can do a bit of a hop between the hospitality venues.

Acknowledgement Of Country

Speaker 2 51:21

Exactly. I'll give you a tour. Sounds so fun. So good to chat. You too. Thank you for having me. 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.