Tag: Facebook

The most popular Facebook groups for interiors and reno addicts

Post author By Amy Collins-Walker
Post date March 7, 2022
No Comments on The most popular Facebook groups for interiors and reno addicts

If you’re a renovation or interiors enthusiast, it has never been easier to connect with like-minded individuals. Online design communities are seemingly infinite but we’ve done the research to bring you the most popular Australian Facebook groups in this space. From where to find the perfect tile to advice on flooring, landscaping, kitchens, bathrooms and more, these groups are a fabulous free resource for interiors and reno addicts.

The Reno Club

With almost 50k members, this home improvement group is a great forum for members to have discussions, ask for advice and inspiration with respect to all things construction and design. Popular discussion points include flooring and tiling conundrums and many members post fabulous before and afters of their handiwork.

Women who Design, Decorate, Renovate & Build

Set up by BuildHer Collective, as the name suggests, this group is designed to help women renovate and build. It’s a great adjunct to the BuildHer Collective business which runs a popular course designed to guide women through every step of the building journey, with the support of like-minded people.

The Hamptons Home Decorator AU

As the name suggests, this group is one for Hamptons-inspired home enthusiasts. The group’s 80k members regularly trade advice on a variety of topics including wainscoting, coastal-inspired paint colours and the final finishing Hamptons styling touches.

Renovating Mums – Sydney

Designed for Sydney-based women who are in the process of renovating, this 15k strong group offers support, knowledge and guidance within the space. “This is the place for any women currently renovating or thinking about it, to come together, ask questions, get ideas and find out top tips that have helped others,” says the group that also has a local recommended services directory as well as a supporting blog and resources. All trade recommendations have been referred by personal use or by fellow renovators.

The Profitable Designer Community

Created by Clare Le Roy of The Little Design Corner, this industry group was set up as a resource for interior designers, decorators, architects and landscape designers who are thinking about starting a design business.

This group is an adjunct to Clare’s courses that are designed to help designers and architects find more clients and grow professional and profitable businesses. The group also allows members the opportunity to connect and collaborate with other designers from around the world.

Interior Design & Decor

This very popular Sydney-based group has almost 164k design obsessed members who tune in for their daily dose of interiors and architectural inspiration. From a hotel in Asia to a fabulous commercial fit-out in South America, the wide ranging spaces originate from all corners of the globe.

Renovation Ideas and DIY Forum Australia

This is a group for people interested in renovating their property to share stories, ideas and photos. This group has a particular focus on DIY and there’s plenty of great before, progress and after shots of projects too.

Mums Who Build, Decorate & Renovate

Another large group (it has almost 132k members), this group was started by mums Rachael and Karlie who have built a community designed to help Aussie women get advice on a range of renovation topics. The large group is friendly and supportive and it’s a great platform for people to share and ask about all sorts of home building, renovating and decorating tasks.

Are there any other hidden treasures you’d add to our list? Please comment below!

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Tags Facebook, Facebook groups, interior design, interiors, renovating, renovation

House Tours Renting

Real Homes: Melissa Barratt from Home Decorating Mummas

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date October 7, 2015
7 Comments on Real Homes: Melissa Barratt from Home Decorating Mummas

The co-founder of one of Facebook’s most popular Australian decorating groups has a house that many of its members envy!

Melissa Barratt set up Home Decorating Mummas with Cheree Lawrence two years ago and it has more than 13,000 extremely enthusiastic members sharing their homes, bargains, ideas and homewares hacks, and giving each other inspiration.

Melissa has always rented and definitely sees this as no barrier to having a stylish home. Her own, which she shares with her husband and four daughters near Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast, with its muted colour scheme and always-styled look, gets hundreds of compliments each time she shares it.

“I think my style is very relaxed Hamptons coastal with a bit of French chic! I always try to make a place feel like our home as much as I can within reason of what our landlords allow! I want my girls’ rooms to feel to them as they would as if we owned our own home. As with most rentals, you cannot really change much regarding wall colour or putting in new hooks so I do try and find nice pieces of furniture.”

Like many renters, 3M removable hooks are a staple! Melissa’s biggest challenge has been working with bold feature walls in her current home which are definitely not her colour choice, particularly with her obsession with white! “Often people think I’m crazy with so many kids having white, but my lounge covers can be washed and so can most of my other furniture coverings.”

She loves a good bargain, as do many of the fellow mummas in the group, and is also an enthusiastic upcycler, making and making over many pieces with her husband. “I mix cheaper items with more expensive things. The girls’ beds, my dining table and bedroom furniture were all from Gumtree! I then painted, waxed and sealed them and styled them with a mix of cheaper and more expensive decorations and candles. I love shops like Pillowtalk and Kmart and get a lot online or after seeing it on Instagram (a woman after our own hearts!).”

The response Melissa gets from members on the Facebook group has definitely built her confidence and she has recently enrolled to study interior design, hoping to one day make a career of it. “The girls on there are great and everyone helps and encourages in positive ways. I don’t think Cheree and I ever thought the page would be so successful! It’s also helped us go down paths we probably wouldn’t have gone down. Cheree now has her blog Oh So Busy Mum too. So yes, the page has been great for us.”

Love a Kmart or Adairs bargain? Transforming a roadside find with chalk or spray paint? Love taking a peek at other people’s decor projects in real homes? Want a few hundred opinions on the best way to style your buffet? Perhaps you should apply to join!

Tags chalk paint, cheree lawrence, decorating, Facebook, home decorating mummas, homewares hacks, kmart, melissa barratt, oh so busy mum, upcycling

The Block

What do we do about Block spoilers?

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date February 2, 2015
6 Comments on What do we do about Block spoilers?

It’s very rare I encounter criticism on the internet, which makes a me a lot luckier than many bloggers. But what does happen, and it winds me up a bit I must admit, is people complaining about seeing Block “spoilers” on our social media accounts.

Earlier this month, for example, we published an interview with last series’ Glasshouse winners Shannon and Simon Vos. It seemed nice timing with the new series about to start. What I hadn’t even considered, being that they won back in October, was that I would get a whole host of sad faces and “thanks for ruining it for me” comments on Instagram when I shared the interview. These were from our New Zealand readers who are, incredibly, still only part-way though The Block Glasshouse. Sigh. Is it really reasonable for an Australian blog to be expected to be careful about revealing the winner of a show more than three months ago?

I totally get that it would be annoying to find out early, but the comments, the real despair, anger and sad faces which people articulate is a little over the top. It’s just a TV show!

But maybe I am being unreasonable? What do you think?

I cannot tell you quite how much our readers love the The Block and our traffic goes through the roof when it’s on (which is excellent news for us bloggers!). So we really want to bring the fans all the latest news, opinions, interviews and any exclusives we might get, as quickly as we can.

I’m really happy we have readers from NZ and all over the world, but I do think it’s a bit much to hold off for a quarter of a year to ever mention who won the episode while another country catches up? Seeing spoilers on social media is just part of life these days isn’t it? And if you really don’t want to know, it is probably wise to unfollow media outlets who write about TV shows relevant to their genre in real-time?

We get the same with those in different states who have to wait an hour or two to watch what we’re watching here in New South Wales and I have more sympathy for that. This is why we will always endeavour to bear all the Australian timezones in mind before posting about winners of room reveals or series. But again, if you really care about not finding out, just stay off Facebook for an hour or two? It’s what my husband does if (God forbid) he has to miss a Formula One race and wants to watch it later without already knowing what happened. Because I can’t promise the rest of the social media-using world will be as careful as we will. Why should they? If you don’t want to know, isn’t it your responsibility to avoid the place where everyone is likely to be talking about something?

Or maybe all our social shares of Block posts should carry a #SPOILERALERT? Would that help perhaps?

I did find this article on CNET which explains how you can avoid social media spoilers if you use Google Chrome. I haven’t tried it myself but it might be worth checking out.

I don’t really understand how people get their knickers in such a twist about TV shows anyway. The sheer venom I see posted by viewers (and directed towards contestants and judges) on The Block Facebook Page never fails to shock me. If you don’t like it, just change channel!

Like this guy, for example, who sent me a private message on Facebook last week:

Um, it’s not advertising (that’s paid for), it’s writing about what my readers are interested in and I can pretty much write about whatever I like, thanks very much!

Love to hear your views below but please, no sad faces?!

Tags Facebook, glasshouse, judges, online, reality tv, room reveal, shannon and simon, spoilers, the block, timezones, triple threat, trolls, twitter, winners

Art

Transform your Facebook and Instagram snaps into unique and personal artworks

Post author By Olivia Shead
Post date May 16, 2014

I’m arguably too obsessed with my pets, so when I got the opportunity to review PosterCandy, which takes your Facebook, Instagram and hard drive snaps and turns them into prints, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to create a montage of my cats and dog. I’m not crazy, I promise!

The final result is beautiful and with PosterCandy’s easy to use website, affordable pricing and poster sizes that are designed to fit frames readily available at IKEA (that’s where I got mine from) and photography and discount stores, it is the perfect low-cost option for creating unique, personal art.

Coming in portrait, landscape or square sizes, you can create anything from a small poster with six images to a huge A0 size poster with up to 368 photos! PosterCandy also makes single prints, a perfect way to create a beautiful keepsake for a loved one far away or as an imaginative invite.

The website though, is what makes the experience so easy, with the application uploading your chosen images direct from your device or social media sites. The simple drag and drop system allows easy placement where you want, or you can jumble or randomise. You can even add text, crop images or save projects to return to at a later date.

Once you’ve finished your artwork, the PosterCandy team will take care of the rest, using the highest quality production materials and printing processes, before the poster is shipped to your doorstep.

In this digital age, treasured photos more often than not never come off your device, and in fact before receiving this poster I can’t remember the last time I held my photos in my hands! But with prices starting from 65 cents for single image prints or $15 for a poster, PosterCandy is making the switch to hard copy easy.

Shop Online.

Tags affordable art, artwork, Facebook, featured, instagram, photo, photography, poster, postercandy, review, social media

Interiors Addict

neybers: an online game for would-be designers and interiors addicts

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date December 27, 2013
1 Comment on neybers: an online game for would-be designers and interiors addicts

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Imagine an online game (I say game because it’s so fun, but you could also call it a tool on account of how useful it is) where you can spend hours creating dream rooms and filling them with furniture available in the real world, then sharing them on your social networks at the click of a button. Introducing neybers!

The possibilities are endless. You can change everything from room layout, wall coverings, number and type of windows, lighting, furniture, rugs, art and accessories. It’s easy to resize, move and flip the furniture and you can get started straight away. Whether it’s just for fun, to help you with your plans for your own home, your future home, or even as a budding interior designer, this is addictive and the results look great. If you have some time off this Christmas, you may find yourself on this for hours without realising it!

Tags amagumo games, decorating, design, Facebook, featured, interiors, neybers, online game, pinterest, reno, swiss, virtual reality

Interiors Addict

Changes to Facebook Pages and others ways to follow my blog

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date December 18, 2013

It’s come to my attention over the last few weeks that, due to the latest round of Facebook changes, many of you who would usually follow the latest blog posts via my Facebook Page just aren’t seeing them in your feed anymore. There was me thinking people were just busy with Christmas!

Now I don’t have the time, and this isn’t the place, to go into a big debate about what Facebook should or shouldn’t be doing (on the one hand I understand they’re a business, not a charity, but on the other, it’s just NOT FAIR!) so here are some other ways you can keep up with the latest posts if you choose to:

Follow Interiors Addict on bloglovin for the day’s posts sent to your inbox along with your other favourite blogs, all in one place
Continue reading “Changes to Facebook Pages and others ways to follow my blog”

Tags 7 vignettes, bloglovin, enews, Facebook, facebook changes, facebook pages, instagram, newsletter, twitter

Interiors Addict

The Sofa Maker lets you design your dream lounge online

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date December 5, 2013
2 Comments on The Sofa Maker lets you design your dream lounge online

A new concept in custom-made furniture, The Sofa Maker, lets you create your sofa online, cutting out the middleman and giving you direct access to the craftsmen who make it.

“We formed the project around a really simple idea,” says Shelley Mason, co-founder of The Sofa Maker and owner of Sydney interior design store Project 82.

“What if we could create a website that cuts out the middlemen – giving customers maximum input into the design process and direct access to the craftsmen who build their sofa? Would scrapping the showroom, cutting transportation costs and providing a purely online product make it possible to offer customisable, handcrafted sofas at an amazing price?”

It turns out the answer is yes. You simply visit The Sofa Maker, create your sofa and their craftsmen will build it to order. The website lets you choose every aspect of your sofa from the style to the size, fabric and wood stain, where applicable.

Tags buy direct, buy sofa online, couch, craftsmen, custom made, Facebook, featured, furniture, interiors, lounge, project 82, settee, shelley mason, sofa, swatches, the sofa maker

Designers

The interior designers on Facebook

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date June 13, 2012
6 Comments on The interior designers on Facebook

Want to know where to get your interior inspiration on Facebook? Here’s my pick of the designers with their own pages. What are you waiting for? Go like!

Abigail Ahern: One of my favourite UK interiors people, Abigail has a great blog, full of inspiration, gorgeous images and plenty of humour. She links to the best of her blog from her fab Facebook page.

Greg Natale: Last year’s Belle | Coco Republic Interior Designer of the Year is always sharing pix of his latest work, links to press coverage and snaps of him at parties and industry events.

Darren Palmer: This former reality TV star turned up and coming interior designer knows all about using social media and PR. In fact, he’s talking about just that at decoration + design with me in Melbourne next month. Darren has a regularly updated Facebook page.

Kelly Hoppen: Brand Hoppen is all over the internet with its own app, Facebook, Twitter, all of it! Keep in touch with everything the London designer’s doing via her Facebook page.

Arent & Pyke: Closer to home, Sydney duo Juliette Aren’t and Sarah-Jane Pyke are also sharing photos of their work and things they love on Facebook.

Shaynna Blaze: Twitter, blogging, Facebook ; the The Block judge and Selling Houses Australia presenter is all over it!

Tags abigail ahern, arent & pyke, darren palmer, Facebook, greg natale, kelly hoppen, shaynna blaze, social media

Designers

Darren Palmer and I share our secrets to PR and social media at decoration + design international industry seminar series

Post author By Jen Bishop
Post date May 18, 2012
3 Comments on Darren Palmer and I share our secrets to PR and social media at decoration + design international industry seminar series

I’m delighted to announce that Darren Palmer and I will be sharing the secrets of using PR and social media to grow your design business as part of the international industry seminar series at Melbourne’s decoration + design in July.

I’ll be sharing my experience, both as a journalist and magazine editor and as a blogger. If you have questions on how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to boost your design business and grow your brand, I’m your woman! I can also give you tips on how to spark the interest of a magazine editor or blogger.

Darren, who first shot to fame on reality TV shows homeMADE and The Block, is a regular in all the homes magazines as well as GQ. He’ll share his secrets to getting your work featured in the media and how that exposure has helped him grow his business and become one of Sydney’s most talked about up and coming designers.

You can find out more details and book your ticket here. I hope to see you there!

Darren Palmer

Tags darren palmer, decoration + design, Facebook, instagram, interest, melbourne, the block, trade fair, twitter