styling retreat – The Interiors Addict

Julia Green, stylist and owner of homewares and art retailer Greenhouse Interiors, shares why it’s never too late to follow your interiors dream. She’s now helping others do so through her styling retreats.

Behind the scenes at last month’s styling retreat

It really is never too late to make a career change. And I am living, walking proof of that! At 39, I had a chance encounter with a photographer from Vogue magazine and ended up styling and writing for magazines without ever really meaning to.

But it was my entire 20 years of working prior to this move (largely in pharmaceuticals!) that set the stage for a seamless transition. We have so many transferable skills in our older years, it’s just all about working out how to make the transition.

On my styling retreats, I not only focus on pulling likeminded creative souls together into the one room, and hosting a live photoshoot, but I also teach them the practical ‘how to’ and what is involved in making the change possible at all.

Becoming a stylist is far more than making spaces look pretty. The commercials are what most people overlook: how to price your time and your worth, how to navigate PR, managing your social media, pitching work to magazines and so much more.

Interior styling is a guarded industry of information and not an easy place to cut your teeth. So the idea of my course is to break down the barriers, explore the realities, and work out if it really is the right move for you.

I asked my most recent group of students to reflect on their learnings, and here is what one of them, Paige Davies, had to say:

“Once we’d registered we were sent a questionnaire to understand our backgrounds, skills and career aspirations – for most of us it was an opportunity for reflection on why we were drawn to this retreat, our aspirations and, importantly, what we love most about interiors and styling.

“And then, before we knew it, the day was upon us and eight excited and highly motivated women came together at the Greenhouse Interiors flagship store in Geelong one Sunday morning. We were met and embraced warmly by Julia and quickly got to know each other’s motivations – we had a couple of new mums with a passion for styling, a lawyer pursuing a career change, women with new homes they wanted to take to the next level, an artist, small business owners and a few corporates wondering if this was a hobby or a genuine opportunity for change.

Students hard at work at Julia Green’s styling retreat

“Julia was bursting with information and took us through styling 101 and insights into many of the campaigns she has shot. We were asked to challenge our thinking on neutrals, think about colour pairings, styling cues and consistency between symmetrical or random styling. We learnt about flats in studios, patterns on walls and block colour on floors (and vice versa) and the brief to always make things look lived in and like someone has just left the room (plants, wine glasses, doors and windows open, etc). We discussed proportionality and scale and challenging the dimensions of the space and where rugs and lighting comes into play, and we learnt about the stylist’s’ “prop library”.

“The next part of the day we were paired up and received a styling brief for a room. Fortunately we were teamed with an incredibly talented photographer, Steph Rooney, as well as Julia’s styling collaborator Aisha, and collectively our number one learning was that what you see with the naked eye and what you see through the lens are very different things.

“You can no doubt study and build capability in interior styling and we would never want to detract from the professional attributes and credentials of many working in this field, but ultimately, as with any profession, it comes down to a talent, and in this dynamic and exciting area we understood that it comes down to an eye for detail and a raw understanding of composition, colour, texture and scale that can come together to create something uniquely beautiful, and the ability to work as a team.

“Bravo Julia and bravo to the women who came together to embrace the idea of a creative career change. We all individually left the course motivated and armed with knowledge to make the right choices for our future.”

Contact Greenhouse Interiors for more information on their next styling retreat.

Styling (for Greenhouse Interiors):@mylifeunstyled @gardencreative @paigeedavies @nighthavenhouse @sticksandbricksdesign @studiohartcreative @jade_lee_atelier @annabelseniordesign and @interiordesignstein

Photography:@stephanierooney

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Renowned interior stylist Julia Green recently made the bold (and some would say crazy!) decision to open the doors of her own home to six strangers for a weekend styling retreat and the results are incredible. Just look at these pictures created by her inspired students!

For two epic days, six emerging stylists — Tamara Broman, Maria Cerne, Carmel Bertina, Lisa Kefford, Helen Grima and Vikki Stuckey — immersed themselves in the all things styling.

Julia opened not only her house but also her heart, sharing everything from styling basics, to presenting the perfect pitch, industry expectations and most important of all, how to dream big! “It was a risk,” says Julia. “But I love taking a risk. It’s how you grow. They all left in tears saying it was the single greatest experience of their lives (other than giving birth!). Some sold furniture to attend, another forwent her 40th party to secure her ticket. They gave up a lot to come and I gave them EVERYTHING I had. It all paid off big time for every one of us.”

In addition, guests participated in a social media workshop with Sam Firestone of Sites by Sam. With over 20 years’ experience, Sam was able to navigate the pros, cons and hows of the social media maze as well as offer insights on how to make a social media profile stand out from the crowd.

Julia’s ethos is all about doing, not saying. “Styling is so much about learning from mistakes, you really need to get in and be prepared to get your hands dirty,” she says. And that’s exactly what these aspiring stylists did. The brief stated that the group were to be responsible for the conceptualisation, sourcing and execution of a lounge room, dining room, bedroom and vignette shot.

Photographer Stephanie Rooney collaborated with the team and highlighted how a shot that is beautiful to the eye can be downright blah through the camera lens (and vice versa!). After preening pillows, moving artwork higher then lower, and arranging throws with more folds and less folds, the group were rewarded with a series of professional photos (shown here) that will enable them to kickstart their styling folios.

“Each of these girls came from very different backgrounds, however they all shared a love of colour, a love of interiors and a desire to make a room more than just a space with pretty things,” Julia said. “They all got that a room had to make you feel something. I have a hunch that each and every one of these girls are going on to do something big, just watch this space! They left with was something money can’t buy … a sliding door moment that has now enabled each one of them to take their first step down their own unique career path.”

Those in the industry are already familiar with Julia’s boundless energy and enthusiasm but many questioned her move to invite strangers into her own home for a weekend. The decision however is one Julia does not regret. In fact, she’s going to be holding more intimate workshops in the future; the next styling retreat being scheduled for 17 and 18 March 2018. The cost is $2,200.

For more information.