Tag: take 5

Categories
RENO ADDICT Styling

Take 5 with stylist and property expert Naomi Findlay

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best gift they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Naomi Findlay, owner of design business Silk Home and the International Institute of Home Staging, and resident expert on our sister site Reno Addict. 

naomi findlay

1. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? 

My first travel journal before I took off around the world for four years. It helped me find the joy in story and travel, creating memories that now, as a mum of four, I cherish reading.

2. What’s your favourite book?

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch are my faves. They are full of simple and grounding reminders on the key things that are important: trust, respect and love.

3. What’s your go-to recipe?

San Choy Bow. It is so simple to make, so fresh and bursting with flavours. But the best part is, it is super quick and the whole family gets to get messy eating it with our hands.

4. What’s your favourite shop?

Surprisingly I am not a shopper at all. I am generally forced to buy clothes, shoes and jewellery by those close to me (Jen included!). But I do have a small weakness driven by necessity for good boots from Wittner.

5. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Nothing is unachievable if your really want it, so just believe and you will thrive! This has and still does apply to anything I do in life. It is generally ourselves that get in our own way, so once you believe you can then you can!

Categories
Interviews

Take 5 with Julia Green of Greenhouse Interiors

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best gift they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Julia Green, stylist extraordinaire and founder of Greenhouse Interiors.

julia green 1

1. What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

Pardon the cliché, but without a shadow of a doubt my children. They bring me more happiness (and admittedly grief!) than any object. They make me feel better about everything, they reflect all of my values and they are my best buddies. Just one hug in their arms and I go to jelly. Babies don’t fall off trees (as I found out the hard way) and I feel very blessed to have helped make two healthy little souls — that’s a lot to be grateful for. So thanks hubby for the part you played too. They are the best gift I could ever ask for.

2. What three people would be at your perfect dinner party?

My mum, for her hilarity and gregarious non-judging ways. She is a hoot, and someone I am completely at ease with. If Patrick (from Offspring) was still alive, I would have invited him just to look at… but he’s dead. So perhaps Nina could come instead (in character because she was funny). And don’t ask me why, but I think I want to meet Guy Sebastian. Is that just random? He seems so lovely, and Mum and I could crank out some good karaoke with him, as we are partial to a bit of that after a few vinos together (she does the harmony).

3. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

I have been handed some pearls of wisdom over the years, that’s for sure. But my mother taught me from a young age to back myself, trust my gut feeling and to never give up. I now pass those values onto my own kiddliwinks.

4. What is your favorite shop?

Well funny you should ask as I just launched my own Greenhouse Interiors online store, so I am going to unashamedly say my own. I have had the honour of representing a group of insanely clever artists here in Australia for over five years and their talent has always blown me away. My own home is a shrine to their work, so I can say hand on heart, a store that supports them and their genius creativity is a place I would personally want to shop day and night!

5. What is your favourite piece of furniture you own? 

Oh that’s like asking me to choose a favourite child… impossible! I love my Jardan bed and just wish I could spend more time in it. I treasure a host of beautiful original artworks from Belynda Henry, Ali McNabney-Stevens, Prudence Caroline and Armelle Habib, but my latest love is Rabbit Girl, a green resin sculpture from Gilli and Marc that sits atop my concrete hearth in the lounge room. Oh, and I adore my new black and white awning on my deck and my vertical garden. And I could keep going!

Categories
Designers Interviews

Take 5 with Emma Cleine of Lumiere Art + Co

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Emma Cleine, the artist and designer behind Lumiere Art + Co.

Emma Cleine of Lumiere Art + Co

1. What is your favourite cafe?

I live in Red Hill South, on the Mornington Peninsula, home of wineries and beaches. When I’m home I like to keep it local, so it’s a toss-up between Johnny Ripe, my local bakery with UNBELIEVABLE vanilla slices (I’m shouting here!) or Cellar and Pantry, my local supermarket and post office, which has a deck where you can sip coffee and admire the view of the surrounding orchard. Both offer local produce, locally roasted coffee beans, friendly faces and treats to boot.

2. What is your favourite holiday destination?

Italy. I’ve been too many times to count and I’ll keep returning. Culture, food, its family friendly, amazing contemporary art, the Biennale, beaches, cheap champagne, cheese and prosecco. What more do you need?

3. What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

Can I say something I gave myself? I bought our family a Miranda Skoczek painting last year and it was so monumental in my life my timeline has now turned into BM (before Miranda) and AM (after Miranda). Life AM is amazing we all enjoy this artwork everyday.

4. What three people would be at your perfect dinner party?

Australian printmaker Margaret Preston, she pioneered Australian modern art in a time when most women were homemakers. I love her foresight and incredible respect for Australia. Lena Dunham, writer and producer of HBO’s Girls. She says what we all think and gets stuff done. Lastly, David Bowie, the guy is superhuman and a true artist. What a combo. I would serve fondue and local wines.

5. What is your favourite shop?

I would have to say Dinosaur Designs. I’ve been visiting since I was in my first year at uni and each time I would visit was a really big deal. My friends and I would plan our day around visiting the store on Chapel Street and I would save, save and save to buy a bangle or necklace. We thought of the staff as gods. It’s timeless and always exciting. The colours and textures are inspiring and holy moley they are have done so well.

Categories
Styling

Take 5 with Megan Morton

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Megan Morton, prolific stylist, designer and author and founder of The School.   

megan morton

1. Who is your favourite musician?
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions.

2. What is your favourite holiday destination?
I hate it when people say amazing places (who doesn’t love Sicily, Paris and India?!) but unequally love Tasmania and Queensland.

3. The best gift you’ve ever received?
My three children.

4. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
If you’re going to do something, just do it well.

5. What is your favourite piece of furniture you own?
At the moment I love my new four poster bed from Incy Interiors and I have made it my own with grey dipped socks. It also makes for a great bed-robe! I air my maxi skirts seasonally on its handy four posts.

Categories
Interviews

Take 5 with our very own Jen Bishop

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Jen Bishop, publisher and editor of Interiors Addict and Reno Addict.

Jen (58 of 111)-processed

1. What is your favourite cafe?

I love The Boatshed at Balmoral, which is my favourite Sydney beach. The food and coffee are always great and the location and styling are gorgeous!

2. What is your favourite holiday destination?

It’s way too hard to pick just one so I’ll cheat! The most interesting and awe-inspiring place I’ve ever been is Luxor in Egypt, probably my favourite ever city is Paris (I first went when I was 18, my first trip overseas without parents, fell in love with it and couldn’t stop returning) and I’ll never ever get sick of New York.

3. What is the best gift you’ve ever received? 

For my last birthday, my husband brought my best friend over from the UK as a surprise. Having just had baby Seb a couple of months before, it was amazing to share this special time with her in Sydney.

4. What is your favourite book?

(OK, so I’m not good at picking just one thing!). From a business perspective, I got a lot out of Thrive by Ariana Huffington and The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. My favourite childhood books are The Railway Children, The Secret Garden and Alice in Wonderland. And as an adult, some of my favourite novels include The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice and The Picture of Dorian Gray (I’m a sucker for the classics!).

5. What is your favourite piece of furniture you own?

I just love my vintage marble-topped coffee table which was a bargain eBay find. Sadly it is a complete death/serious injury trap for kids so I’ve had to move it out of the living room now I’m a mum!

Categories
Homewares

Take 5 with Aura’s Tracie Ellis

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Tracie Ellis, founder of homewares brand Aura.

TracieEllisLOW 11

1. What is your favourite holiday destination?

Outback Australia with my husband. I love being remote and away from the crowds, just popping on shorts, a t-shirt and thongs and being out in such beautiful country. Also the lack of internet and phone coverage! The only way I will stop working. 

2. What is the best gift you’ve received?

My engagement ring from my husband David, after being together for 10 years I can honestly say I didn’t see that coming! Needless to say there were tears.

3. What’s your go-to recipe?

Andrew McConnell’s slow cooked lamb with cumin. I cooked this to take to a friend’s lunch a couple of years ago and it’s always fabulous. You slow cook the lamb for eight-to-10 hours knowing that at the end of the day you will have a winner meal on your hands!

4. What is your favourite shop?

ESS in Gertrude St, Fitzroy as it’s locally made, the people who work there are so friendly and it has great one-off pieces. I never come out without a purchase.

5. What is your favourite piece of furniture you own?

Our new Cheminees Philippe Wood Fireplace. As well as being the most beautiful fireplace you will ever see it is doing a marvellous job of keeping us toasty and warm in Kyneton.

Categories
Bedrooms Designers Homewares

Take 5 with Kip & Co’s Alex van der Sluys

Kate Heppell and Hayley Pannekoecke

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Alex van der Sluys, co-founder of bedding brand Kip & Co.

Kate Heppell and Hayley Pannekoecke
Alex van der Sluys (left) with co-founders Kate Heppell and Hayley Pannekoecke

1. What is your favourite holiday destination?

New Orleans is quite something else. I am a sucker for any city where it is socially acceptable to walk around with a giant plastic cup of gin and tonic and where the worst musician on the street is still better than most I’d hear at my local. The heat, the architecture, the voodoo history, the people. All good.

2. What is the best gift you’ve ever been given?

I just got an apple watch and I LOVE it. Self professed apple geek.

3. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Go back to bed. And I give that advice to myself every morning.

4. What is your favourite homeware you own?

I’ve got a big old case with the name HH Hunter on it. It was the dentist case of my amazing relative who died at Gallipoli aged 33, having already played AFL for Essendon and played American Football AND worked as a successful dentist. He set the bar high!

5. Who is your favourite musician?

I love the new album by The Weeknd, beauty behind the madness. He has a bit of a potty mouth but is totally addictive.

Categories
Designers Furniture Interviews Kids Rooms

Take 5 with Kristy Withers

Kristie and her children Oscar and Polly

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best gift they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Kristy Withers, founder of designer kids furniture brand, Incy Interiors.

Kristie and her children Oscar and Polly
Kristy and her children Oscar and Polly

1. Who is your favourite musician? 

Okay this is super embarrassing but it would have to be Garth Brooks. You can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl!

2. What is the best gift you’ve ever received? 

I know it is cliché, but it would be my children. They are my entire world and they have taught me to be patient, honest and, after a recent $300 iTunes charge, why I need internet security!

3. What is your favourite cafe?

The Old Mill, Millthorpe. It’s in my little hometown and the owner trained with Adriano Zumbo and she does the most amazing cakes. It isn’t ideal as it’s only two blocks from my house.

4. What’s your go-to recipe?  

Playdoh! As I always have the ingredients and it keeps my daughter Polly entertained for hours. 

5. What is your favourite piece of furniture? 

My son’s Oscar bed as it was the reason I started Incy Interiors in the first place. My son still sleeps in our original sample.

Categories
Designers Interviews

Take 5 with Chloe Brookman

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Chloe Brookman, one half of kids furniture business, Olli Ella.

cinnamonlane-olliella-10

1. What is your favourite cafe?

Tigermottle in Paddington. Killer coffee, delicious breakfast (my favourite meal) and nestled amongst gorgeous Paddington terraces. It’s also walking distance from our home!

2. What is your favourite holiday destination?

Costa Rica. Although last time we went there we chose a little eco lodge on a beach called Playa Nicuesa, which the locals lovingly refer to as Mosquito Beach! We didn’t find that out until we were actually there unfortunately.

Costa Rica I love for the food, the proximity to both beaches and rainforests and the people. It’s an untouched paradise.

3. What three people would be at your perfect dinner party?

Oscar Wilde, Stevie Wonder and Stephen Hawking.

4. What’s your go-to recipe?

Homemade spinach pesto pasta. It’s delish (the whole family loves it) and it’s the only way I can get my kiddies to eat greens without some serious molecular gastronomy!

5. Who is your favourite musician? 

Billy Bragg for his folky melodies that you can sing along to at the top of your lungs, driving with the windows open and the kids covering their ears in the back.

Categories
Homewares Interviews Styling

Take 5 with Tim Neve

Tim Neve

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from their favourite cafe and shop to their favourite book and musician. Today we chat to Tim Neve, the beach-loving stylist, author and fabric and wallpaper designer.

Tim Neve
Tim Neve

1. What is your favourite cafe?

In Newcastle, Suspension Espresso at Islington has the best coffee. So much so, it’s why I chose just around the corner to open my pop-up shop! It’s far from glam — in fact, it’s grunge — but the caffeine kick never fails to get my creative juices flowing each morning. I’m not the only one who loves it, be prepared to join the line outside the front door each morning.

2. What is your favourite book? 

Styling wise, I can’t go past the wonderful Sibella Court’s book Etc. I remember when it came out and how it cemented for me that styling was more than just cushion fluffing. I honestly believe this book changed the format and tone of good interiors books, and it’s the reason I hunted down the same publisher (Murdoch Books) for mine.

3. What is your favourite shop? 

I’m always on the hunt for the unique and one-off, so vintage and op-shops are a weekly outing. Newcastle also has a growing artisan markets scene — Hunt and Gather markets are amazing, with handcrafted homewares that are also bang-on trend. I also can’t stop myself from going inside a bargain $2 shop — you never know what little goodies you might find inside as future styling props!

4. What is your favourite homeware you own? 

As a stylist my favourite changes constantly, as I am lucky enough to have in my possession a rotating treasure chest of wares and props. But at the moment it’s a cushion design from my debut range with Sparkk called Mermania, in a fresh coral colourway. It’s a watercolour scallop pattern that looks like the scales of a fish, or mermaid’s tail.

5. Who is your favourite musician?

The daily grind of styling can be stressful, with more often than not unrealistic deadlines and demanding clients. But it’s the pop tunes of Kylie that make sure I always have a smile on my face. I also love anything that helps to keep the mood upbeat and energy flowing, anything from the original ’80s to latest releases will do the trick for me. That being said, I can’t stand commercial radio for more than a few minutes, so the car radio is always tuned to the ever-soothing ABC Classic FM.

Categories
Interviews

Take 5 with Juliet Love

Juliet Love (left) and husband Charlie Albone

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from the best advice they’ve ever received to their favourite holiday destination. Today we chat to Juliet Love: stylist, TV presenter and author of Love Style.

Juliet Love (left) and husband Charlie Albone
Juliet Love (left) and husband and landscape designer, Charlie Albone

1. What is your favourite holiday destination?

My favourite holiday destination would have to be Capri. My best friend Lucie was married there, and I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid. The food, the scenery, the water, the architecture, the shopping, the people — there isn’t anything I don’t like about the Amalfi Coast. It’s truly spectacular.

2. What is the best gift you’ve ever been given?

The best gift I’ve been given is my Chanel 2.55 Bag. It was a birthday present from my husband and will last a lifetime. It’s a classic.

3. What three people would be at your perfect dinner party?

Nate Berkus for his style, Ellen DeGeneres for her humour and Deepak Chopra for his intellect.

4. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I’ve ever been given is to live in the moment and find joy in the little things. It’s all too easy in our modern world to get caught up in the fast pace of life and forget what’s important.

5. What is your favourite piece of furniture you own?

With so much mass-produced furniture around, I love things that have a history and tell a story. My favourite piece at home is my late grandfather’s timber dining table. It’s an oval extension table that was originally my great-grandmother’s. It’s well-loved and has lots of character (i.e. scratches and dents!). My grandfather would sit at the table after school to do his homework and now my own children, Leo and Hart, sit at the table to eat their dinner. It’s very special. I’ve made it more modern by replacing the carved timber dining chairs that go with it with some more contemporary upholstered high back chairs.

Categories
Designers Expert Tips Furniture

Take 5 with Kate Pascoe Squires

Kate Pascoe Squires (left) and

Each week we shine the spotlight on some of Australia’s best designers, artists and stylists and have them share with us what’s making them tick; anything from their favourite cafe and shop to their favourite book and musician.

Today we chat to Kate Pascoe Squires, one half of the amazing Australian designed textiles and soft furnishings business, Kate & Kate.

Kate Pascoe Squires (left) and business parter and sister-in-law Kate Pascoe (right)
Kate Pascoe Squires (left) and business parter and sister-in-law Kate Pascoe (right)
1. What is your favourite cafe?  

The Cook & Baker in Bondi Junction is my second home – their food is incredible, everyone who works there is just so nice and their chai is my morning addiction. They make their own almond milk too, which I love. So good.

2. What is your favourite book?

The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton was a bit of a game changer for me.

3. What is your favourite shop?  

That’s a tough one… there are so many! I’m all about Ellery at the moment and am currently spending a lot of time in their Paddington boutique. It’s dangerous.

4. What is your favourite piece of furniture you own?

My Eames rocker gives me a lot of joy – so handsome in shape, he looks good at any angle. He also provides a perfect blank canvas for the endless blankets and throws on rotation in our home.

5. Who is your favourite musician? 
All time favourite? Would have to be Pearl Jam. Sorry, I’m a bit of a ’90s chick.