Valerie Khoo loves beautiful things and has a wonderful collection of pieces in her top floor apartment in Sydney’s Lower North Shore. She credits long time friend and interior designer Luisa Volpato with helping her get everything just right.
You’d be forgiven for thinking pint-sized animal lover Valerie was a pushover, what with her penchant for such girly things, but you’d be underestimating her. The founder of Sydney Writer’s Centre is a former journalist and very smart young businesswoman who has been known to work out with kettle bells! She’s also a successful blogger and in-demand public speaker.
Valerie says: “The look I would like to live in is “elegant opulence” but when you have two cats and two dogs this can sometimes turn into “Oh-my-God-who-spewed-on-the-designer-rug-and-how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-get-this-out?”
If you hadn’t noticed, Valerie loves her pets! She shares her home of three years with partner Peter, cats Rex and Rocky and dogs Rambo and Dougal.
“It was great working with Luisa Volpato. I’ve known her for many years so she understands what I like, my idiosyncrasies and how important my pets are. As a result, I trusted her implicitly,” says Valerie.
“She has a great sense of style. We talked about what I wanted to achieve and I also cut out pictures I liked from interiors magazines so that she could get a feel for what appealed to me.
“She developed some concepts and brought over pictures and samples. To be honest, it was a much easier process than I expected and I enjoyed every minute of it. If and when I move, I would definitely ask Luisa to design the interiors of the whole house.”
