October 22, 2025 • 56 mins
What if your home felt like the first moment of autumn—warm, grounded, and quietly fresh? We sit down with colour-obsessed designer Lauren Egan to unpack how a single, emotive brief can guide every choice, from timber and tile to paint and furniture, and deliver a space that breathes.
Did we mention it appears in the latest issue of The Design Files magazine?
Lauren’s new home is a masterclass in material harmony: spotted gum floors and panelling from one supplier for continuity, pink travertine with beautiful movement, and a glossy burgundy tiled island that’s equal parts durable and nostalgic. She explains why stark white can fight with warm timber, how “dirty” colours with brown or black create calm, and why ceilings painted to match walls can make square-set spaces feel seamless. If you’ve ever stood under fluorescent lights choosing a “white,” you’ll love her undertone method—A4 swatches, side-by-side comparisons, and decisions guided by light, not labels.
We also explore the human side of design. Lauren starts with who lives in the home and builds three themes to steer concept and colour. She shares furniture obsessions (hello, lounge-worthy sofas), the art of balancing caramel warmth with fresh greens, and practical wins like colour-matched grout and sealed tile tops. Her surprising path—from ice cream innovation to interiors—reveals a process-driven, sensory approach that turns brave palettes into livable rooms. Through Designologists & her creative partnership with designer Alison Lewis , she teaches the crucial middle: how to run a colour consult, select stone and tiles, and style with intent.
This is a warm and deeply practical guide to colour confidence. If you’re ready to rethink white, embrace cream, and let your materials lead, press play. Subscribe, share with a design-curious friend, and leave a review telling us the boldest colour you’d try at home.
Web & Socials for Lauren:
Lauren Egan Design + @heylaurenegan
Designologists + @designologists
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 the Design steps to run your project & business a little smoother with the Design Process MasterClass, opening 15th October!
For more info see below
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design
podcast hosted by friends andfellow designers, me, Bree
Banfield.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
And me, Lauren, Li, with some amazing guest
appearances along the way.
We're here to break downeverything from current trends
to timeless style.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled, and
lived-in spaces, we're excitedto share our insights and
inspiration with you.
And before we jump in, Lauren,what have you got going on at
the moment that you need to tellus about?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Um, what's been going on?
Um I've had some really funconsultations and stuff the past
few weeks.
Um, so I've been doing that andI've been doing my stuff in the
design society.
I'm starting the design processcourse online.
So if you you're a designerlistening and you're wanting to
figure out like how fees work,when to charge clients,
(00:52):
procurement onboarding, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah.
We go through all of thatstuff.
So that's that's easy online.
What's going on with you, Brie?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Uh look, honestly, probably a lot of the same.
Lots of um consults at thistime of year for people who want
to just get those last minutethings done before Christmas.
Everyone's always thinkingabout um Christmas as some sort
of some sort of crazy deadline,aren't they?
At this time of year.
Like that's the end of theworld.
You know what's weird as well?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It's weird sometimes, clients have this big deadline
for Christmas and you reallybend over backwards to get
everything done for their homeand then they go on holidays.
They're not even in their home.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Don't spend, don't spend any time there.
I guess they want it ready forwhen they get back.
Um, but if you're uh not quitesure what to do with um spaces
and it doesn't have to be anextensive renovation, it could
just be styling a few rooms andworking out what's missing,
sourcing some product to finishit off.
I have a gorgeous client at themoment who I'm sourcing.
(01:53):
She's done a lot of the work,the rooms are beautiful, but
they're just not quite finished.
So I'm just finessing that forher in time for her um big
housewarming in November.
So that's exciting.
That's cute.
So just things like thattowards the end of the year, I
think, is fun to work on, andit's really nice to have those
smaller, short-term projectssometimes, isn't it?
(02:13):
Like that aren't taking likeyears and years.
Which I agree.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, so if you're after that, jump in and um or
send us a DM on Instagram, andyeah, so fun.
Um, how excited are we today tobe talking to a fellow
colour-obsessed designer?
We're talking to Lauren Egan,and we are all believers in the
power of colour and how that canaffect how you feel in your
(02:41):
home.
So if this chat won't convertyou to living a life immersed in
colour, I don't know what will.
Welcome, Lauren.
That's so true.
Hi, Lauren.
Speaker (02:52):
Thank you.
It's nice to be amongst ourfellow colour lovers.
Yes, and amongst Laurens,always.
unknown (02:58):
True.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Surrounded by so many Laurens, it's like it was a big
thing in the 80s.
Speaker (03:04):
It was, you know, Laurens or Lauras all the way.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah.
We're coming for you, all ofthe Laurens.
So, how do you know LaurenBree?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Uh, I think we've just met through um industry
events, but also um you used toassist the beautiful Ruth
Wellsby, who's um an amazingstylist, and that's how I would
have first known who you were,and then yeah, and then we've
caught up a few times now, andyou're great to hang out with at
(03:35):
um at events.
I think we kind of gotlike-minded likewise that we're
that we were drawn to the uhcheese table.
Yeah, that's the that's thelike-minded thing.
It's wine and cheese.
Exactly.
Yeah, you know your peoplepretty quick when you enter the
room.
Exactly.
Yes.
What about you, um, Lauren Li?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I think I first saw that gorgeous house that you've
now sold because it was likefeatured in the design files and
it got some really beautifulcoverage, and it was gorgeous.
The for your own home, it wasthe kitchen, it was all the
furniture curation, and then Idon't know, we just sometimes
(04:18):
hang out and go see comedy andstuff.
Did we do that once?
Let's see.
Speaker (04:24):
We did go and see comedy together.
Was it Allie Wong?
Yeah, Ali Wong.
Yeah, yeah.
I missed out, remember?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I was supposed to go back.
Speaker (04:32):
I remember the first time I'm I think I met you in
person the first time, Laurenwas I knew I was like, when I
first entered the designindustry, I was really
bottom-runging it.
Um, and I knew that I was like,I need to meet some people, I
need to just kind of get outthere.
And I remember sending you anemail and saying, I can help out
in an event, or I can, youknow, I don't know, come along
(04:52):
and be your Girl Friday for whatsomething but not get in your
way.
And you said, I'm having someindustry drinks at my studio.
You can come and help serve thedrinks if you like.
So that's what I did.
I came along and I servedaround champagne and I met a
bunch of people, and yeah, itwas really fun.
And it was, it was a goodicebreaker for me because you
(05:12):
were like, This is Lauren, she'syou know, studying design
school, and you know, it wasn'tyeah, it was just a nice kind of
hey, how you doing without itbeing, you know, too stuffy or
you know, oh god.
Yeah, so that was nice of youto yeah, yeah.
It was early days when you werestill back at South Yara.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, oh, so fun.
Um, welcome to the Design andAnomie podcast.
So fun to chat to you, but Ijust want to start by saying
congratulations about thebeautiful feature in the Design
Files magazine.
Thank you.
Speaker (05:44):
Yes, it's gorgeous, it's a really beautiful, it's a
beautiful edition, but it's abeautiful magazine.
It's it is really exciting forme to to be in the pages in real
life.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I guess you've had a bit of digital coverage, but
yeah, as you say, like to be onthe pages, and yeah, it's such a
it's such a meaty issue, it'ssuch a beautiful issue.
This third one.
Yeah, yeah.
Sandwich can they know inbetween two.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I think it's in my great post office box.
I need to go get it now.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, I don't know.
I for some reason get two.
I think I subscribed annually,and last one I I bought it as
well because I'd forgotten, butI'm still getting two.
I'm not complaining.
Um, but anyway, um one fordifferent rooms of the house.
Speaker (06:27):
Yeah, I feel like I need to get a second one because
I keep schlapping this one withme everywhere.
Many pristine of them.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I know.
What do you mean?
So okay, now I've got a visionin my head of you walking around
just the supermarket going,hey, this is my house.
See, I'm in a magazine, thecashier, the guy doing the fruit
in the deli.
Speaker (06:45):
Yeah, I've had friends come around.
I'm like, come and have a lookat the magazine in the kitchen
that's in the magazine.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
That's so cool.
Kind of, yeah.
Um, we don't need to look atthe magazine, we're actually in
the house at times.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, it is very exciting.
Can you tell us a bit aboutthis house?
How did it all come about?
Speaker (07:06):
Yeah.
So uh wow, we we we bought itabout three years ago and we
were sort of gung-ho.
We were like, let's get inthere and we'll start doing it,
and we'll you know, um, we'llget our architects on board and
um, you know, do a beautifuldesign.
And then sort of three yearslater, we um were ready to move
in.
Three and a half.
I think it takes it was areally long process.
(07:27):
It takes longer than you think.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It always is.
Speaker (07:30):
It takes longer than you think.
Uh and yeah, it it was um areally collaborative process um
with Project 12 architecture.
They've been great.
They did our last house aswell, and we have a really good
um flow.
So I don't like to do um a lotof joinery detailing, and I
don't like to do a lot of the umkind of I can't well, I don't
(07:50):
do walls as a rule.
So they were amazing with theinternal kind of layout and a
lot of yeah, the joinery layout,and then I kind of swooped in
with materiality and colour,obviously, and all the soft
things and then the things Ilove, like furniture and art and
all those sort of pieces thatI've been collecting along the
way.
(08:11):
So yeah, it was all you know, Ireally love doing my own house,
and some people don't lovedoing it.
Um, find it really intimidatingand scary to kind of make those
final decisions.
But for me, it's just yeah,it's just a really fun thing to
do.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So no doubt.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, it's on your own project.
I find um I can make decisionsreally quickly and quite
decisively for clients.
I seem to know exactly whatneeds to be done.
But for my own house, I canprocrastinate forever about like
choosing between two colors oris this what I really want here?
(08:48):
I don't know what it is.
Maybe because we're exposed totoo many choices and we don't
have you almost, I think the wayI would have to do it is create
a brief for myself and thenrefer back to it to keep me on
track.
Did you find that hard whenyou're working on your own
house?
Or did you just instinctivelyknow what you wanted to do?
Speaker (09:06):
Some things were really easy.
So hard materials I foundreally easy.
I had a clear vision, I wantedit to have that feeling of when
the leaves start to change inautumn.
That was kind of my like yeah,sort of big picture, what I
wanted it to feel like.
So warm tones, but still cool,you know, still like, you know,
a bit fresh.
(09:26):
Um and so that made it reallyeasy to, you know, burgundies
and timbers, um, sort of mutedcolours.
But the harder things were likethe colours, it took a little
quite a bit of finessing for meto do that final leap and that
final, yes, this is what we'regoing with.
Um and furniture, I guess mostof the furniture is stuff I
(09:51):
already had.
So there's a couple of piecesthat I found that were perfect.
But yeah, the things that I doevery day were harder than the
things that I do sort of moresporadically.
As early as a nice.
Yeah.
But it it definitely helped tohave that big picture in mind
and that sort of one key idea,which is something I do in my
projects as well for my clients,because you really have to get
(10:12):
in people's heads.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
And what a beautiful concept, too.
I absolutely love that.
The feeling of when the leavesfirst start to change.
Is that what it was?
Speaker (10:20):
Yeah.
Gorgeous.
Yeah, so everything's kind oflike hot colours, but browning
as well.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Um, and that was part of thebreef for the garden as well.
We worked with Mud Office anddoing a garden, and um, yeah, so
they've got some beautifulthings that'll turn in autumn
and are now sort of budding outout in the window at the moment
(10:42):
at the moment.
So yeah, special part of thethe build is the garden.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Actually, Mira, it's Miri, isn't it?
Yeah, she just goes around thecorner from me.
She's she's dropped in.
Can you just describe some ofthe finishes for somebody
listening?
Speaker (10:58):
Yeah.
So there's a lot of spotted gumin here.
Um, and we've used the samesupplier, um, big river timber
on the floors, the wall panels,and the joinery.
So there's there's a lot oftimber, but it doesn't feel
overwhelming.
It just feels, you know, youcan be surrounded by a lot of
beautiful kind of foresty eras,uh timber, woody areas, and not
(11:23):
feel overwhelmed.
So it does feel quite natural.
So that was kind of the thestarting point for the
materiality.
And that was something thatProject 12 came to us with the
idea for to use that a lot inthe wall panels and kind of
thing.
And to use um, I guess to matchthat as well, we use lots of
tiles and different types of umburgundy kind of tiles and very
(11:44):
textural tiles, um, which wasreally fun to choose.
But because we're using suchsuch sort of um materials with
depth, it was really importantto me to choose colours and
textures that added to thatrather than, you know, for if
there were white walls there, itwould feel like a really strong
distinction between quite aheavy spotted gum timber and
(12:08):
white.
And I think that that wouldfeel quite stark, too highly
contrasting.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yes, spotted gum can be very tricky to work with, I
think.
Yeah, it's very warm and it hasa lot of variation, doesn't
that?
Speaker (12:20):
Lots of variation, yeah.
And the technique that they usefor the panels is that they
kind of um sort of scrape it asa big roll so that they're
really big, wide, almoststretched panels of veneer.
Um, and so you do get a lot ofgrainy movement in there, and
sometimes they're a bit yellow,and sometimes they're a bit
brown.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
What makes it so beautiful though, isn't it, with
spotted gumlet?
I think if you if you likethat, I can't I struggle with it
for myself, it's got way toomuch warmth in it.
Yeah, but um I can see howpeople love it because it's just
got that I think the variationand all the grain and it's such
a beautiful timber, like it hasso much character.
Speaker (12:59):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Yeah, I really and it and it,you know, exactly that's exactly
the point is that if you dohave it with quite a um, you
know, a I guess a modern kind ofapproach to your interiors,
then maybe it's not the theright material to use.
But when it's um paired withlots of sort of very muted
colours, and um that's what wemade, you know, a lot of uh
(13:22):
decisions were made aroundmaking that timber feel settled
um and not and not sort of toocontrasty.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And you've got this beautiful pink trap pink
travertine bench top and splashback, which again it's it's a
it's like it's an equal weightof um character, which it just
works.
And you mentioned the tilesbefore, and people just cannot
fathom tiled bench tops, but Iam so here for it.
(13:51):
I love tiled bench tops.
Beautiful.
So, how did you decide on thatmaterial for your bench top,
your sort of main island bench?
Speaker (14:00):
Well, I think because we were using that pink
travertine and there's a lot ofmovement and um in that stone,
um, it was really cool to havesomething that was quite slick
in the space as well.
So the tiles that are quite aburgundy sort of brown tile that
we've got, um, and they'rehighly glossy.
(14:20):
So it's a really nice contrastto you know the timbers and the
the pink travertine that are,you know, got a lot of movement.
It's very kind of calm sort ofcontrast to um the rest of the
the products in there.
So um, yeah, the tile benchtop, everybody loves it.
They come in and they just wantto touch it.
Touch it.
(14:40):
It's very nostalgic for people.
There, you know, my mom hadyeah, or we had it back in our
house, or my man had it.
Um, so yeah, I mean, there is abit of a 70s kind of colour
palette and a bit of a colour, abit of feel about it, um, the
house.
So the the tiled bench top kindof makes sense.
But it's beautiful.
(15:01):
People should do it.
It's easy, it's fine, it'sgreat.
Right.
I mean, what you'll love it.
That's quite the worst couldhappen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
unknown (15:08):
Yeah.
Speaker (15:09):
What colour grout have we got?
Colour matched grout, so youdon't sort of see any spots or
anything like that.
And then it's um it's all beensealed as well.
So I mean, there was anything.
There's a bit of upcape.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um I think that's it.
Yeah.
It's like any kind of stone toois going to.
I think with a tiled bench top,it is super durable.
Obviously, the tiles are reallydurable generally.
But as long as you're yes,sealing the ground, and then
it's not like a really I thinkif it's like a paler colour or
something, maybe you might getsome stains in it.
(15:42):
But as long as you don't expectit to be perfect.
Yeah.
And I think if you have a tilesurface like that, you're not
expecting it to be.
You want a bit of kind of likefive to be okay with it.
Right.
Yeah.
Speaker (15:52):
Yeah.
You have to, you know, knowwhat you're going in for before
you start.
One of the original plans wasthat we were going to have a um
a copper um bench top um insteadof the full trevatine.
Yeah, which would have beenamazing, beautiful.
But also, that's not foreveryone either.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh, it would pertain to be like crazy, right?
And it's very when you firststart out, it's gonna change.
But I think that's why it'samazing.
That would be like by the timeyou'd gone a few years down the
road, it'd be like a differentbench top, but it would have, I
don't know, or hold all thememories of all the things that
had happened in that kitchen,basically.
Speaker (16:32):
It's a nice way.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I feel like I'd like itafter the two years.
The two years in between, I'dbe like, oh, so many, so many.
Yeah, because it's the firstscratch on the timber floor.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Like, and you're like, no, but you just gotta
kind of let it once they alljoin up.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Um is there a single white wall in your house?
Speaker (16:55):
No, no white walls.
Um weird.
The painters found it a bitweird.
Um but no, and no, you know,the ceilings are the same colour
as the walls.
The um pretty much the buildwent back to um the frame and
(17:16):
the roof.
So all of the um ceilings aresquare set and um so there's no
cornices or you know, ornateceilings or anything like that.
So it made sense to paint thewalls and the ceilings the same
colour.
So no, and it doesn't nobodywalks in and goes, Oh, it's
really it's too much colour.
We need we need some white inhere.
(17:37):
Yeah, oh, I need some relief.
Um there I I think was therefour internal colours, which is
not that many.
I mean, I do a lot of colourspecifying and I've done way
more than that.
Yeah, yeah, and two outdoorcolours, two exterior colours.
So yeah, and it's just thatwe've used colour, you know, my
(18:00):
daughter's bedroom is the samecolour as our bedroom, but
they've got different aspects,so they look very different.
Yes.
Um, the same with the hallwaycompared to my son's bedroom or
the office that I'm in now.
And I mean, if you can seeanything um on the visuals, it
looks like a neutral white-ishkind of colour.
But when you sort of come intothe space, it's actually kind of
(18:22):
a um neutral green in thisspace.
And what colour is that,Lauren?
Do you know I've had um SirJulux Kahlua milk?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Oh, yeah, I know the one.
Beautiful.
It's quite warm, right?
But like the tiny imprints ofgreen.
Speaker (18:37):
Yeah, exactly.
I love all those very dirtycolours, they're very earthy.
They've always got a bit ofbrown in them, a bit of black,
just to kind of mucky them up alittle bit.
They're my favorite colours.
They make me feel yeah,comfortable.
unknown (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Well, they're quite calming.
It sounds like a very calminghouse to me.
Like having all the warmth andum, I guess, natural, natural
timber, which Lauren has talkedabout Laurelie's talked about a
bit, is such a calming, like itgrounds us, right?
We're calm around those naturalmaterials.
Speaker (19:08):
Yeah, yeah.
And I guess there is the dangerof being cloying, um, that
everything feels a bit too like,you know, bit caramel or a bit
sort of sickly.
Um, so we tried to have somefresh sort of green colours
throughout and the beautifuldining table, which is um made
(19:28):
by um Maid Design in Melbourne.
Um, we coloured that in a in agreen colour as well, just to
like you need some reliefsometimes.
Yeah, it's a beautifulcontrast.
Brown and yeah.
Did you do many custom pieces?
That was the only piece that wehad um that we needed for the
space.
The dining and the kitchen arequite near each other, and um it
(19:51):
needs to be a bit of athoroughfare as well.
So the dining table we had justwasn't appropriate, so you have
to get something made.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Oh, that's cool.
You sort of mentioned then, youknow, it could be quite a lot
of that caramel, like sicklything.
Do you have any like rules oflike I would never use a colour
like that or something?
Do you have any like colourdon'ts that you wouldn't do?
Speaker (20:14):
Yeah, probably.
Um I I re I find um veryprimary colours everywhere are
really intense.
Sometimes it's fun to be, youknow, in a in a space that needs
to be very bright, vibrant.
Um, you can get away with it inthere, but I always tend to err
(20:36):
with clients um on those sortof earthier sides of things.
Um in the last house that I didthat we lived in, there was an
electric blue study nook, andthat was really fun, but I I
wouldn't do a whole room in thatthat would feel really intense
and just not very relaxing.
So, unless it's for a purpose,um, I probably wouldn't do
(20:57):
really intense primary colours.
Um, and I'd probably try andsteer someone towards a more
earthy tone that might make themfeel a bit calmer.
Depends what they're using theroom for always.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Um I think it's those colours that you you sort of
use, and I've seen you you usein projects, they've got like a
bit of that dirtiness to it thatjust makes it like really
interesting as well.
And in different lights, theychange.
So it's that's kind of cool.
Speaker (21:23):
Yeah, those chameleon colours that they just change
through the day the best.
Do you have any colourpredictions?
Um, I was thinking about thatum because all the Paris Fashion
Week is sort of happening atthe moment, and that's always a
bit of a sign of what's to come.
Um, I know red is really in atthe moment, and I've used red um
(21:45):
in this house a little bit.
Um, but I feel like that mightstart to sort of push towards
sort of oranges a little bitmore, um, sort of those hotter
oranges, and then paired withreally soft caramelly kind of
tones.
But there there's also lots oflike creams going on.
So I wonder if creams mightstart coming back in if we, you
(22:08):
know, and the world's so crazyat the moment, who knows what
we'll decide to do.
Maybe we'll go back to likevivid white.
Please don't.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
No, I would agree on the creams.
It sounds really daggy too whenwe talk about creams because I
think there was a long timewhere a cream was considered to
be very jaggy, and there's likeI think there's a colour or it
might be a powder colour orsomething that was on a lot of
those aluminium frames, thatclotted cream colour, and it's
the worst name too.
(22:38):
Um so that there's definitelysome some icks around cream.
But then if you think aboutwhen we started to see browns
again, everyone's like, oh,brown, mission brown, rah-rah.
I think cream is kind of justbasically we're just softening
the whites.
So it sounds like a scary word,cream, but I think all the
whites are becoming way morecomplex when they're being used,
(22:59):
and there's going to be a lotless of a vivid, vivid white
lexicon quarter situation.
I think it's definitely gonnakind of start going into that
sort of more ecru and um yeah,no, I agree.
And it's because of like this,you can't, I think when we have
so much, so many warm coloursbeing on the rise and continuing
to be, you know, definitely atrend, the whites have to move
(23:21):
with it.
You can't kind of all have allthese sort of blue-based lights
next to that because it justdoesn't work, right?
Speaker (23:27):
That's right.
Yeah.
And I and I I mean I'minterested in your thoughts too,
you guys, but what's what's awhite these days?
Because I mean, I sound likeI'm poo-pooing white, but you
know, white's great.
You know, you just it's the thethe right white for the right
purpose.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Um I don't even know what's true.
Speaker (23:43):
Yeah, yeah.
And I think white is still acolour in paint land.
Um, it's just and it's findingthe right white for how people
want to be able to do that.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then, you know, people whohave had to go and select a
white understand exactly whatyou're talking about.
Because in layman's terms,people will go, well, I'll just
paint my house white.
And I've talked about it being,it's a default colour, it's not
actually a choice.
People just go, oh, it's likeyou don't choose a colour, it
ends up being white, but thenthey don't realize exactly that.
(24:15):
What is white, which one, wheredo you want to go?
And you can kind of keep goingaway from white right to a point
where you then you sort of go,Oh, is it now a neutral or a
beige?
Like it's there's this linethere of what's considered to be
white.
Speaker (24:28):
Yeah, I feel like that's why.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I'm sure there's a technical definition for it.
It's probably how much colourgets added to the formula before
it's not a white anymore.
I'm gonna ask one of my dual asfriends that question.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Be prepared.
But I think it was in well, Iwas just gonna say it was
interesting what you said beforewith your home and you've got
that figured uh spotted gum,which is like a beautiful warm
walnut colour.
People would think, okay, well,that's quite busy.
Let's counter that with a vividwhite, with quite a stark
white.
Oh, sorry.
(25:01):
But that's what people think weneed.
Yeah.
That's quite warm.
Let's do something reallyfresh.
But in actual fact, it's sohighly contrasting, it causes
more.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Whereas I think, you know, it doesn't feel settled.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
It's like, did you use that word?
Yeah, that was beautiful.
Settling the timber in thespace.
That's exactly what you need todo by surrounding it with
colours that are closer to itstone.
And it doesn't have to bereally saturated, but even if it
is a white, choosing the rightone to sort of, I don't know,
counter it a bit, right?
Speaker (25:31):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I mean, I if if I'm helpinga client choose a white, I've
got, you know, 30 whites in mykit, and the way we do it is um
put a bunch of the colours thatI think will work in the space
up on the wall in A4 umswatches, and then take away the
ones that you don't like.
Yeah, kind of magically leftwith maybe one, but it's two or
(25:53):
three that work in the space.
And um inevitably theysometimes even put the same
colour up and they'll leave thesame colour on the wall.
So there is, they are choosingthe thing that they like the
best that looks best to theireye in that space.
And it's still a white though.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Like if you show it to them flat, you know, on the
horizontal, they like withoutbeing compared to it's like you
know, obviously we all knowbetween the three of us that
white, uh particularly white,but any colour is all about
comparison and what it's next toas to how it looks.
So you could say, Oh, that'swhite, and then you put it next
to like a bivid white, and thenyou go, Oh wow, hang on, this
(26:29):
has a lot of colour in it.
But on its own, you go, yeah,it's a white.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
So yeah, people will say, Oh, that looks purple, and
then they look at you likeyou're crazy.
Speaker (26:39):
Yeah, what it's like when they do, when they do start
to see those undertones,they're like, Oh, I see why this
is like useful to do, and how Icould have just walked into
Bunnings and looked at that biggiant wall of colour and be
intimidated by it.
Um, how you can just choosesomething that's like looks good
(26:59):
in bunnings with fluorescentlighting overhead, but you
can't.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I'm sure that happens all the time, right?
Speaker (27:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
How much light affects colour is crazy.
Speaker (27:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Like you said, you've got the same colour in two
different rooms in your house,and yes, it it still reads us
two different colours.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, when you're working withclients, Lauren, and you you
know you mentioned the paintcolours, but where do you start
with the concept?
Is it colour or is it thearchitecture or is it artwork?
Does it depend?
I mean where do you sort ofstart or is it last?
Is colour last?
Speaker (27:39):
Um I I think it's always in my brain what colours
might work, but if I'm doing aproject that sort of colour and
furnishings, uh then it's metrying to figure out, you know,
what kind of person or peoplelive in this house.
And, you know, um, I I tralways try and do um three
(28:04):
themes, three key themes for myclients.
So it's kind of getting to thecrux of who they are, but you
know, obviously they've come tome for some professional advice.
So I guess they like the stylethat I produce as well.
So it's a bit of a mash ofthat.
So yeah, it's getting intotheir brain, and then I tend to
be able to just kind of um knowwhat will work thereafter.
(28:28):
But I always like to do thatcolour process with them, kind
of um makes people feel likethey're um involved in the
process and that they're beinglistened to and that it's how
their space wants to feel.
Um, but maybe I do put in a fewlike that are more in the realm
of where I'm hoping for it tomove, just to, you know, people
(28:50):
want to be challenged as welland and not winky cutter.
Um so yeah, I think it's it's ait's a bit of everything.
If they've got a key piece thatthey really want to, you know,
continue to use, then that'sdefinitely part of um if you've
got a sofa that's already inthere, or you know, maybe
they've got three dogs and it'sreally important that you know
(29:11):
we choose.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
You need to match the fabric colour to the dog.
Speaker (29:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
To the dog firm.
Speaker (29:18):
Or consider the the fiber guard protection on the
fabric.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
There is that too.
Easy just to match the sofacolour to the dog though.
That's a good one, Bree.
Yeah, I'll write that down.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker (29:33):
Um, yeah, so uh it's a bit of a mixture.
It depends, it depends on theclient, but it is always the
client is kind of the key.
And I when I first um whensomeone first contact me
contacts me, I will give them aquick questionnaire just to find
out a little bit about thembefore we have a chat, so I can
kind of get a sense of what theyare after and who lives in the
(29:57):
house, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Which yeah.
And it is, it is funny.
You might have a colour in yourmind, but and you might grab
your swatches or whatever andthink, oh, it's not going to be
that colour, but I'll just bringit in case.
And then you put it in the roomand you just go, Oh my god,
this looks so different.
And it was the sort of the wildcard, and it ends up being the
amazing colour.
So it's yeah, I think it's soas as you said, you know, the
(30:21):
Bunnings light, this light, it'sso informs what it's gonna be.
It's cool.
Speaker (30:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And I think what I got to chat to with you, Lauren.
Remember how we had thatstyling project?
Was um it was a really toughone.
You were so amazing, you wereso not on that.
That's right, on that shoot.
Yeah, that shoe.
Yeah, it was really big.
It was like and I had like anunder one-year-old baby, like I
(30:48):
was trying to breastfeed, Philcame in, all of it.
But um, you brought in somegorgeous pieces and you just
held the whole thing together.
It was amazing.
But we were we were chatting onthe sofa and I did not know
about your previous career.
Can you tell us a bit about howyou got into interior design?
Speaker (31:06):
Yes, it was a natural progression from um food science
um into interior design.
Totally, yeah, it happens allthe time.
Side step.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, I I yeah did ascience degree um at uni and got
into food science, and um a lotof my career was spent working
(31:27):
in ice cream um and colour,which I'll maybe get to in a
minute.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
But you let that go.
I would have loved to haveworked with ice cream.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I know.
I sometimes say if everythingturns pear-shaped, you'll see me
at the local ice cream placescooping ice cream, don't I?
Because everyone's happy, likeget getting, but you weren't
doing that though.
You were right at the the topof the I don't know, ice cream
command chain.
Speaker (31:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, I was.
I was yeah, captained the helmof ice cream.
Um I'm sure people woulddispute that.
Um, yeah, there's so I workedin innovation department, and
that's sort of in betweenmarketing and um production, and
it's kind of nuancing flavorsand then upscaling things um
(32:13):
into the factory.
And yeah, it was really fun.
I worked on some really coolprojects, pun intended.
And um I guess I sorry, thatjust took me a second.
So it's an old school ice creamgag.
Um, yes, so of those are gonnascoop you up.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I don't know, sorry.
Speaker (32:40):
I mean, this the shine does come off being um a
technologist in an ice creamfactory when you go to taste ice
cream at eight o'clock in themorning every day.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
But I was about to say, so does that wear off?
Because I'm quite ice creamobsessed.
Speaker (32:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And the idea of having a job where I just get to
like taste ice cream and checkit out.
You're is there times thoughwhen you've tasted it and going,
oh my god, that's horrible?
Like, do you have to go throughthat as well?
So it's not all good.
Speaker (33:05):
Yeah, when you're doing new flavours for sure, you
you're like, oh, that one's gota little bit of a little bit.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Well, what's the craziest you've had to taste?
Can you think of well?
Speaker (33:13):
I mean, there were some projects where you're sort of
trying to match something, soyou put in sort of all sorts of
combinations of things.
I mean, same with you know,smelling perfume after like
three or four, you're like, ohno, it's all it's all strawberry
now.
Um, but I it I mean, you haveto when you go for the tastings,
you have to be quite objectiveas well.
So you're kind of eating it andyou know, is there a taint in
(33:36):
that or is there a graininess toit?
Is it too icy?
So um, yeah, that everyonewanted to do the afternoon shift
ice cream tasting.
Yeah, but fewer people turningup for the 8 a.m.
Yeah.
It really wakes you up.
Um, and you do certainly I cameaway with a sugar habit for
sure.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Um I already have one, it would be enabling me.
Speaker (34:02):
Um, but yeah, and then I moved away from ice cream into
a different section of thatbusiness, and it was uh yeah, it
was just a more of a businessshift, and I it just didn't work
for me and I had a couple ofkids in the meantime, and that
was challenging with you knowlifestyle.
(34:22):
Um and yeah, I just sort ofthought to myself one day if I
reimagined what I wanted to do,if it wasn't even in this
industry, what would I do?
And it was um a a field in insort of interiors um or
architecture, and I'd been backto uni.
(34:43):
Had you always been interestedin it?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Like or is that just yeah, okay.
Speaker (34:48):
I had, yeah.
Like my my third preference togo to uni was architecture, and
like oh wow.
I don't know, no one's gonnago, oh third preference, great,
yeah, you're in, um, no worries.
But what was the second?
I I think one the first one wasfood science, and the second
one were earth sciences and okaythat's a throw.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Science, science, architecture.
Speaker (35:13):
I know there's a bit of um a little bit of an earworm I
think.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I guess it's creativity though.
I feel like for me, science isabout curiosity, and I in my the
way I approach things, it'sdefinitely, I don't know, from a
curiosity perspective.
So it's it is kind of creativetrait to be curious, right?
Speaker (35:32):
Yeah, I think so.
And that the jobs that I landedin food science world were were
creative roles, you know, andum finally being sort of in
marketing roles, that kind ofthing.
So um, yeah, there there'salways a way to kind of for
your, you know, natural state tokind of find its place.
But yeah, it was just time forme to do something different.
(35:55):
And I thought, okay, well, I'lljust do I'll do it for a year
and see how I go.
And at that time, he also hadum my partner had a photography
studio.
Um, he's a photographer, and Ikind of started helping out with
that part of the business, andthen I started doing style
assisting, and I really just itwas so fun.
It was it it was uhbackbreaking, but it was really
(36:19):
fun.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
And I just not an easy one, is it?
Speaker (36:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I just enjoyed the people thatI was around and it was um a
really nice industry to be apart of, and so it made it
easier to do something that Iloved and that I was like
invested in and and be in acommunity that I was really um
happy to be in.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Was it what you expected when you started?
Speaker (36:45):
Yeah, I did I I honestly I kind of went in
pretty blind and I was like,I'll just do this course and
I'll, you know, meet some peopleand maybe the you know the
ultimate dream was to well, Isort of didn't know if I wanted
to be a business owner or if Iwanted to work for someone, but
I just sort of started doing myown things and that first
project that you mentionedbefore, which was my house, did
(37:07):
get a bit of momentum, and soyou know, you then you get your
first client and your second andthen you're sort of doing it.
But yeah, I mean there weretimes that it was really slow
and I was like, what have Idone?
We all think you know, yeah,yeah, it certainly wasn't like
(37:27):
great, you know, um hittingsixes all the time.
It was, you know, hard work andputting yourself out there in
awkward situations and puttingyourself out there with social
media and oh it's exhausting.
Yeah, that's hard.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah.
But also, you know, to enterinto the interior design
industry, you know, you saidthat um your home was sold on uh
the last lockdown, is thatright?
Speaker (37:52):
Yeah, so after the last lockdown.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So, I mean, yeah, you we've had COVID and lockdowns,
and then post-COVID, and thenthis cost of living crisis.
So it's really been quiteturbulent out there.
So you just enter into a newindustry and you're like, um, is
this normal?
Or is I I don't know if it'snormal.
It's kind of I guess what theysay, the new normal.
(38:15):
But um, so were you wanting to,you sort of said you took on
one job, you tried to take onanother job, and then before you
know it, you're like, oh mygod, I'm running my own
business.
Was that kind of what youthought it would be?
Speaker (38:27):
Or I probably thought that I would work for someone
else.
Um and yeah, then I I thinkCOVID was the real sort of,
well, I don't know about thatkind of that's not gonna really
fly in the next couple of years.
Um I was lucky that I was ableto work in partnership with
Glenn and he's been amazing atbeing supportive.
So that was, you know, withouthaving his kind of backing, um,
(38:51):
it would have been reallydifficult.
Um, but I guess because we hadthat sort of pause for COVID, I
was able to do some, I guess itwas like then I sort of slipped
into marketing a bit maybe andjust went, okay, how how do I
want to be thought about?
If I've got this little bit oftime on my hands, how do I want
(39:14):
my brand, which is also me, tobe perceived?
So yeah, it that took a bit ofthat gave me the space to to do
those backgrounds.
Yeah.
That's really smart.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Working on the business and yeah.
Especially before you kind ofsometimes that just happens
organically, and you don't ifyou don't sort of take control
of that at the start, it cankind of go off in a direction
that you don't necessarily wantit to go into.
Speaker (39:40):
So yeah, yeah, totally.
You're like, oh, just jump onCanva and create a logo and
there you go.
I sort of was able to to do itand you know, do a bit of, you
know, who do I want to work withand um how do I want people to
understand the work that I do?
So I think that was, you know,fortuitous.
I mean, I wasn't getting, Ididn't have that really sharp
(40:04):
uptake in clients that somepeople did during COVID because
their brand was sort of whatmore well established and
understood and their businesses.
So yeah, I guess uh Glennalways says you gotta zig when
people zag.
And um so I guess you gottajust kind of find your spot,
find your niche and figure outyou know where to push.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Um, and yeah, that's that's how I we uh you were
working, I think you mentionedbefore that you did end up kind
of in marketing when you were infood.
So do you feel like that'shelped in the way you've
approached how to work out?
Because not, I think you know,we talk about it all the time
that um when you study design,we don't really get taught all
(40:46):
of that stuff if you're workingfor yourself.
Like, and even if you work fora firm watching how they decide
to market themselves, there is awhole, there's all the roles in
one when you're yourself in abusiness.
So has that really helped tokind of have a bit more of an
understanding of, I guess,marketing in general?
Speaker (41:03):
I think so.
And I think it it's tounderstand that it is a brand.
I mean, it is tricky when thebrand is you, but um, it's
what's the essence?
Like what's your point ofdifference?
And without it being too, youknow, it doesn't have to be too
navel gazing.
Um, it's just how do you fitinto the world and how does the
(41:24):
person that wants to work withyou find you?
And how do they it's it's againlike the same as colour, it's
you know, it's a feeling thatyou get when you find that
person that you want to workwith.
And I guess it's making doingthe right things to make sure
that they have enoughinformation so that you've got
an Instagram page that helpspeople, and I'm terrible at
updating my Instagram, but youknow, it's a a reference point
(41:46):
for people, but maybe they'regetting most of their
information from your website.
So your website has to bereally informative and maybe you
know, have lots of imagery todemonstrate, you know, final
outcomes.
And then you do have to have apresence outside of those, which
you know, something like DesignFiles magazine, um, an article
that you maybe you've quoted in,and that gives people
(42:07):
confidence that okay, she knowsshe knows things, what she's
talking about, and yourbranding.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Your branding is so beautiful and it is kind of so
you, like it's really cool andit's beautiful colours.
And do you can you share withus, if you don't mind, who you
worked with on that?
Speaker (42:22):
Um, that was the beautiful Annie Portelli, who's
on front design files fullcircle.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
It's so it's so beautifully done.
Um, you mentioned before aboutyou know zigging and zagging and
finding your own niche.
Like, what is your niche?
What do you see your niche asbeing?
Speaker (42:39):
I think it's definitely got colour in it.
And that was really fortuitousthat I I ended up working with
Ruth on a lot of the Haymesphoto shoots.
And then as I was coming out ofdoing um style assisting, they
were like, Okay, well, we've gotthis colour consultant job that
we'd like you to help us outwith.
And so that gave me sort of um,I didn't know that you thought
(43:02):
with Haymes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Um, so that gave me somegrounding and some sort of
background in and how to docolour consultations, and that
kind of became a nice platformfor me.
And and then from there itmeant that I was able to push
more into soft furnishings andand furnishings, which is, I
guess, my one true obsession.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Um it's your one true obsession.
Okay, you need to expand onthat comment.
Speaker (43:28):
What okay, what is it?
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Fabrics and things, like what is it?
Speaker (43:32):
I just think furniture is so cool.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Is it the soft furnishings part of furniture or
is it just furniture ingeneral?
Speaker (43:41):
I think it's the shapes and the colours and how and I
like being able to, you know, Ikinda I quite like doing
SketchUp myself still andfiguring out what piece to go
where and how it all fits in anddimensions and still a bit sort
of, you know, bit of a sciencebrain that still needs to be um
massaged every now and then.
So yeah, the the so I guess I'mfound it's I I've been really
(44:03):
lucky that the things that Ireally love um were things that
I could sort of push into thethe business that I wanted to
create.
So yeah, I don't know whichcame first, but probably the
obsessive bit.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
All of it above all of the above.
Um do you have any, like, areyou coveting any furniture or
can you share any places whereyou source furniture?
Speaker (44:25):
I mean, I think about couches a lot.
Um and I know that the moderncloud is one of your favorites
as well, Lauren.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Yeah, it's extremely comfortable.
Extremely comfortable.
It's really, really hard tofind something else once you've
sat in that.
So yeah, this sofa, it's byCasino and it's designed by
Patricia Ochiola, and you canget it from Mobilia.
And I've taken clients inthere, and we we just sat on
that thing for a good 20minutes.
We we didn't want to move.
(44:56):
My clients are obsessed withit.
Yeah, they literally don't havea house yet, but we know we're
having that sofa.
But they're building the house.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
It's a pretty the house is being designed just
around the slab.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Pretty much we literally had to move some of
the the slab was affected.
We had to really yeah, becausewe had to fit in the
three-seater MonCloud, like ithad to be done.
So um, yeah, and it'ssustainable.
Speaker (45:20):
Snew clients that I'm meeting this week, and I've
already said I I think I knowthe couch.
I know I don't want topigeonhole you guys, but what's
it like?
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Like Oprah, you get one, you get one.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
I need to get on board.
I have not gone down this routeyet.
Oh, but I keep hearing aboutit.
I'm like, okay, I need to putit into the repertoire.
It takes a few boxes for sure.
Speaker (45:41):
I mean, yeah, yeah.
And I also love, you know, noteveryone's buying a MonCloud,
not everyone's able to shop.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
What's the price point?
Like it's are we talking kindof okay?
So if I'm going to Jardan tobuy something of the same size,
is it still more expensive thanthat?
Compared to about the same.
It's affordable.
I think that's why doing well,I think.
It sits into that bracket whereI think all of us have clients
that would invest that much inthat key piece, right?
(46:08):
So it's sort of yeah, okay.
Speaker (46:10):
Yeah.
And I feel like, you know, theway we sit on sofas has changed
a lot in the last 10 years, youknow, is you don't sit on a sofa
these days that much.
You lounge on a sofa.
It's a really great loungingsofa in and but it's a great
sofa to lounge on that's just ina sofa configuration.
Elegant still.
Not yeah.
Sometimes you have to go for amore modular, but this is quite
(46:33):
nice as a single standalone.
Yeah.
Um, so that's very special.
I I one day, like the couchthat I have at the moment, I've
had since 2011 or something.
So it's been, you know, goodstint.
Um, and but I just I can't makethat decision.
That's what you were talkingabout earlier, Brie where you
just can't do your own thing.
(46:53):
It's really hard.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
That's not one that you're gonna change again for a
while once you've seen it.
Speaker (46:57):
No, that's right.
And then is the more importantthing.
So some people the design ismore important, and some people
the fabric is more important.
And maybe I could find a sofathat's like very reasonably
priced and get an amount offabric.
And that's right.
Sort of, I don't know which wayto turn.
Yeah, tough life.
First world problems.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Oh well, I for my sofa, it probably is not the
most expensive sofa.
So when I um went to Ikea theother day, went down to Freedom,
my girls sat on a recliner forthe first time, and they will
not stop talking about itbecause of the comfort.
We're not having a recliner.
Damn recliners.
(47:39):
I know, but differentpriorities, still that's right.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
I feel like you can achieve it.
Sorry, I mean I'm very muchagainst a recliner too, but like
um, I might as well mention mysofa now.
So I have an EVA every day, andit's one of the best affordable
sofas.
It's quite comfortable.
But what I love is like I havethe ottoman, so I just slide
that.
It's not that hard.
And I can kind of lay down andwatch, like it just changes the
(48:04):
whole thing.
So a little bit of modularityis good.
Speaker (48:07):
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, yeah.
And it yeah, it has to beloungy.
It has you have to be able tolay on it in my house.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
The sitting room is for sitting and the living room
is for lounging.
Yeah, yeah.
If you have a sitting room.
So for the becoming more bedsfor sure.
Yeah, yeah, right.
That's so true.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Um, Lauren, you're really great at, I guess,
nurturing a community, aninterior design community in
some ways, like you know, eventsand things.
And you have a sort of, wouldyou say it's like another
business?
Could you talk about the designknowledge?
Side hustle.
Yeah, it's a design knowledge.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
I love the word.
Yeah, it's so great.
Yeah, it's a little science-y,actually, isn't it?
That's not not even sure that'snot by accident.
Speaker (48:50):
Yeah, yeah.
And that's with um my mateAllison Lewis, and she has a
background in finance, so we area little bit, you know, we're
both a bit.
I love Allison.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
She's beautiful.
Speaker (48:59):
Um, yeah, I think and the whole premise with
designologists would thatsometimes you get the the book
knowledge from design umcourses, but maybe not like how
to put into practice.
Like that first day that you goand see a client, what do you
do?
Like you walk in the door andyou're like, I'm here to do a
colour consult.
And then what how do you dothat?
(49:21):
Like, you do you walk in andgo, This is a colour for you?
Probably not.
You probably go in, so it'sit's explaining to people the
concept of like what I wasexplaining before of putting the
cards up on the wall, the nutsand bolts of like how you arrive
at a colour.
And then it's imparting thatconfidence to somebody that they
can walk in to a client's houseand they know more than that
(49:42):
client, and it's you know, ittakes a bit of building up um
over time.
But yeah, yeah, if you ifyou're willing to put yourself
out there and you want to, youjust need those kind of couple
of little like light bulbmoments and a bit of um history
and how other people have doneit.
Totally.
So that's how we sort of cameup with a designologist.
So it was um a colour workshop,and then Alison's um background
(50:04):
is in more materials, so stoneand tiles.
And so she really sort ofimparted a lot of great
knowledge about how to makeselections of those things with
clients.
Um, and then the last one wedid was with the um and she did
a styling session, which wasreally fun.
So maybe it's styling, yeah,for sale of a home, maybe it's
(50:25):
styling for a magazine, maybeit's styling for your own brand
and just kind of giving people,I guess, more than just, you
know, here's the idea and here'sthe finished product.
Like, how do you actually goabout doing those things and why
would you do them?
So yeah, it was really fun.
And I think we'll continue todo those in person for a while
and maybe we'll sort of convertsome of that information into
(50:48):
some downloadable information aswell for people because it is
hard to do in person all thetime because people are all over
the place.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Yeah, it's a big ask as well for to have somebody
take a day out of their busylives to meet up in person.
But that sounds like a greatidea if you can download
something and take in thatinformation and then off you go.
Because you're right.
I mean, you do cover a lot whenyou're studying interior
design, whether it be acertificate or a diploma.
But actually, what does it looklike stepping into a client's
(51:19):
home?
I mean, shouldn't that be likethe first day one 101?
Speaker 2 (51:22):
But no, we don't really get taught that at all.
No, no, there's so much of thatthat's not taught.
I mean, it's yeah, I get it.
There's also a lot of otherstuff that we need to learn.
So maybe it's just yeah, thenext step, which is great that
now we have um like both of youare doing things where there's
access to that for people whoare in the industry and need a
little more guidance on kind ofthe practicalities of the
(51:45):
business side of things, right?
And how we do stuff.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
It's fun too, isn't it?
To talk about colour all daywith people.
unknown (51:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
The best time.
Yeah.
So what is next for LaurenEgan?
That's a good question.
Speaker (51:57):
I think um picking up the kids, no.
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
Actually, I'm leaving right now for you later.
Speaker (52:07):
I but it actually mentioning the keys, I think it
it does there is a balance thatneeds to be held.
I mean, I do have, you know,great ambitions to do beautiful
work and work with clients thatthat we're both getting
something out of it.
And it'd be fun to do maybe acommercial project here and
there.
But it's also got to be thebalance between my life and my
(52:29):
work life.
Um, and that's always been keyfor both Glenn and myself that
we have enough time to be withthe family and have um, yeah,
still, still we're not just sortof like a duck in a pond, kind
of paddling away furiously.
And yeah, so I think it'sworking towards a good life
balance, but also, you know,having enough work that keeps
(52:50):
coming in and and and beingfulfilled by by both aspects of
life.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
Well, if you figure it out, could you please let me
know?
Yeah, I will.
Yep.
Speaker (52:59):
There's a few of us who need to know.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Spreadsheet.
Speaker (53:02):
Oh, it's so Ebon.
How old are your kids, Lauren?
They're um 11 and 9.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So kind of coming intoindependence.
Yeah.
Lots of activities.
Um high school next year.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah.
I think people forget.
I mean, I've been through quitea few phases now, but it's
funny how even when people sortof say to you, Oh, and the kids
go back to school, you can goand do XX next.
But with that comes, I mean,obviously, there's a period
during the day when the kidsaren't around that disappears
like sands through the hourglasslike crazy.
But I feel like also there'sall of the other stuff.
(53:37):
There's like then comeshomework and supervising that.
And you know, there's a lot ofstuff that people forget.
Like, you don't, the kids justdon't kind of exist on their
own.
You've got to factor that in.
And I love the fact that you'reboth looking at it also from a
partnership of how that works.
And that's like I love thatthat was your answer because I
don't think I think most peoplewould have just gone straight to
a career thing, and then you'resaying, Well, no, life is
(53:58):
integrated with that.
Speaker (53:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Especially in our house wherewe both work from home and so
the kids do see us at work allthe time, and we're sort of like
off you go and watch TV whilewe sit here in front of a
computer screen.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
But yeah, no, I'm familiar with that.
Speaker (54:11):
Yeah.
Like that.
Yeah.
But that you know, that we dohave flexibility to go, okay,
well, it's you know, time to goto basketball training or um,
you know, it's the best down tothe shops.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
It's probably one of the pros, right?
Of working definitely.
Yeah.
There's lots of cons too, but Ithink having younger children
and that flexibility to and youknow, having said that, it's
also extremely difficult thenights of working until I mean,
I don't know about you, but I'vedone many, many a night where
I'm up extremely late or eveninto the morning because there
(54:42):
was all the other stuff that hadto be done for the family.
So it's hard, but it does giveyou that at least.
You've got that flexibility.
Yeah.
Flexibility, but no time off.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's that?
I forget it.
I've the whole thing of likeit's a public holiday and you
don't know, and everyone's like,oh, no one's gonna be around
me.
Like, what?
No, but on the flip.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Yeah, it's like, you know, as you say, staying up
till ridiculous o'clock to getsomething done, having the
client presentation and going,you know what, I'm gonna go out
for lunch and I'm just gonnatake the rest of the day off.
Like, you know, it's yeah, youcan try to enjoy those moments.
But uh so good, Lauren.
Thank you so much for such afun chat.
Thank you.
Speaker (55:22):
Always nice to hang out here guys.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
I don't know.
It's nice just to likehopefully see you again soon in
person.
Yeah.
Speaker (55:30):
Thanks, Lauren.
No, it's been really fun andthank you.
Thank you for inviting me on.
It's um you never sort of whenyou work for yourself, you very
rarely get to have these chancesto kind of in you know, reflect
and and talk to other peopleabout what you do.
It's really nice to do that.
So thank you for theopportunity to do that.
Thanks, Lauren.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
We've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri
people of the Kulin Nation.
They're the OG custodians ofthis 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 theamazing elders who have walked
before us, those leading the wayin the present, and the
(56:10):
emerging leaders who will carrythe torch into the future.
We're just lucky to be on thisjourney together.
Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design
podcast hosted by friends andfellow designers, me, Bree
Banfield.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
And me, Lauren, Li, with some amazing guest
appearances along the way.
We're here to break downeverything from current trends
to timeless style.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled, and
lived-in spaces, we're excitedto share our insights and
inspiration with you.
And before we jump in, Lauren,what have you got going on at
the moment that you need to tellus about?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Um, what's been going on?
Um I've had some really funconsultations and stuff the past
few weeks.
Um, so I've been doing that andI've been doing my stuff in the
design society.
I'm starting the design processcourse online.
So if you you're a designerlistening and you're wanting to
figure out like how fees work,when to charge clients,
(00:52):
procurement onboarding, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah.
We go through all of thatstuff.
So that's that's easy online.
What's going on with you, Brie?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Uh look, honestly, probably a lot of the same.
Lots of um consults at thistime of year for people who want
to just get those last minutethings done before Christmas.
Everyone's always thinkingabout um Christmas as some sort
of some sort of crazy deadline,aren't they?
At this time of year.
Like that's the end of theworld.
You know what's weird as well?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It's weird sometimes, clients have this big deadline
for Christmas and you reallybend over backwards to get
everything done for their homeand then they go on holidays.
They're not even in their home.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Don't spend, don't spend any time there.
I guess they want it ready forwhen they get back.
Um, but if you're uh not quitesure what to do with um spaces
and it doesn't have to be anextensive renovation, it could
just be styling a few rooms andworking out what's missing,
sourcing some product to finishit off.
I have a gorgeous client at themoment who I'm sourcing.
(01:53):
She's done a lot of the work,the rooms are beautiful, but
they're just not quite finished.
So I'm just finessing that forher in time for her um big
housewarming in November.
So that's exciting.
That's cute.
So just things like thattowards the end of the year, I
think, is fun to work on, andit's really nice to have those
smaller, short-term projectssometimes, isn't it?
(02:13):
Like that aren't taking likeyears and years.
Which I agree.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, so if you're after that, jump in and um or
send us a DM on Instagram, andyeah, so fun.
Um, how excited are we today tobe talking to a fellow
colour-obsessed designer?
We're talking to Lauren Egan,and we are all believers in the
power of colour and how that canaffect how you feel in your
(02:41):
home.
So if this chat won't convertyou to living a life immersed in
colour, I don't know what will.
Welcome, Lauren.
That's so true.
Hi, Lauren.
Speaker (02:52):
Thank you.
It's nice to be amongst ourfellow colour lovers.
Yes, and amongst Laurens,always.
unknown (02:58):
True.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Surrounded by so many Laurens, it's like it was a big
thing in the 80s.
Speaker (03:04):
It was, you know, Laurens or Lauras all the way.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah.
We're coming for you, all ofthe Laurens.
So, how do you know LaurenBree?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Uh, I think we've just met through um industry
events, but also um you used toassist the beautiful Ruth
Wellsby, who's um an amazingstylist, and that's how I would
have first known who you were,and then yeah, and then we've
caught up a few times now, andyou're great to hang out with at
(03:35):
um at events.
I think we kind of gotlike-minded likewise that we're
that we were drawn to the uhcheese table.
Yeah, that's the that's thelike-minded thing.
It's wine and cheese.
Exactly.
Yeah, you know your peoplepretty quick when you enter the
room.
Exactly.
Yes.
What about you, um, Lauren Li?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
I think I first saw that gorgeous house that you've
now sold because it was likefeatured in the design files and
it got some really beautifulcoverage, and it was gorgeous.
The for your own home, it wasthe kitchen, it was all the
furniture curation, and then Idon't know, we just sometimes
(04:18):
hang out and go see comedy andstuff.
Did we do that once?
Let's see.
Speaker (04:24):
We did go and see comedy together.
Was it Allie Wong?
Yeah, Ali Wong.
Yeah, yeah.
I missed out, remember?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I was supposed to go back.
Speaker (04:32):
I remember the first time I'm I think I met you in
person the first time, Laurenwas I knew I was like, when I
first entered the designindustry, I was really
bottom-runging it.
Um, and I knew that I was like,I need to meet some people, I
need to just kind of get outthere.
And I remember sending you anemail and saying, I can help out
in an event, or I can, youknow, I don't know, come along
(04:52):
and be your Girl Friday for whatsomething but not get in your
way.
And you said, I'm having someindustry drinks at my studio.
You can come and help serve thedrinks if you like.
So that's what I did.
I came along and I servedaround champagne and I met a
bunch of people, and yeah, itwas really fun.
And it was, it was a goodicebreaker for me because you
(05:12):
were like, This is Lauren, she'syou know, studying design
school, and you know, it wasn'tyeah, it was just a nice kind of
hey, how you doing without itbeing, you know, too stuffy or
you know, oh god.
Yeah, so that was nice of youto yeah, yeah.
It was early days when you werestill back at South Yara.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, oh, so fun.
Um, welcome to the Design andAnomie podcast.
So fun to chat to you, but Ijust want to start by saying
congratulations about thebeautiful feature in the Design
Files magazine.
Thank you.
Speaker (05:44):
Yes, it's gorgeous, it's a really beautiful, it's a
beautiful edition, but it's abeautiful magazine.
It's it is really exciting forme to to be in the pages in real
life.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I guess you've had a bit of digital coverage, but
yeah, as you say, like to be onthe pages, and yeah, it's such a
it's such a meaty issue, it'ssuch a beautiful issue.
This third one.
Yeah, yeah.
Sandwich can they know inbetween two.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I think it's in my great post office box.
I need to go get it now.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, I don't know.
I for some reason get two.
I think I subscribed annually,and last one I I bought it as
well because I'd forgotten, butI'm still getting two.
I'm not complaining.
Um, but anyway, um one fordifferent rooms of the house.
Speaker (06:27):
Yeah, I feel like I need to get a second one because
I keep schlapping this one withme everywhere.
Many pristine of them.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I know.
What do you mean?
So okay, now I've got a visionin my head of you walking around
just the supermarket going,hey, this is my house.
See, I'm in a magazine, thecashier, the guy doing the fruit
in the deli.
Speaker (06:45):
Yeah, I've had friends come around.
I'm like, come and have a lookat the magazine in the kitchen
that's in the magazine.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
That's so cool.
Kind of, yeah.
Um, we don't need to look atthe magazine, we're actually in
the house at times.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, it is very exciting.
Can you tell us a bit aboutthis house?
How did it all come about?
Speaker (07:06):
Yeah.
So uh wow, we we we bought itabout three years ago and we
were sort of gung-ho.
We were like, let's get inthere and we'll start doing it,
and we'll you know, um, we'llget our architects on board and
um, you know, do a beautifuldesign.
And then sort of three yearslater, we um were ready to move
in.
Three and a half.
I think it takes it was areally long process.
(07:27):
It takes longer than you think.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It always is.
Speaker (07:30):
It takes longer than you think.
Uh and yeah, it it was um areally collaborative process um
with Project 12 architecture.
They've been great.
They did our last house aswell, and we have a really good
um flow.
So I don't like to do um a lotof joinery detailing, and I
don't like to do a lot of the umkind of I can't well, I don't
(07:50):
do walls as a rule.
So they were amazing with theinternal kind of layout and a
lot of yeah, the joinery layout,and then I kind of swooped in
with materiality and colour,obviously, and all the soft
things and then the things Ilove, like furniture and art and
all those sort of pieces thatI've been collecting along the
way.
(08:11):
So yeah, it was all you know, Ireally love doing my own house,
and some people don't lovedoing it.
Um, find it really intimidatingand scary to kind of make those
final decisions.
But for me, it's just yeah,it's just a really fun thing to
do.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So no doubt.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, it's on your own project.
I find um I can make decisionsreally quickly and quite
decisively for clients.
I seem to know exactly whatneeds to be done.
But for my own house, I canprocrastinate forever about like
choosing between two colors oris this what I really want here?
(08:48):
I don't know what it is.
Maybe because we're exposed totoo many choices and we don't
have you almost, I think the wayI would have to do it is create
a brief for myself and thenrefer back to it to keep me on
track.
Did you find that hard whenyou're working on your own
house?
Or did you just instinctivelyknow what you wanted to do?
Speaker (09:06):
Some things were really easy.
So hard materials I foundreally easy.
I had a clear vision, I wantedit to have that feeling of when
the leaves start to change inautumn.
That was kind of my like yeah,sort of big picture, what I
wanted it to feel like.
So warm tones, but still cool,you know, still like, you know,
a bit fresh.
(09:26):
Um and so that made it reallyeasy to, you know, burgundies
and timbers, um, sort of mutedcolours.
But the harder things were likethe colours, it took a little
quite a bit of finessing for meto do that final leap and that
final, yes, this is what we'regoing with.
Um and furniture, I guess mostof the furniture is stuff I
(09:51):
already had.
So there's a couple of piecesthat I found that were perfect.
But yeah, the things that I doevery day were harder than the
things that I do sort of moresporadically.
As early as a nice.
Yeah.
But it it definitely helped tohave that big picture in mind
and that sort of one key idea,which is something I do in my
projects as well for my clients,because you really have to get
(10:12):
in people's heads.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
And what a beautiful concept, too.
I absolutely love that.
The feeling of when the leavesfirst start to change.
Is that what it was?
Speaker (10:20):
Yeah.
Gorgeous.
Yeah, so everything's kind oflike hot colours, but browning
as well.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Um, and that was part of thebreef for the garden as well.
We worked with Mud Office anddoing a garden, and um, yeah, so
they've got some beautifulthings that'll turn in autumn
and are now sort of budding outout in the window at the moment
(10:42):
at the moment.
So yeah, special part of thethe build is the garden.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Actually, Mira, it's Miri, isn't it?
Yeah, she just goes around thecorner from me.
She's she's dropped in.
Can you just describe some ofthe finishes for somebody
listening?
Speaker (10:58):
Yeah.
So there's a lot of spotted gumin here.
Um, and we've used the samesupplier, um, big river timber
on the floors, the wall panels,and the joinery.
So there's there's a lot oftimber, but it doesn't feel
overwhelming.
It just feels, you know, youcan be surrounded by a lot of
beautiful kind of foresty eras,uh timber, woody areas, and not
(11:23):
feel overwhelmed.
So it does feel quite natural.
So that was kind of the thestarting point for the
materiality.
And that was something thatProject 12 came to us with the
idea for to use that a lot inthe wall panels and kind of
thing.
And to use um, I guess to matchthat as well, we use lots of
tiles and different types of umburgundy kind of tiles and very
(11:44):
textural tiles, um, which wasreally fun to choose.
But because we're using suchsuch sort of um materials with
depth, it was really importantto me to choose colours and
textures that added to thatrather than, you know, for if
there were white walls there, itwould feel like a really strong
distinction between quite aheavy spotted gum timber and
(12:08):
white.
And I think that that wouldfeel quite stark, too highly
contrasting.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yes, spotted gum can be very tricky to work with, I
think.
Yeah, it's very warm and it hasa lot of variation, doesn't
that?
Speaker (12:20):
Lots of variation, yeah.
And the technique that they usefor the panels is that they
kind of um sort of scrape it asa big roll so that they're
really big, wide, almoststretched panels of veneer.
Um, and so you do get a lot ofgrainy movement in there, and
sometimes they're a bit yellow,and sometimes they're a bit
brown.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
What makes it so beautiful though, isn't it, with
spotted gumlet?
I think if you if you likethat, I can't I struggle with it
for myself, it's got way toomuch warmth in it.
Yeah, but um I can see howpeople love it because it's just
got that I think the variationand all the grain and it's such
a beautiful timber, like it hasso much character.
Speaker (12:59):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Yeah, I really and it and it,you know, exactly that's exactly
the point is that if you dohave it with quite a um, you
know, a I guess a modern kind ofapproach to your interiors,
then maybe it's not the theright material to use.
But when it's um paired withlots of sort of very muted
colours, and um that's what wemade, you know, a lot of uh
(13:22):
decisions were made aroundmaking that timber feel settled
um and not and not sort of toocontrasty.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
And you've got this beautiful pink trap pink
travertine bench top and splashback, which again it's it's a
it's like it's an equal weightof um character, which it just
works.
And you mentioned the tilesbefore, and people just cannot
fathom tiled bench tops, but Iam so here for it.
(13:51):
I love tiled bench tops.
Beautiful.
So, how did you decide on thatmaterial for your bench top,
your sort of main island bench?
Speaker (14:00):
Well, I think because we were using that pink
travertine and there's a lot ofmovement and um in that stone,
um, it was really cool to havesomething that was quite slick
in the space as well.
So the tiles that are quite aburgundy sort of brown tile that
we've got, um, and they'rehighly glossy.
(14:20):
So it's a really nice contrastto you know the timbers and the
the pink travertine that are,you know, got a lot of movement.
It's very kind of calm sort ofcontrast to um the rest of the
the products in there.
So um, yeah, the tile benchtop, everybody loves it.
They come in and they just wantto touch it.
Touch it.
(14:40):
It's very nostalgic for people.
There, you know, my mom hadyeah, or we had it back in our
house, or my man had it.
Um, so yeah, I mean, there is abit of a 70s kind of colour
palette and a bit of a colour, abit of feel about it, um, the
house.
So the the tiled bench top kindof makes sense.
But it's beautiful.
(15:01):
People should do it.
It's easy, it's fine, it'sgreat.
Right.
I mean, what you'll love it.
That's quite the worst couldhappen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
unknown (15:08):
Yeah.
Speaker (15:09):
What colour grout have we got?
Colour matched grout, so youdon't sort of see any spots or
anything like that.
And then it's um it's all beensealed as well.
So I mean, there was anything.
There's a bit of upcape.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um I think that's it.
Yeah.
It's like any kind of stone toois going to.
I think with a tiled bench top,it is super durable.
Obviously, the tiles are reallydurable generally.
But as long as you're yes,sealing the ground, and then
it's not like a really I thinkif it's like a paler colour or
something, maybe you might getsome stains in it.
(15:42):
But as long as you don't expectit to be perfect.
Yeah.
And I think if you have a tilesurface like that, you're not
expecting it to be.
You want a bit of kind of likefive to be okay with it.
Right.
Yeah.
Speaker (15:52):
Yeah.
You have to, you know, knowwhat you're going in for before
you start.
One of the original plans wasthat we were going to have a um
a copper um bench top um insteadof the full trevatine.
Yeah, which would have beenamazing, beautiful.
But also, that's not foreveryone either.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Oh, it would pertain to be like crazy, right?
And it's very when you firststart out, it's gonna change.
But I think that's why it'samazing.
That would be like by the timeyou'd gone a few years down the
road, it'd be like a differentbench top, but it would have, I
don't know, or hold all thememories of all the things that
had happened in that kitchen,basically.
Speaker (16:32):
It's a nice way.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I feel like I'd like itafter the two years.
The two years in between, I'dbe like, oh, so many, so many.
Yeah, because it's the firstscratch on the timber floor.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Like, and you're like, no, but you just gotta
kind of let it once they alljoin up.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Um is there a single white wall in your house?
Speaker (16:55):
No, no white walls.
Um weird.
The painters found it a bitweird.
Um but no, and no, you know,the ceilings are the same colour
as the walls.
The um pretty much the buildwent back to um the frame and
(17:16):
the roof.
So all of the um ceilings aresquare set and um so there's no
cornices or you know, ornateceilings or anything like that.
So it made sense to paint thewalls and the ceilings the same
colour.
So no, and it doesn't nobodywalks in and goes, Oh, it's
really it's too much colour.
We need we need some white inhere.
(17:37):
Yeah, oh, I need some relief.
Um there I I think was therefour internal colours, which is
not that many.
I mean, I do a lot of colourspecifying and I've done way
more than that.
Yeah, yeah, and two outdoorcolours, two exterior colours.
So yeah, and it's just thatwe've used colour, you know, my
(18:00):
daughter's bedroom is the samecolour as our bedroom, but
they've got different aspects,so they look very different.
Yes.
Um, the same with the hallwaycompared to my son's bedroom or
the office that I'm in now.
And I mean, if you can seeanything um on the visuals, it
looks like a neutral white-ishkind of colour.
But when you sort of come intothe space, it's actually kind of
(18:22):
a um neutral green in thisspace.
And what colour is that,Lauren?
Do you know I've had um SirJulux Kahlua milk?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Oh, yeah, I know the one.
Beautiful.
It's quite warm, right?
But like the tiny imprints ofgreen.
Speaker (18:37):
Yeah, exactly.
I love all those very dirtycolours, they're very earthy.
They've always got a bit ofbrown in them, a bit of black,
just to kind of mucky them up alittle bit.
They're my favorite colours.
They make me feel yeah,comfortable.
unknown (18:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Well, they're quite calming.
It sounds like a very calminghouse to me.
Like having all the warmth andum, I guess, natural, natural
timber, which Lauren has talkedabout Laurelie's talked about a
bit, is such a calming, like itgrounds us, right?
We're calm around those naturalmaterials.
Speaker (19:08):
Yeah, yeah.
And I guess there is the dangerof being cloying, um, that
everything feels a bit too like,you know, bit caramel or a bit
sort of sickly.
Um, so we tried to have somefresh sort of green colours
throughout and the beautifuldining table, which is um made
(19:28):
by um Maid Design in Melbourne.
Um, we coloured that in a in agreen colour as well, just to
like you need some reliefsometimes.
Yeah, it's a beautifulcontrast.
Brown and yeah.
Did you do many custom pieces?
That was the only piece that wehad um that we needed for the
space.
The dining and the kitchen arequite near each other, and um it
(19:51):
needs to be a bit of athoroughfare as well.
So the dining table we had justwasn't appropriate, so you have
to get something made.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Oh, that's cool.
You sort of mentioned then, youknow, it could be quite a lot
of that caramel, like sicklything.
Do you have any like rules oflike I would never use a colour
like that or something?
Do you have any like colourdon'ts that you wouldn't do?
Speaker (20:14):
Yeah, probably.
Um I I re I find um veryprimary colours everywhere are
really intense.
Sometimes it's fun to be, youknow, in a in a space that needs
to be very bright, vibrant.
Um, you can get away with it inthere, but I always tend to err
(20:36):
with clients um on those sortof earthier sides of things.
Um in the last house that I didthat we lived in, there was an
electric blue study nook, andthat was really fun, but I I
wouldn't do a whole room in thatthat would feel really intense
and just not very relaxing.
So, unless it's for a purpose,um, I probably wouldn't do
(20:57):
really intense primary colours.
Um, and I'd probably try andsteer someone towards a more
earthy tone that might make themfeel a bit calmer.
Depends what they're using theroom for always.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Um I think it's those colours that you you sort of
use, and I've seen you you usein projects, they've got like a
bit of that dirtiness to it thatjust makes it like really
interesting as well.
And in different lights, theychange.
So it's that's kind of cool.
Speaker (21:23):
Yeah, those chameleon colours that they just change
through the day the best.
Do you have any colourpredictions?
Um, I was thinking about thatum because all the Paris Fashion
Week is sort of happening atthe moment, and that's always a
bit of a sign of what's to come.
Um, I know red is really in atthe moment, and I've used red um
(21:45):
in this house a little bit.
Um, but I feel like that mightstart to sort of push towards
sort of oranges a little bitmore, um, sort of those hotter
oranges, and then paired withreally soft caramelly kind of
tones.
But there there's also lots oflike creams going on.
So I wonder if creams mightstart coming back in if we, you
(22:08):
know, and the world's so crazyat the moment, who knows what
we'll decide to do.
Maybe we'll go back to likevivid white.
Please don't.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
No, I would agree on the creams.
It sounds really daggy too whenwe talk about creams because I
think there was a long timewhere a cream was considered to
be very jaggy, and there's likeI think there's a colour or it
might be a powder colour orsomething that was on a lot of
those aluminium frames, thatclotted cream colour, and it's
the worst name too.
(22:38):
Um so that there's definitelysome some icks around cream.
But then if you think aboutwhen we started to see browns
again, everyone's like, oh,brown, mission brown, rah-rah.
I think cream is kind of justbasically we're just softening
the whites.
So it sounds like a scary word,cream, but I think all the
whites are becoming way morecomplex when they're being used,
(22:59):
and there's going to be a lotless of a vivid, vivid white
lexicon quarter situation.
I think it's definitely gonnakind of start going into that
sort of more ecru and um yeah,no, I agree.
And it's because of like this,you can't, I think when we have
so much, so many warm coloursbeing on the rise and continuing
to be, you know, definitely atrend, the whites have to move
(23:21):
with it.
You can't kind of all have allthese sort of blue-based lights
next to that because it justdoesn't work, right?
Speaker (23:27):
That's right.
Yeah.
And I and I I mean I'minterested in your thoughts too,
you guys, but what's what's awhite these days?
Because I mean, I sound likeI'm poo-pooing white, but you
know, white's great.
You know, you just it's the thethe right white for the right
purpose.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Um I don't even know what's true.
Speaker (23:43):
Yeah, yeah.
And I think white is still acolour in paint land.
Um, it's just and it's findingthe right white for how people
want to be able to do that.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then, you know, people whohave had to go and select a
white understand exactly whatyou're talking about.
Because in layman's terms,people will go, well, I'll just
paint my house white.
And I've talked about it being,it's a default colour, it's not
actually a choice.
People just go, oh, it's likeyou don't choose a colour, it
ends up being white, but thenthey don't realize exactly that.
(24:15):
What is white, which one, wheredo you want to go?
And you can kind of keep goingaway from white right to a point
where you then you sort of go,Oh, is it now a neutral or a
beige?
Like it's there's this linethere of what's considered to be
white.
Speaker (24:28):
Yeah, I feel like that's why.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I'm sure there's a technical definition for it.
It's probably how much colourgets added to the formula before
it's not a white anymore.
I'm gonna ask one of my dual asfriends that question.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Be prepared.
But I think it was in well, Iwas just gonna say it was
interesting what you said beforewith your home and you've got
that figured uh spotted gum,which is like a beautiful warm
walnut colour.
People would think, okay, well,that's quite busy.
Let's counter that with a vividwhite, with quite a stark
white.
Oh, sorry.
(25:01):
But that's what people think weneed.
Yeah.
That's quite warm.
Let's do something reallyfresh.
But in actual fact, it's sohighly contrasting, it causes
more.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Whereas I think, you know, it doesn't feel settled.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
It's like, did you use that word?
Yeah, that was beautiful.
Settling the timber in thespace.
That's exactly what you need todo by surrounding it with
colours that are closer to itstone.
And it doesn't have to bereally saturated, but even if it
is a white, choosing the rightone to sort of, I don't know,
counter it a bit, right?
Speaker (25:31):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I mean, I if if I'm helpinga client choose a white, I've
got, you know, 30 whites in mykit, and the way we do it is um
put a bunch of the colours thatI think will work in the space
up on the wall in A4 umswatches, and then take away the
ones that you don't like.
Yeah, kind of magically leftwith maybe one, but it's two or
(25:53):
three that work in the space.
And um inevitably theysometimes even put the same
colour up and they'll leave thesame colour on the wall.
So there is, they are choosingthe thing that they like the
best that looks best to theireye in that space.
And it's still a white though.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Like if you show it to them flat, you know, on the
horizontal, they like withoutbeing compared to it's like you
know, obviously we all knowbetween the three of us that
white, uh particularly white,but any colour is all about
comparison and what it's next toas to how it looks.
So you could say, Oh, that'swhite, and then you put it next
to like a bivid white, and thenyou go, Oh wow, hang on, this
(26:29):
has a lot of colour in it.
But on its own, you go, yeah,it's a white.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
So yeah, people will say, Oh, that looks purple, and
then they look at you likeyou're crazy.
Speaker (26:39):
Yeah, what it's like when they do, when they do start
to see those undertones,they're like, Oh, I see why this
is like useful to do, and how Icould have just walked into
Bunnings and looked at that biggiant wall of colour and be
intimidated by it.
Um, how you can just choosesomething that's like looks good
(26:59):
in bunnings with fluorescentlighting overhead, but you
can't.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I'm sure that happens all the time, right?
Speaker (27:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
How much light affects colour is crazy.
Speaker (27:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Like you said, you've got the same colour in two
different rooms in your house,and yes, it it still reads us
two different colours.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, when you're working withclients, Lauren, and you you
know you mentioned the paintcolours, but where do you start
with the concept?
Is it colour or is it thearchitecture or is it artwork?
Does it depend?
I mean where do you sort ofstart or is it last?
Is colour last?
Speaker (27:39):
Um I I think it's always in my brain what colours
might work, but if I'm doing aproject that sort of colour and
furnishings, uh then it's metrying to figure out, you know,
what kind of person or peoplelive in this house.
And, you know, um, I I tralways try and do um three
(28:04):
themes, three key themes for myclients.
So it's kind of getting to thecrux of who they are, but you
know, obviously they've come tome for some professional advice.
So I guess they like the stylethat I produce as well.
So it's a bit of a mash ofthat.
So yeah, it's getting intotheir brain, and then I tend to
be able to just kind of um knowwhat will work thereafter.
(28:28):
But I always like to do thatcolour process with them, kind
of um makes people feel likethey're um involved in the
process and that they're beinglistened to and that it's how
their space wants to feel.
Um, but maybe I do put in a fewlike that are more in the realm
of where I'm hoping for it tomove, just to, you know, people
(28:50):
want to be challenged as welland and not winky cutter.
Um so yeah, I think it's it's ait's a bit of everything.
If they've got a key piece thatthey really want to, you know,
continue to use, then that'sdefinitely part of um if you've
got a sofa that's already inthere, or you know, maybe
they've got three dogs and it'sreally important that you know
(29:11):
we choose.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
You need to match the fabric colour to the dog.
Speaker (29:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
To the dog firm.
Speaker (29:18):
Or consider the the fiber guard protection on the
fabric.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
There is that too.
Easy just to match the sofacolour to the dog though.
That's a good one, Bree.
Yeah, I'll write that down.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker (29:33):
Um, yeah, so uh it's a bit of a mixture.
It depends, it depends on theclient, but it is always the
client is kind of the key.
And I when I first um whensomeone first contact me
contacts me, I will give them aquick questionnaire just to find
out a little bit about thembefore we have a chat, so I can
kind of get a sense of what theyare after and who lives in the
(29:57):
house, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Which yeah.
And it is, it is funny.
You might have a colour in yourmind, but and you might grab
your swatches or whatever andthink, oh, it's not going to be
that colour, but I'll just bringit in case.
And then you put it in the roomand you just go, Oh my god,
this looks so different.
And it was the sort of the wildcard, and it ends up being the
amazing colour.
So it's yeah, I think it's soas as you said, you know, the
(30:21):
Bunnings light, this light, it'sso informs what it's gonna be.
It's cool.
Speaker (30:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And I think what I got to chat to with you, Lauren.
Remember how we had thatstyling project?
Was um it was a really toughone.
You were so amazing, you wereso not on that.
That's right, on that shoot.
Yeah, that shoe.
Yeah, it was really big.
It was like and I had like anunder one-year-old baby, like I
(30:48):
was trying to breastfeed, Philcame in, all of it.
But um, you brought in somegorgeous pieces and you just
held the whole thing together.
It was amazing.
But we were we were chatting onthe sofa and I did not know
about your previous career.
Can you tell us a bit about howyou got into interior design?
Speaker (31:06):
Yes, it was a natural progression from um food science
um into interior design.
Totally, yeah, it happens allthe time.
Side step.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, I I yeah did ascience degree um at uni and got
into food science, and um a lotof my career was spent working
(31:27):
in ice cream um and colour,which I'll maybe get to in a
minute.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
But you let that go.
I would have loved to haveworked with ice cream.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I know.
I sometimes say if everythingturns pear-shaped, you'll see me
at the local ice cream placescooping ice cream, don't I?
Because everyone's happy, likeget getting, but you weren't
doing that though.
You were right at the the topof the I don't know, ice cream
command chain.
Speaker (31:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, I was.
I was yeah, captained the helmof ice cream.
Um I'm sure people woulddispute that.
Um, yeah, there's so I workedin innovation department, and
that's sort of in betweenmarketing and um production, and
it's kind of nuancing flavorsand then upscaling things um
(32:13):
into the factory.
And yeah, it was really fun.
I worked on some really coolprojects, pun intended.
And um I guess I sorry, thatjust took me a second.
So it's an old school ice creamgag.
Um, yes, so of those are gonnascoop you up.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I don't know, sorry.
Speaker (32:40):
I mean, this the shine does come off being um a
technologist in an ice creamfactory when you go to taste ice
cream at eight o'clock in themorning every day.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
But I was about to say, so does that wear off?
Because I'm quite ice creamobsessed.
Speaker (32:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
And the idea of having a job where I just get to
like taste ice cream and checkit out.
You're is there times thoughwhen you've tasted it and going,
oh my god, that's horrible?
Like, do you have to go throughthat as well?
So it's not all good.
Speaker (33:05):
Yeah, when you're doing new flavours for sure, you
you're like, oh, that one's gota little bit of a little bit.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Well, what's the craziest you've had to taste?
Can you think of well?
Speaker (33:13):
I mean, there were some projects where you're sort of
trying to match something, soyou put in sort of all sorts of
combinations of things.
I mean, same with you know,smelling perfume after like
three or four, you're like, ohno, it's all it's all strawberry
now.
Um, but I it I mean, you haveto when you go for the tastings,
you have to be quite objectiveas well.
So you're kind of eating it andyou know, is there a taint in
(33:36):
that or is there a graininess toit?
Is it too icy?
So um, yeah, that everyonewanted to do the afternoon shift
ice cream tasting.
Yeah, but fewer people turningup for the 8 a.m.
Yeah.
It really wakes you up.
Um, and you do certainly I cameaway with a sugar habit for
sure.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Um I already have one, it would be enabling me.
Speaker (34:02):
Um, but yeah, and then I moved away from ice cream into
a different section of thatbusiness, and it was uh yeah, it
was just a more of a businessshift, and I it just didn't work
for me and I had a couple ofkids in the meantime, and that
was challenging with you knowlifestyle.
(34:22):
Um and yeah, I just sort ofthought to myself one day if I
reimagined what I wanted to do,if it wasn't even in this
industry, what would I do?
And it was um a a field in insort of interiors um or
architecture, and I'd been backto uni.
(34:43):
Had you always been interestedin it?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Like or is that just yeah, okay.
Speaker (34:48):
I had, yeah.
Like my my third preference togo to uni was architecture, and
like oh wow.
I don't know, no one's gonnago, oh third preference, great,
yeah, you're in, um, no worries.
But what was the second?
I I think one the first one wasfood science, and the second
one were earth sciences and okaythat's a throw.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Science, science, architecture.
Speaker (35:13):
I know there's a bit of um a little bit of an earworm I
think.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I guess it's creativity though.
I feel like for me, science isabout curiosity, and I in my the
way I approach things, it'sdefinitely, I don't know, from a
curiosity perspective.
So it's it is kind of creativetrait to be curious, right?
Speaker (35:32):
Yeah, I think so.
And that the jobs that I landedin food science world were were
creative roles, you know, andum finally being sort of in
marketing roles, that kind ofthing.
So um, yeah, there there'salways a way to kind of for
your, you know, natural state tokind of find its place.
But yeah, it was just time forme to do something different.
(35:55):
And I thought, okay, well, I'lljust do I'll do it for a year
and see how I go.
And at that time, he also hadum my partner had a photography
studio.
Um, he's a photographer, and Ikind of started helping out with
that part of the business, andthen I started doing style
assisting, and I really just itwas so fun.
It was it it was uhbackbreaking, but it was really
(36:19):
fun.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
And I just not an easy one, is it?
Speaker (36:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I just enjoyed the people thatI was around and it was um a
really nice industry to be apart of, and so it made it
easier to do something that Iloved and that I was like
invested in and and be in acommunity that I was really um
happy to be in.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Was it what you expected when you started?
Speaker (36:45):
Yeah, I did I I honestly I kind of went in
pretty blind and I was like,I'll just do this course and
I'll, you know, meet some peopleand maybe the you know the
ultimate dream was to well, Isort of didn't know if I wanted
to be a business owner or if Iwanted to work for someone, but
I just sort of started doing myown things and that first
project that you mentionedbefore, which was my house, did
(37:07):
get a bit of momentum, and soyou know, you then you get your
first client and your second andthen you're sort of doing it.
But yeah, I mean there weretimes that it was really slow
and I was like, what have Idone?
We all think you know, yeah,yeah, it certainly wasn't like
(37:27):
great, you know, um hittingsixes all the time.
It was, you know, hard work andputting yourself out there in
awkward situations and puttingyourself out there with social
media and oh it's exhausting.
Yeah, that's hard.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah.
But also, you know, to enterinto the interior design
industry, you know, you saidthat um your home was sold on uh
the last lockdown, is thatright?
Speaker (37:52):
Yeah, so after the last lockdown.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So, I mean, yeah, you we've had COVID and lockdowns,
and then post-COVID, and thenthis cost of living crisis.
So it's really been quiteturbulent out there.
So you just enter into a newindustry and you're like, um, is
this normal?
Or is I I don't know if it'snormal.
It's kind of I guess what theysay, the new normal.
(38:15):
But um, so were you wanting to,you sort of said you took on
one job, you tried to take onanother job, and then before you
know it, you're like, oh mygod, I'm running my own
business.
Was that kind of what youthought it would be?
Speaker (38:27):
Or I probably thought that I would work for someone
else.
Um and yeah, then I I thinkCOVID was the real sort of,
well, I don't know about thatkind of that's not gonna really
fly in the next couple of years.
Um I was lucky that I was ableto work in partnership with
Glenn and he's been amazing atbeing supportive.
So that was, you know, withouthaving his kind of backing, um,
(38:51):
it would have been reallydifficult.
Um, but I guess because we hadthat sort of pause for COVID, I
was able to do some, I guess itwas like then I sort of slipped
into marketing a bit maybe andjust went, okay, how how do I
want to be thought about?
If I've got this little bit oftime on my hands, how do I want
(39:14):
my brand, which is also me, tobe perceived?
So yeah, it that took a bit ofthat gave me the space to to do
those backgrounds.
Yeah.
That's really smart.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Working on the business and yeah.
Especially before you kind ofsometimes that just happens
organically, and you don't ifyou don't sort of take control
of that at the start, it cankind of go off in a direction
that you don't necessarily wantit to go into.
Speaker (39:40):
So yeah, yeah, totally.
You're like, oh, just jump onCanva and create a logo and
there you go.
I sort of was able to to do itand you know, do a bit of, you
know, who do I want to work withand um how do I want people to
understand the work that I do?
So I think that was, you know,fortuitous.
I mean, I wasn't getting, Ididn't have that really sharp
(40:04):
uptake in clients that somepeople did during COVID because
their brand was sort of whatmore well established and
understood and their businesses.
So yeah, I guess uh Glennalways says you gotta zig when
people zag.
And um so I guess you gottajust kind of find your spot,
find your niche and figure outyou know where to push.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Um, and yeah, that's that's how I we uh you were
working, I think you mentionedbefore that you did end up kind
of in marketing when you were infood.
So do you feel like that'shelped in the way you've
approached how to work out?
Because not, I think you know,we talk about it all the time
that um when you study design,we don't really get taught all
(40:46):
of that stuff if you're workingfor yourself.
Like, and even if you work fora firm watching how they decide
to market themselves, there is awhole, there's all the roles in
one when you're yourself in abusiness.
So has that really helped tokind of have a bit more of an
understanding of, I guess,marketing in general?
Speaker (41:03):
I think so.
And I think it it's tounderstand that it is a brand.
I mean, it is tricky when thebrand is you, but um, it's
what's the essence?
Like what's your point ofdifference?
And without it being too, youknow, it doesn't have to be too
navel gazing.
Um, it's just how do you fitinto the world and how does the
(41:24):
person that wants to work withyou find you?
And how do they it's it's againlike the same as colour, it's
you know, it's a feeling thatyou get when you find that
person that you want to workwith.
And I guess it's making doingthe right things to make sure
that they have enoughinformation so that you've got
an Instagram page that helpspeople, and I'm terrible at
updating my Instagram, but youknow, it's a a reference point
(41:46):
for people, but maybe they'regetting most of their
information from your website.
So your website has to bereally informative and maybe you
know, have lots of imagery todemonstrate, you know, final
outcomes.
And then you do have to have apresence outside of those, which
you know, something like DesignFiles magazine, um, an article
that you maybe you've quoted in,and that gives people
(42:07):
confidence that okay, she knowsshe knows things, what she's
talking about, and yourbranding.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Your branding is so beautiful and it is kind of so
you, like it's really cool andit's beautiful colours.
And do you can you share withus, if you don't mind, who you
worked with on that?
Speaker (42:22):
Um, that was the beautiful Annie Portelli, who's
on front design files fullcircle.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
It's so it's so beautifully done.
Um, you mentioned before aboutyou know zigging and zagging and
finding your own niche.
Like, what is your niche?
What do you see your niche asbeing?
Speaker (42:39):
I think it's definitely got colour in it.
And that was really fortuitousthat I I ended up working with
Ruth on a lot of the Haymesphoto shoots.
And then as I was coming out ofdoing um style assisting, they
were like, Okay, well, we've gotthis colour consultant job that
we'd like you to help us outwith.
And so that gave me sort of um,I didn't know that you thought
(43:02):
with Haymes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Um, so that gave me somegrounding and some sort of
background in and how to docolour consultations, and that
kind of became a nice platformfor me.
And and then from there itmeant that I was able to push
more into soft furnishings andand furnishings, which is, I
guess, my one true obsession.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
Um it's your one true obsession.
Okay, you need to expand onthat comment.
Speaker (43:28):
What okay, what is it?
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Fabrics and things, like what is it?
Speaker (43:32):
I just think furniture is so cool.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Is it the soft furnishings part of furniture or
is it just furniture ingeneral?
Speaker (43:41):
I think it's the shapes and the colours and how and I
like being able to, you know, Ikinda I quite like doing
SketchUp myself still andfiguring out what piece to go
where and how it all fits in anddimensions and still a bit sort
of, you know, bit of a sciencebrain that still needs to be um
massaged every now and then.
So yeah, the the so I guess I'mfound it's I I've been really
(44:03):
lucky that the things that Ireally love um were things that
I could sort of push into thethe business that I wanted to
create.
So yeah, I don't know whichcame first, but probably the
obsessive bit.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
All of it above all of the above.
Um do you have any, like, areyou coveting any furniture or
can you share any places whereyou source furniture?
Speaker (44:25):
I mean, I think about couches a lot.
Um and I know that the moderncloud is one of your favorites
as well, Lauren.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Yeah, it's extremely comfortable.
Extremely comfortable.
It's really, really hard tofind something else once you've
sat in that.
So yeah, this sofa, it's byCasino and it's designed by
Patricia Ochiola, and you canget it from Mobilia.
And I've taken clients inthere, and we we just sat on
that thing for a good 20minutes.
We we didn't want to move.
(44:56):
My clients are obsessed withit.
Yeah, they literally don't havea house yet, but we know we're
having that sofa.
But they're building the house.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
It's a pretty the house is being designed just
around the slab.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Pretty much we literally had to move some of
the the slab was affected.
We had to really yeah, becausewe had to fit in the
three-seater MonCloud, like ithad to be done.
So um, yeah, and it'ssustainable.
Speaker (45:20):
Snew clients that I'm meeting this week, and I've
already said I I think I knowthe couch.
I know I don't want topigeonhole you guys, but what's
it like?
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Like Oprah, you get one, you get one.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
I need to get on board.
I have not gone down this routeyet.
Oh, but I keep hearing aboutit.
I'm like, okay, I need to putit into the repertoire.
It takes a few boxes for sure.
Speaker (45:41):
I mean, yeah, yeah.
And I also love, you know, noteveryone's buying a MonCloud,
not everyone's able to shop.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
What's the price point?
Like it's are we talking kindof okay?
So if I'm going to Jardan tobuy something of the same size,
is it still more expensive thanthat?
Compared to about the same.
It's affordable.
I think that's why doing well,I think.
It sits into that bracket whereI think all of us have clients
that would invest that much inthat key piece, right?
(46:08):
So it's sort of yeah, okay.
Speaker (46:10):
Yeah.
And I feel like, you know, theway we sit on sofas has changed
a lot in the last 10 years, youknow, is you don't sit on a sofa
these days that much.
You lounge on a sofa.
It's a really great loungingsofa in and but it's a great
sofa to lounge on that's just ina sofa configuration.
Elegant still.
Not yeah.
Sometimes you have to go for amore modular, but this is quite
(46:33):
nice as a single standalone.
Yeah.
Um, so that's very special.
I I one day, like the couchthat I have at the moment, I've
had since 2011 or something.
So it's been, you know, goodstint.
Um, and but I just I can't makethat decision.
That's what you were talkingabout earlier, Brie where you
just can't do your own thing.
(46:53):
It's really hard.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
That's not one that you're gonna change again for a
while once you've seen it.
Speaker (46:57):
No, that's right.
And then is the more importantthing.
So some people the design ismore important, and some people
the fabric is more important.
And maybe I could find a sofathat's like very reasonably
priced and get an amount offabric.
And that's right.
Sort of, I don't know which wayto turn.
Yeah, tough life.
First world problems.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Oh well, I for my sofa, it probably is not the
most expensive sofa.
So when I um went to Ikea theother day, went down to Freedom,
my girls sat on a recliner forthe first time, and they will
not stop talking about itbecause of the comfort.
We're not having a recliner.
Damn recliners.
(47:39):
I know, but differentpriorities, still that's right.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
I feel like you can achieve it.
Sorry, I mean I'm very muchagainst a recliner too, but like
um, I might as well mention mysofa now.
So I have an EVA every day, andit's one of the best affordable
sofas.
It's quite comfortable.
But what I love is like I havethe ottoman, so I just slide
that.
It's not that hard.
And I can kind of lay down andwatch, like it just changes the
(48:04):
whole thing.
So a little bit of modularityis good.
Speaker (48:07):
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, yeah.
And it yeah, it has to beloungy.
It has you have to be able tolay on it in my house.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
The sitting room is for sitting and the living room
is for lounging.
Yeah, yeah.
If you have a sitting room.
So for the becoming more bedsfor sure.
Yeah, yeah, right.
That's so true.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Um, Lauren, you're really great at, I guess,
nurturing a community, aninterior design community in
some ways, like you know, eventsand things.
And you have a sort of, wouldyou say it's like another
business?
Could you talk about the designknowledge?
Side hustle.
Yeah, it's a design knowledge.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
I love the word.
Yeah, it's so great.
Yeah, it's a little science-y,actually, isn't it?
That's not not even sure that'snot by accident.
Speaker (48:50):
Yeah, yeah.
And that's with um my mateAllison Lewis, and she has a
background in finance, so we area little bit, you know, we're
both a bit.
I love Allison.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
She's beautiful.
Speaker (48:59):
Um, yeah, I think and the whole premise with
designologists would thatsometimes you get the the book
knowledge from design umcourses, but maybe not like how
to put into practice.
Like that first day that you goand see a client, what do you
do?
Like you walk in the door andyou're like, I'm here to do a
colour consult.
And then what how do you dothat?
(49:21):
Like, you do you walk in andgo, This is a colour for you?
Probably not.
You probably go in, so it'sit's explaining to people the
concept of like what I wasexplaining before of putting the
cards up on the wall, the nutsand bolts of like how you arrive
at a colour.
And then it's imparting thatconfidence to somebody that they
can walk in to a client's houseand they know more than that
(49:42):
client, and it's you know, ittakes a bit of building up um
over time.
But yeah, yeah, if you ifyou're willing to put yourself
out there and you want to, youjust need those kind of couple
of little like light bulbmoments and a bit of um history
and how other people have doneit.
Totally.
So that's how we sort of cameup with a designologist.
So it was um a colour workshop,and then Alison's um background
(50:04):
is in more materials, so stoneand tiles.
And so she really sort ofimparted a lot of great
knowledge about how to makeselections of those things with
clients.
Um, and then the last one wedid was with the um and she did
a styling session, which wasreally fun.
So maybe it's styling, yeah,for sale of a home, maybe it's
(50:25):
styling for a magazine, maybeit's styling for your own brand
and just kind of giving people,I guess, more than just, you
know, here's the idea and here'sthe finished product.
Like, how do you actually goabout doing those things and why
would you do them?
So yeah, it was really fun.
And I think we'll continue todo those in person for a while
and maybe we'll sort of convertsome of that information into
(50:48):
some downloadable information aswell for people because it is
hard to do in person all thetime because people are all over
the place.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Yeah, it's a big ask as well for to have somebody
take a day out of their busylives to meet up in person.
But that sounds like a greatidea if you can download
something and take in thatinformation and then off you go.
Because you're right.
I mean, you do cover a lot whenyou're studying interior
design, whether it be acertificate or a diploma.
But actually, what does it looklike stepping into a client's
(51:19):
home?
I mean, shouldn't that be likethe first day one 101?
Speaker 2 (51:22):
But no, we don't really get taught that at all.
No, no, there's so much of thatthat's not taught.
I mean, it's yeah, I get it.
There's also a lot of otherstuff that we need to learn.
So maybe it's just yeah, thenext step, which is great that
now we have um like both of youare doing things where there's
access to that for people whoare in the industry and need a
little more guidance on kind ofthe practicalities of the
(51:45):
business side of things, right?
And how we do stuff.
Speaker 1 (51:47):
It's fun too, isn't it?
To talk about colour all daywith people.
unknown (51:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:52):
The best time.
Yeah.
So what is next for LaurenEgan?
That's a good question.
Speaker (51:57):
I think um picking up the kids, no.
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
Actually, I'm leaving right now for you later.
Speaker (52:07):
I but it actually mentioning the keys, I think it
it does there is a balance thatneeds to be held.
I mean, I do have, you know,great ambitions to do beautiful
work and work with clients thatthat we're both getting
something out of it.
And it'd be fun to do maybe acommercial project here and
there.
But it's also got to be thebalance between my life and my
(52:29):
work life.
Um, and that's always been keyfor both Glenn and myself that
we have enough time to be withthe family and have um, yeah,
still, still we're not just sortof like a duck in a pond, kind
of paddling away furiously.
And yeah, so I think it'sworking towards a good life
balance, but also, you know,having enough work that keeps
(52:50):
coming in and and and beingfulfilled by by both aspects of
life.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
Well, if you figure it out, could you please let me
know?
Yeah, I will.
Yep.
Speaker (52:59):
There's a few of us who need to know.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Spreadsheet.
Speaker (53:02):
Oh, it's so Ebon.
How old are your kids, Lauren?
They're um 11 and 9.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So kind of coming intoindependence.
Yeah.
Lots of activities.
Um high school next year.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah.
I think people forget.
I mean, I've been through quitea few phases now, but it's
funny how even when people sortof say to you, Oh, and the kids
go back to school, you can goand do XX next.
But with that comes, I mean,obviously, there's a period
during the day when the kidsaren't around that disappears
like sands through the hourglasslike crazy.
But I feel like also there'sall of the other stuff.
(53:37):
There's like then comeshomework and supervising that.
And you know, there's a lot ofstuff that people forget.
Like, you don't, the kids justdon't kind of exist on their
own.
You've got to factor that in.
And I love the fact that you'reboth looking at it also from a
partnership of how that works.
And that's like I love thatthat was your answer because I
don't think I think most peoplewould have just gone straight to
a career thing, and then you'resaying, Well, no, life is
(53:58):
integrated with that.
Speaker (53:59):
Yeah, yeah.
Especially in our house wherewe both work from home and so
the kids do see us at work allthe time, and we're sort of like
off you go and watch TV whilewe sit here in front of a
computer screen.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
But yeah, no, I'm familiar with that.
Speaker (54:11):
Yeah.
Like that.
Yeah.
But that you know, that we dohave flexibility to go, okay,
well, it's you know, time to goto basketball training or um,
you know, it's the best down tothe shops.
Speaker 2 (54:22):
It's probably one of the pros, right?
Of working definitely.
Yeah.
There's lots of cons too, but Ithink having younger children
and that flexibility to and youknow, having said that, it's
also extremely difficult thenights of working until I mean,
I don't know about you, but I'vedone many, many a night where
I'm up extremely late or eveninto the morning because there
(54:42):
was all the other stuff that hadto be done for the family.
So it's hard, but it does giveyou that at least.
You've got that flexibility.
Yeah.
Flexibility, but no time off.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's that?
I forget it.
I've the whole thing of likeit's a public holiday and you
don't know, and everyone's like,oh, no one's gonna be around
me.
Like, what?
No, but on the flip.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Yeah, it's like, you know, as you say, staying up
till ridiculous o'clock to getsomething done, having the
client presentation and going,you know what, I'm gonna go out
for lunch and I'm just gonnatake the rest of the day off.
Like, you know, it's yeah, youcan try to enjoy those moments.
But uh so good, Lauren.
Thank you so much for such afun chat.
Thank you.
Speaker (55:22):
Always nice to hang out here guys.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
I don't know.
It's nice just to likehopefully see you again soon in
person.
Yeah.
Speaker (55:30):
Thanks, Lauren.
No, it's been really fun andthank you.
Thank you for inviting me on.
It's um you never sort of whenyou work for yourself, you very
rarely get to have these chancesto kind of in you know, reflect
and and talk to other peopleabout what you do.
It's really nice to do that.
So thank you for theopportunity to do that.
Thanks, Lauren.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
We've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri
people of the Kulin Nation.
They're the OG custodians ofthis 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 theamazing elders who have walked
before us, those leading the wayin the present, and the
(56:10):
emerging leaders who will carrythe torch into the future.
We're just lucky to be on thisjourney together.
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