March 22, 2026 • 47 mins
In this heartfelt episode, interior designer and TV host Wendy Moore sits down to share the real story behind her career pivots, from editing Home Beautiful to running Foxtel’s lifestyle channels and fronting Selling Houses Australia. She opens up about the emotional weight of leaving a team she loved after 13 years, and what it takes to walk away from something successful when it no longer feels right.
Wendy also takes us inside her latest chapter, The Interiors Edit, and the investment property renovation she is quietly turning into a content and business engine. From repainting an entire exterior at the last minute to rallying a whole community on site, she shares the messy, unglamorous realities behind those glossy “after” shots and why quick, brave decisions often make the most beautiful rooms.
If you are dreaming of a renovation, Wendy breaks down the non-negotiables: a detailed budget, a mood board you actually use, and a brutally honest check-in on what you can reasonably do yourself. She talks trends warmer colours, layered textures, and homes that feel lived-in rather than styled to perfection and why emotional first impressions matter more than any single piece of furniture.
Away from the tools and paint charts, Wendy reflects on balance, burnout and the mantra that guides her now: “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” She is frank about the toll of constant work, the guilt of being pulled between set and family, and the boundaries she’s learned to draw so there is still space for curiosity, creativity and being present at home.
This episode is for anyone standing on the edge of a big change of career, home or both and wondering if it’s too late to pivot. Wendy’s story is a reminder that luck usually looks a lot like hard work, that starting again can be the most generous thing you do for yourself, and that the best interiors are less about perfection and more about how they make you feel when you walk through the door.
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Selling Houses Australia: 40 design ideas to steal from last season
The incredible transformations on this season of Selling Houses Australia
Inside the festive home of interiors expert Wendy Moore
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is an our Media podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Seeing you at the paintbrush. I think, is Wendy really painting?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
People are?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It drives me insane because we are. I think our
homes are our autobiography. Somebody went to have lunch at
that pub and they asked for a grassive rose and
they said, we're sorry. Wendy Moore had a farewell party
and we're out of rosa.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
This episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes
with beautiful, functional window coverings designed to change your life
and lifestyle. Today's set has been thoughtfully curated by os Design,
sharing life with you since nineteen seventy nine. Welcome back
to the Edit, the show about your style and your Sanctuary,
(00:59):
where we step in ste the homes, habits and headspaces
of the people who help us live better and who
doesn't want more of that. Today's guest is someone who's
spent her career helping Australian see the potential in their homes,
sometimes before the owners can see it themselves. She's a
longtime editor of Home Beautiful, a familiar face from selling
houses Australia, and someone whose brain seems permanently wired to
(01:21):
see what a house could be not just what it is.
Right now, Wendy Moore is juggling quite a few things.
She's just finished renovating an investment property, she's watching Series
eighteen of Selling Houses go to air, and she's about
to begin filming season nineteen. And because she clearly enjoys
a challenge, she's also started her own business. So today
(01:42):
we're talking renovation, brain reinvention, and why asking a busy
woman how do you do it all? Might be the
most annoying question in the world. Wendy Moore, I can't
believe you are here with us on the edit.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
How does it feel? How beautiful? Is it always feels
like coming home. It's just one of those things that
when you, I think, when you work on Home Beautiful,
you become part of a family and you don't ever
really leave. And if you meet someone, even if you
never cross paths with them on the magazine, it's like
(02:17):
you share something. It sounds a bit corny, but it's
really true.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It is true, Because how long did you work on
Home Beautiful?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Thirteen years? Gosh, yeah, didn't feel like that long. I'd
done other jobs that felt a lot longer, that were
probably ten percent of that time.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Tell me why.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It's all about the people though, isn't it? It is?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, did you start with the same team or did
you collect people as you went along.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
A pit of a mix. I inherited a really great
team and then I kind of picked up a few
people on the way. But we had very low turnover.
So quite a lot of the people that I started
working with at the beginning were still there when I
left at thirteen years so, and if they weren't there,
(03:06):
they'd kind of they were freelancing for us, or they
were you know, still in the industry and sending us stories,
or you know, there's always a connection.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, so I have to ask why did you leave?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You know, it was a funny thing because I'm Beautiful
was a It was a real career moment for me actually,
because I think before then, and probably because I was
a bit younger, all of my aspirations and goals were
about what I wanted to achieve and what job I
wanted and what I wanted to do next. And then
(03:41):
I got Time Beautiful, and all of my ambitions became
for the magazine, what we wanted the magazine to do,
and you know what circulation and you know, when I
first started Housing Garden, was just smashing this and it
was going to beat House and Garden.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I still feel that way.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, so good, you know, And I think that was
a there's a real release when your ambitions are less
personal and it's more of a team. And so I
think it never crossed my mind that I would ever
reach the end of my time. And it wasn't until
I got offered a job. And up until that point,
(04:20):
not that I'd been offered a huge amount of jobs,
but I'd never It was just like, I'm so happy,
I'm not even thinking about it. And I started to
think about it and I thought, maybe it's time. And
then a couple of weeks after, I got offered another
job weirdly, you know how that kind of happened, And
that was at Foxtel and it was running all the
lifestyle and suddenly I got really excited about what I
(04:44):
could do and this whole new medium and I've been
working on TV and yeah, and I just thought I
think it might be time. And it was a real
It was so emotional because it was just it was
my family and been there for so long, and we
all knew each other, we'd all been through all of
this stuff. You know, I had my children, and you know,
(05:07):
I lost my dad and like all of these things
that we'd all and they'd all done the same kind
of things, and then we did have a great We
had a really great farewell party.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Was that it was.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It was at a pub. And my claim to fame
is the next day somebody went to have lunch at
that pub and they asked for a grass of rose
and they said, we're sorry, Wendy Moore had a farewell
party and we're out of rosa. We drank them dry
of rose choice. Yes, well not really, so maybe we
(05:42):
drank them drive a few things. I thought that.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Look out just me. It's just very good company, a
great party.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And it's funny because I felt it was a really
it was a big decision to leave, and I felt
like I was kind of abandoning people. But actually what
I found is after I left, there was a few
people that were actually ready to go, and so maybe
we were kind of staying for each other. That's so true. Yeah,
it just kind of all happened at the same time.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, a piece of advice I was once given years
ago was you can't ever stay for the people.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
No, but but that's what you do, that's the only
thing that keeps you there. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, so you moved from Home Beautiful over to Foxtowl,
but I would say still in the same sort of genre.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah. I mean when I was first there, I was
running the lifestyle channels, which was great, and you know,
it's the same it's a funny thing where it's the
same kind of people. So I feel like I was
still with my people in a way that just love
that content and get excited about a new show. And
(06:53):
it's not just the shows that we make in Australia,
it was also the shows that we were buying in
from overseas, and you know, Alan Carr and Amanda were
doing a new show, everybody was excited, you know, that
kind of stuff. You get to watch a lot of
TV obviously, and I think also like a similar to
a magazine and like you obviously know this. You spent
(07:13):
your whole life thinking about what the reader wants, what's
going to make them excited, what's going to make them
turn that page, And exactly it's similar with TV. You know,
what are they going to love, what kind of mood
are they going to be? And when they're watching this show,
what are they going to feel like watching next? How
do we kind of make it feel nice for them
to just kind of journey through the day with this?
And it's a very similar mindset.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I think, what do you think viewers don't know about
working in TV? What do you think are some things
that would surprise people to.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I think it would surprise them just how much I'm
on the tools.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I have wondered about that. Actually seeing you with a paintbrush.
I think it is Wendy really painting now people ask her.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
It drives me insane because we were they're doing it,
and you know, they just get a few snippets of us,
you know, painting or knocking things down. I love them,
I love dem It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Would you say, at this point in your life, is
renovation your personality?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah? Probably? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So how do you maintain the glamour while you're doing it?
Because TV is glamorous.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I don't think selling houses, I think that's where we
hang our hat. I think I don't think I would
really be able to hold my head very high if
I'd turn up to a build site wearing heels and lushes.
Do you know what I mean, it's just not going
to know, it's not going to get get the work done.
So and I think that's what I love about selling
(08:52):
houses is that it's it's so real and it's so
down to earth, and it's such a great team. You know,
it's similar to Mags, and they're all there, they all
want the renovation to look great at the end. There's
actually an episode this season in the middle of nowhere.
It's like far north western Australia. How do you get there?
(09:13):
Two flights and an hour and a half drive or something.
It was was yeah, and it was so hot, and
it was this it's a little beat shack. Dennis and
I had I had a real vision for what I
wanted it to look like and what I thought we
could do with it. And Dennis and I had chosen
a color together for the exterior.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, because Dennis is the exterior guy.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yes, Dennis is out my co host, and we do
a lot of you know, make a lot of decisions
like that together. We painted the house and there was
really not a lot of trades and there wasn't a
lot of money, and it was really hard to get
people there. So it was all hands on deck. We
painted the front of the house and I just went, like.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It, you don't like it.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And I took Dennis across the road and said, please
tell me you agree with me. And he was like,
And Dennis is, he's a doer, like he's a task guy.
He's like got a list of things to do, and
he's and he's always panicking. On day two, we're not
going to finish, and you know, so he's and I said,
I think we have to change the color, and he said,
(10:18):
absolutely not. We do not have the time to change
the color. I said, I really think do we need
to change the color? I don't think that we can
fix it. And he was really not very keen.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So who won?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I won? Because I can't. I said, let's just go
and have a look at some other colors. We'll go
to the local hardware store. It's only like forty five
minutes to drive. And we chose got some sample pots.
Like this, this great color and it's you know, this
is right on the water across the road from where
(10:53):
the sun sets, like it's bright orange, beautiful evening. I thought,
I'm going to do a sunset house, and so it is.
It's really bright orange and just like the color. You
didn't have a problem with the color. He had a
problem with the time. And I just said, I think
I think we can do it. He said, well, let's
just wait and see how we go with all the
other things on his list. And I just went okay,
(11:15):
And then I went away and started painting the house
because I knew once we painted, we'd started, we had
to finish.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
You had to finish to keep going.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It was so hot that we could only we had
to kind of paint around the house and follow the
shade because it was too hot to paint it in
the sun. I had all the runners, all the soundos,
all the camera guys, all the producers, some of the locals.
Everyone was painting, and I took a little video like
every single person that had to paint brush in their heads.
(11:44):
But you know what, it looked amazing. It was the
right thing. That's community. It was community. That's the kind
of crewe that it is.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Like.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
There wasn't any grumbling. Everyone was on task and we
all got it done. And that makes it so it's
not it's not glamorous at all. Same blood good so
much fun. Yeah, it's so much fun, and it's high
pressure but you know, I mean, you know, a renovation
is a lot of decisions. Ye, but you have a
(12:11):
lot of time to make the decisions, and that actually
makes it harder because you get a bit of paralysis
about but you kind affordunately, You've got four days and
you have to make a decision, and if what you're
going to do isn't going to work, you have to
make a different decision in that moment and just make
it happens. It's kind of fun, really.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And I love that for anyone. Lessening a really good
piece of advice. If you want to paint your house
a different color, start, just start because if you have
to fit, make friends with your neighbors. So, Wendy, you
have had such an incredible career working in other businesses,
but actually you've started your own.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I have. Look, I was at Foxtel for seven years
and great job, and I did end up I kind
of ended up running not just lifestyle, and so there
was pretty much all entertainment. So anything that wasn't sport
on news was in my group, which was great. You know,
it's amazing to be able to work on drama projects
and series and you know, things like high Country and
(13:10):
coming from accounts like amazing, amazing experience. But I think
I kind of got to the point where I thought
I had been working really hard for a really long
time and I was pretty tired. Yeah, and I love
doing selling houses and I love renovating, and I had
(13:31):
already kind of had a few things going on the
side around my own business, and I just thought I
was loving it and learning a lot. But I think
I was getting further away from what I really loved.
And what is that? And it's interiors, It's not actually,
I wouldn't say anteriors. It's homes as opposed to interiors.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And when is it about homes that you love?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And I look, I think I always loved it, but
I fell in love with it definitely at home Beautif.
I think our homes are our autobiography. And you know,
and I wonder if you have the same experience. Actually,
when you go out to home shoots and you meet
the homeowners and you walk around, they don't tell you
I bought this from here, or this cost this march,
(14:17):
or you know, this is that brand. They tell you
this table came actually from my mother in law, and
you know, or that piece of art we bought when
we were on holidays and it was a tiny little
alley down the side street or my husband and I
fought over that color a year and I finally won.
(14:37):
And look how beautiful it is. Like it's all a
collection of stories, and particularly for home beautiful. I've always
loved real homes. I haven't really loved looking at how
the other half lived kind of high end. Can never
afford it, and I felt like, even if I had
a lot of money, that's not really what I would do.
(14:57):
So I've always loved homes of real people and people
who just love them and it's their story, so that's
why I love them.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Have you visited any homes and taken ideas from them
to put in your own place? Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Probably, I don't know if you can avoid it. Now
I've kind of done my house. There's a lot of
things I wish i'd done after I see other people,
but mind, Oh, there's just you know, I just think
a kitchen design is never complete, no matter how much
(15:34):
you love your kitchen, no matter how much time you
spend and how great it is, you're always walking into
another kitchen and go, oh, I really wish I did that.
That's such a great idea. You know. I wish I
had an appliance to cover that everything can hide in
so I don't have to pull it out. So and
that's kind of what I wanted to do with selling houses.
I think people make you feel more comfortable doing the
(15:54):
things that you probably wanted to do anyway, particularly around color.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yes, and it's the reassurance.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
It's yes, it actually looks good and it's not exactly
the same color. But that's the way I think it'll work.
So funny enough, on selling Houses, when I first got
off with the role, it was a bit quiet, and
I rang a girl called Melissa Heath who used to
be so she was creative director on Home Beautiful with me,
(16:22):
and I rang her and said, I'm going to do
a show. I can't tell you what it is. Do
you want to do it with me? And she went okay,
And so we still work together.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Trust.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, She's just like okay, that is trust. And so
what I said to her is I want to approach
every episode of Selling Houses the way we approached every
issue of Home Beautiful. I want it. I wanted to
feel new, you know, like you want the covers and
I see what you do with the covers. Every single
time I see it, I know it's a new issue,
and you know there's no risk that I've already read it.
(17:01):
It's definitely a new look. And also I have this
theory about when you renovate, you kind of you decide
on what style are you going to get, and then
you start shopping and looking things, and you keep falling
in love with other things. You know you're going to
do whatever it is, yes, and then you're like, oh,
now I want to do modern country, or no, now
you want to do mid century because you fall in
love with things people aren't always just one style. Then
(17:24):
you still do it in the magazine. You know, you
have this different look each time because that's what people
want to see exactly. So I want every episode to
have that same I never want to reuse the same colors.
I don't want to. You know, if I do a
white kitchen, it's because it's so much detail or color
around it that the white kitchen is the only thing
that's going to work like it needs to be the
things that people want confidence in and get inspired by,
(17:48):
Isn't it interesting?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's exactly how I approach the stories and the homes
that we shoot and create because I think it's our
job to give people confidence to create homes how wherever
you want to. Yes, it doesn't matter where you live,
it doesn't matter what your budget is or what you love.
Just have the confidence to do you.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think I mean I see that
you and I know that's why I know you get
it because I see it in the magazine still and
I think I always used to say, I want people
after they read the magazine to and watch the show
to fall in love with the possibilities of their own
home over and over again because you see something. And
(18:31):
I wonder if you still get this. You know, you
use some old chairs and somebody goes, oh my god,
my mom's got those chairs. Yes, I'm going to use them.
They're going to be cool again. Look at that, and
suddenly they feel it all feels possible.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I think as well, when you're in your own home,
you often become blind to you know, its flaws is
an extreme way to put it. But when you go
into a house on selling houses, oh can you see
straight away other things that you think that means fixing? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And I think we all do it, like you get
your work you create workarounds and things become comfortable, and
you forget you forget how hard it was for you
to get that work around in the first place. But
you forget that other people don't see that, they don't
have that level of comfort. And so when you buy
a house, like if I buy a pair of shoes,
I'll research, I'll go in, I'll try them on, I'll
(19:23):
think about it, I'll go away. You know, it's a
process by a house. You go in, you do two walkthroughs,
and you make an offer like it's a true big,
big purchase, biggest.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Purchase of your life.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, and yet you really don't have a lot of
time to make that decision. And so those kind of
emotional reactions to a home are really powerful for that reason,
because you walk into a home and if the couch
is smelly or you know, the bathroom's dirty, you get
an emotional reaction which changes your feeling about the hearts
(19:57):
and people forget that and there's there's nothing gross than
other people's do it like my dor, it's fine, someone
else's dirt not cool.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Couldn't agree more, Wendy couldn't agree more. Us design blends
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cooler months. Thoughtfully curated, each piece layers comfort, character, and
(20:29):
effortless style to create a welcoming, lived in feel. Balancing
form and function, The collection helps you create a home
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your entire space. Discover designs made to live in. Explore
the Winter Collection in store or online with us Design Paul,
(20:54):
Welcome to the edit. It's so lovely to have you
with us and to talk all about.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Trend Thanks El, it's fabulous to be here.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I think trends are something that we both cover in
our jobs a little bit differently, but I have to
say it's always nice when it aligns when we realize
actually the trends we're both forecasting for twelve months ahead they're.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
The same, are the same.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I mean, I think with my role working with furniture
and homewares and delivering products to everyone in Australia across
different style types, you really need to understand the trends
and where they're going and make sure they're relevant to
how we live.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
We notice with trends that quite often it's a pendulum swing. Yes,
so we'll go from one trend, for example, maximalism, people
will eventually start craving a more simple interior.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
And then with color, yeah, I mean I think what's
happening is we're sort of probably swinging back the other
way a little bit. And color and warmth and texture
and tone and having a space that feels comfortable and
inviting is probably where we're heading to, you know, throughout
twenty twenty six. So the intent is to sort of
go from having a space that's cooler to something that's
(22:10):
a lot warmer and a lot more comfortable so you
feel it ease.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And so let's get into that in more detail with color.
So color such as grays, the really crisp white, those
were quite popular, but now.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You know they still are, but they're probably too safe now. Yeah,
they're probably on their way out, I suppose. And look,
you can still use those as your basis, yes, but
I think it's important to start to layer and start
to add the comfort and warmth that is on trend
that is directional and it can be as simple or
as easy as a cushion, a throw rug, a new
(22:45):
piece of art, a new quilt cover on your bed.
It doesn't need to be necessarily a whole.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Change the big piece. But let's talk about some of
the big pieces. What colors are you seeing coming in
in the soface?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So we're seeing a movement away from those grays and
beisas to beautiful, rich, warm oatmeals. We're seeing loads of
gorgeous khcay greens, mustards, terra cottas, and look, we really
think that shift will start to continue and move into
mockas and chocolates, burgundys. And look, you may not take burgundy,
(23:22):
say as an example, and put it on your sofa,
but it could become the perfect accent cheap for you.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Absolutely. And let's talk about color as comfort. You were
referencing this before. These colors they're warm, they're embracing, They
really are comfortable.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, and look, they make you feel happy. I think
you know when you go to you gravitate to something
that's warm and earthy. You feel a bit scentered with
it and you feel a bit relaxed with it. So
it sort of enables you to walk into your home
and feel a sense of oh, I'm here, this is
how I like to live, this is what I like
to look at and feel comfortable in. And you know,
(23:59):
for me, the home is really an extension of your personality.
So I sort of think that how you see yourself
from a fashion perspective is really how you want to
present your interior to your family and friends.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Absolutely. We say that so often. Show me a person's wardrobe,
and I can tell.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
You absolutely, absolutely, And I think you've got to not
be scared of color. I think you've got to embrace it.
And if you are a little bit frened of it,
do it with small pieces. Just do it in a
way that you know. It's a beautiful new marble tray
on a coffee table, or it's a simple small vase
that you add to your bedside table, or it is
(24:36):
just a refresh of cushions and you're taking away the
colors that were there for summer and you're adding a moodier,
deeper tone in for winter.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I have to admit I have a cushion wardrobe. Me too,
Me too, what's in your wardrobe?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
My husband is not at all happy with it because
it's sort of what I've done is I've got one
set of inserts, so I then just literally will take
those out and I'll sort of take summer away and
bring winter rin. He's still waiting for the perfect insert
that doesn't give him feather pops, you know, when he's
lying down at night. But yeah, for me, it's about
(25:09):
just having a variety. Sometimes I look at my spare
bedrooms and go, wow, do we really need seven cushions
on that head? But it makes me feel good, so
I like to do it exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
And also, you are also the home wears biers. Yes, yes,
so it's your job.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Absolutely, it's my job to make things look fabulous and
to sort of bring to life pieces that you know
will look wonderful in anyone's interior.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Certain tell me.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
We touched on it. But what is your new business? Well, business,
how started or evolved?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I've evolved the business that I've got called the Interiors Edit,
and we've started kind of creating a lot more content.
I did a renovation last year of an investment home,
which was actually the first time my husband and I
bought together, and we lived there for a long time,
and then we bought our new home and then we
eventually renovated that and we've kept it since then. So
(26:08):
it's kind of my our retirement plan. But we hadn't.
We've done a bit to it, but we didn't have
the money to put a new kitchen in and it
was at that stage on quite a busy road. It's
not as busy now, so we felt that we would
over capitalize if we spent too much on it. You know,
it's been twenty years now, and I thought, I think,
(26:30):
I don't think I want to live in this house again.
So if I don't, who are we going to get
to rent it? You know? And how long they live
with your feel like exactly? If it doesn't feel like
a home, we're not going to get people that will
treat it like.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
So we did that, and then we had all these
ideas about how to create content out of that, and
we're starting we're having I don't know if you still
do this. We used to do it at home beautiful
inspiration days. We you just tell me about those go
off off location somebody's house generally because I felt it
was on brand. Yeah, And we just spend the whole
(27:07):
day just talking about ideas, what do we want to do,
what do we think the brand can do, what's happening
with the readers, what's happening with the website, all of
those things, and then we'd come away feeling really inspired
and with a whole heavy ideas that would kind of
take us through. So I'm literally doing that with the
Interior's edit team next week to work out what we're
doing next. And it's like, it's I'm scared, but you know,
(27:30):
I turned fifty five this year and I think if
I don't do it now, when am I going to
do it? And I've always wanted to, so it's time.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Do you do an inspiration day with your husband before
you renovate a house.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
No, that's a really good question to never cross my mind.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
No, it's your way and he will go along for
the ride.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
God No, absolutely not. That would not be lovely. But No,
when we did our renovated our own home, he's he
was involved. He's got a great sense of style and
he that's good and it also he's a great cook,
so he was very involved in the kitchen design and
what he wanted it to feel like. The renovation that
(28:11):
I did last year, he left that to me. It
was Yeah, it was easier so.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
So how do you approach renovating an investment property differently
to renovating a house that you want to live in.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I actually don't think I changed the way that I
do it, and maybe, you know, I didn't spend as much.
That's probably one thing which is a good different budget,
different budget.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Did you stick to the budget?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, pretty much. There were a few things that I
did that I hadn't planned to do. You know, I
ended up putting air conditioning in, and I did more
in the backyard than I planned to do. And then
in the end, because I added a bathroom, so it
was one budget of one bathroom house and I added
a bathroom and the original bathroom was pretty dodgy, but
(28:58):
I didn't know if I was going to have the
budget to do that. And then actually it was Dennis
who he came down and said, we can do this.
Let's just do it ourselves and we'll do it.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Really getting you back to paint the house again, Yeah,
that's going to do what he did, and so that
that wasn't in budget, but we ended.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Up doing it for probably ten thousand dollars, I think,
which is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
That's a question I get asked a lot. Can you
renovate a bathroom for under ten thousand dollars?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Well, obviously it came because we did it, but at
the same time, you have to do a lot of
stuff yourself. Yeah, and I couldn't have done it. There
was a lot of things that Dennis did that I
that you know, he's sat up for skills. Yeah, he
had the skills, and so that I think probably if I,
if I didn't have him and I was managing myself,
(29:48):
it probably would have cost maybe fifteen or sixteen, which
is still pretty very good. But it's and it's pretty simple.
It's a pretty simple bathroom.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, this is a nice segue because we have a
listener question. Oh yeah, So we do this thing called
Room for Advice, where people write in and we pair
the questions with the guests.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Oh okay, yeah we have.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Now Alex from Brisbane has written in and he has said,
I've always loved renovating and lately I've been thinking about
turning it into a business flipping houses, but I'm nervous
about taking the leap. I watch renovation shows and I
think it looks amazing but also terrifying. From someone who
(30:32):
has worked in the renovation world for years. What advice
would you give someone thinking about starting I think flipping
used to be a big big thing, didn't it is.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It is very risky. I would probably not advise many
people do it because there's a lot of there's a
lot of risks. Nobody can predict what's going to happen
with the housing market. You know, generally, you know that
it's probably going to grow over a ten year period,
but in that ten year period, there's a lot of
(31:04):
ups and downs. Exactly. You need to have the ability
to reduce your costs, so whether that's through materials or
labor or some sort of skills, that's where you kin'd
of reduce the risk. And a lot of people don't
think about all the extras like stamp duty as you know,
(31:26):
you're listing fees, and then your real estate commission when
you sell it, and all of these things that kind
of eat away at your profit margin. I'm a believer
that it's absolutely possible to make money out of flipping properties.
It's really exhausting to live in properties that are in
constant stage of renovation.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Did you live in yours?
Speaker 1 (31:50):
No? We couldn't because we knocked the whole back of
the house, so we just couldn't we can live there,
and we had young kids at that stage, it was
never going to work. So I think people underestimate how
hard it is to do that over a long period
of time. But I think if you if you've got
the skills and you know that you can reduce the
amount of money you have to spend in that way,
(32:11):
I would say, don't expect to flip things in a
couple of months actually living it after you've you know
you can. You can renovate a house and living it
for a year or two and it still feels brand
new to a new buyer, and that gives you some
time to take a breath and look what's happening with
the market and not feel like it's a fire sale.
So I think if you've if you're prepared to take
(32:31):
that time, you can definitely make money out of it.
But it's hard, and even like we have great trades
on the show, but really it's really hard to get
trades to work around your timeline because they can book
it in and then something delays on your side and
then they're like, well, now I've got another job and
(32:52):
I can't come back for another three weeks, and so
you have to have that flexible time frame.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I think, well, we hope that helps Alex make his decision,
because I think renovating TV shows can make it look
a bit easier. But then we have to remember often
it's condensed into an hour, and these are long processes.
Or in the case of selling houses, people have to
sell their homes.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
They have to. You have to and these aren't really
house flippers, you know, a life for a financial situations.
That means that they have to sell and then you know,
we do do them in four days, but I have
some time before that to kind of do some design
and order, you know, Melan, I would, you know, work
out what we want to do and order other things
so that we've got them there. But we do have
(33:39):
to finish it in four days, so I know it's possible,
but it's a lot of logistics and it's actually a
lot of people. You know. We get we get trades
in and we get help and like I said, the
crew gets in and helps when we really need to.
So you don't have that available to you when you're
doing it by yourself. And you know, I've just done
(33:59):
my renovation. I certainly didn't do it in four days.
So I know that it's possible on TV actually to
get a TV crew to do it when you've got
all of that structure in place. But that's by yourself.
Offensive Yeah, not so easy, not too easy.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
So, Wendy, for Alex or anyone who is wanting to
renovate and Orf flip houses, what are some first steps
that you would advise.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Look, they're pretty basic and not really newsflash, but the
first thing is to actually do a budget and have
a really clear idea about what you want to do.
And I actually like to separate a budget into materials
and labor because some jobs are very labor heavy and
(34:48):
some jobs are material heavy, and that gives you a
better idea of what levers you've got to reduce your
budget if you need to. And it's much easier to
go through and be realistick about what you're going to
choose as your materials. Do you want natural stone or
are you going to go for a laminade Benz, You
know you have to be specific, yes, and have an
idea about, well, I'm going to budget for laminade, but
(35:11):
when I add stone, I have to understand that it's
going to add four or five thousand dollars to them exactly.
So I think actually going through and choosing your materials
and working out how much they cost, and even if
you get the retail prices, that's kind of your worst case.
And if you're working with a builder or interior designer,
they can get better prices for you, so you know
(35:32):
you've got a little bit of that there. So that
would be my number one. My number two, and I'm
a massive advocate for this is make a mood board.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Doesn't love a mood board, I know, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Shocked at how many people don't make a mood board
before they do an innovation. And I think a mood
board is great for so many reasons. First, and we
used to say this in the magazine, and you know,
I know people still do this, is go through the
magazines and we all keep our home beautiful. So go through,
rip out all the pages that you like. If you
can stand doing that, it's okay, you're allowed. Yeah, yeah, no,
(36:07):
rip out the pages that everything that you really like
and just have a pile of them, and then sit
in front of that pile and just kind of put
them in groups, you know, color groups or style groups
and you'll start to see which piles getting biggerup pretty quickly. Yes,
you know, you might love mid century, but everything you
keep doing is modern country over and over, you know,
and you find out the in mid century pile is
(36:29):
like two centimeters high, in your modern country higher. So
that kind of gives you an idea of what consistently
appeals to you, and that gives you a bit of confidence. Well,
that's obviously where I keep leaning. And then so having
all those images and you know, if you're looking online
and things, just actually start to print them out or
save them in your phone and have a little folder there.
(36:52):
I still think real pictures are better, the better quality,
the easier to find, the easier to match with things.
So I like making a physical mood board and kind
of laying the pitches out, and that gives you an opportunity,
you know, just like a corkboard is perfect, gives you
an opportunity to take it around to the house and
(37:13):
as you start to choose materials, you know, when you
choose your floorine or the paint color and things, you
can start to lay them and just make sure they
work with your original vision. But also you've got the
opportunity to move that around the house, because, as you know,
when the color changes so vastly between the front of
the house and lack of the house on natural light,
(37:34):
and it allows you to go, oh, in this room
it throws a bit of pink, and in that room
it doesn't throw much pink, and that's not really the
right white for me and that kind of stuff. It's
also just a great communication tool because we're not always
great at articulating what we like. We're better at articulating
what we don't like than what we like. And it
allows you to say, this is what I want, this
(37:56):
is what I want, this is how it feels, and
there's a chance for miscommunication.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I think it's so important to share a mood board
with the trades and the people who will be working
on your home. I did a presentation last year where
we had a few key words. I think it was
the design brief, had wall paneling, modern classic, interior, blue accents,
(38:23):
and then I showed the audience two completely different houses.
They look nothing alike, but they both kicked the boxes.
And I think it just illustrates.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
How wrong it can go.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah, show them what you mean.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
That is such a great example. I might to steal there,
I'll create because it is it's so true, and it's
such a great visual representation because it is really hard
to articulate what you want because most of us are
very emotionally driven, so it's about how it feels. And
we think people understand that, but and list they've got
(38:59):
that same vision and it's just it just doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Means me to say this as a journalist, but a
picture really does tell a thousand words.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Yeah, have a great caption tells a lot about the picture,
though it does.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yes, when do you clearly have done so many things?
You do so many things, and I know there is
a question that you really don't like getting asked, So
I'm going to ask not the question, but why. The
question is how do you do it all? And why
does that annoy you?
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Since I started selling houses, I think selling houses feels
like a full time job. And then I had this
really massive job at Foxtel, which was that was more
than a full time job.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
And you're doing these at the same time, and.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm doing them the same time, and you know, I've
got kids, and I worked really really hard, and I
think in a way I kind of burnt myself out
a little bit. I didn't really realize until after that,
and people would kind of say, I don't know how
you do it all. It's a bit of a flipping
kind of thing, and it just used to It ended
(40:03):
up really pissing me off because I found that my
natural response was to lie and say that I'm okay
or diminish what I was doing, like, oh, it's not
that much, or you know, and like I do. I
have an amazing husband who you know, does the majority
of the cooking and cleaning and all that kind of stuff,
and so I'm definitely not doing it all by myself.
(40:25):
But I found that's what I was doing. I was
talking up everyone else, and I was diminishing what I
was doing, and ended up, you know, almost kind of
putting myself down because you don't want to sound like, oh, yeah,
I am doing it all reality I was, but I
was just at what cost.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
I was tired. I was really tired. And it was
hard because I loved all of the things individually, but
it was too much. And you know, it's funny because
I felt like I worked really hard at being at
home and I was, you know, if I wasn't traveling
for selling houses, which isn't that much. I was at
(41:02):
home every night for dinner and making sure I was
around the dinner table with you know, my children and
my husband, and taking them to school when I could,
and which was most days, and having those kind of moments,
and I thought I'd worked really hard at being present.
And then when I finished up at Foxtow, I kind
of had, you know, a bit of a wine downtime.
Didn't stop working completely, but kind of, you know, for
(41:24):
a month or so before Christmas, I kind of wound
down a bit and I had that moment which was uncomfortable,
which was I wasn't as present as I thought I was.
You know, not that I think I did a crap
job or anything, but I was working really hard at
being present, but I was still I was still distracted.
And you know, I'm not angry with myself now. It's uncomfortable, yes,
(41:47):
but I think we tell ourselves these things to get
through it.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
And then you get through it and then you look
back and.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Yes, and nobody ever asks a man how they do
it all? Never they don't know, I mean, And like
I work with Dennis, my co host, and Andrew Andrew
Linson because he's pretty good at doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
But Dennis is a that's Andrew Winter.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, you're very good at doing nothing. I'm very proud
of it. Unapologetic. Dennis is running his own business as well,
and you know, he's doing selling houses and he's got kids,
and nobody ever asked him. They never said that to him.
How are you doing it all?
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (42:28):
And I don't know, you do kind of feel like
you have to justify yourself, like I'm not being a
bad mum and I'm not dropping the ball here, and
the reality is of because I'm dropping the ball, always
dropping the ball.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Like all the tandem tired, and I'm tired at times cray.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
It's because I'm not crying. That's embarrassing, you know, all
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, with the with the tiredness. Do you have structure
in your life? Are you a planner? Are you a
routine person? Is there something that you have in your
mind that rely on to get you through?
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Look, I think there's a few things. I think you
have to kind of I think you have to forgive
yourself for not being perfect. And I think like for me,
I have these moments where I want to be present
for my children. But at the same time, I think,
if I'm present one hundred percent of the time, then
(43:21):
what am I telling them about what they're going to
do when they grow up? Are they going to have
to be present? And I don't want that for them,
So I keep reminding myself. I want this opportunity for them,
so I have to show them that it's possible. But
I want to be honest about it, like I don't
want to pretend that everything's amazing. And if people ask
me I'm more honest now, I just say, well, yeah,
(43:41):
I drop a shite load of balls all the time.
And I think you have to be you have to
be honest. And then this year I kind of had
this mantra and I can imagine you're very similar to this.
That you get excited about doing projects and you can
see what you can do and you want to get involved.
But my mantra for this year is just because you
can doesn't mean you should. And I think you have
(44:05):
to be you have to allow yourself and you know
you hear it all the time. It's not just about
saying no, it's about not throwing yourself into absolutely everything
that you're doing. I do remember I don't remember my
parents being present for me one hundred percent of the time.
I don't think I ever felt unloved. I'm fine, they
(44:26):
didn't screw me up. I'm okay. So I just you know,
I think you just got to take a step back.
And I used to kind of say this a lot
is what's going to matter in five years if I
do this or I don't do this, How am I
going to feel about it in five years? Am I
going to forget this moment? Or am I going to
regret this moment? And if I'm going to forget it,
just let it go. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
That is such good advice for everybody listening. It's to really,
yea look at the to do list and the opportunities,
and it's not how do you do it all?
Speaker 1 (44:59):
It's you don't have to do it all. You just
really don't. And the sad thing is most people don't
notice when you're doing it all anyway. So I want.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
There's another comment that I don't like, and that is, oh,
you're so lucky to do that job. And I think, yes,
but exactly the harder you work, the luckier you get.
It's funny, that, isn't it. It is an absolute privilege
doing this job, especially after icons such as yourself having
(45:35):
done it as well. It's it is just amazing, and Wendy,
I just can't thank you enough for coming back and
joining me today to reminisce about home beautiful but also
look at the future. I'm so excited for your.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Oh it's lucky. And you know, I've always every time
I pick up the magazine, I just know you love it,
and I love like when you love something like that
and then you see other people love it, like it's
just they become your people. But also I don't know,
it just feels good to say something because it's such
a beautiful magazine. It's special and like it. Yes, we
are incredibly lucky, but didn't fall into our lap like you.
(46:15):
I know how hard you work. I saw your agree.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Before you got here, like yeah, so oh yeah, Wendy,
you're my people.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
You're my people. Thanks ill.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
I feel like we've just had a masterclass in reinvention
and to be honest, a reminder that curiosity and creativity
don't have an expiry date. And great news, Wendy's coming
back for another episode where we're going to step inside
her own home talk, renovation regrets, and the houses that
she loves the most.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Will also solve a.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
Few design dilemmas from our listeners, so stay tuned. This
is the edit, your style, your sanctuary, and a little
inspiration to take into the rest of your day. This
episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes with beautiful,
functional window coverings designed to transform your light and lifestyle.
(47:10):
Thank you to Oz designed for our beautiful set. Come
and visit the experienced team in store and see the
collection for yourself.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
This is an Our Media podcast
This is an our Media podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Seeing you at the paintbrush. I think, is Wendy really painting?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
People are?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It drives me insane because we are. I think our
homes are our autobiography. Somebody went to have lunch at
that pub and they asked for a grassive rose and
they said, we're sorry. Wendy Moore had a farewell party
and we're out of rosa.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
This episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes
with beautiful, functional window coverings designed to change your life
and lifestyle. Today's set has been thoughtfully curated by os Design,
sharing life with you since nineteen seventy nine. Welcome back
to the Edit, the show about your style and your Sanctuary,
(00:59):
where we step in ste the homes, habits and headspaces
of the people who help us live better and who
doesn't want more of that. Today's guest is someone who's
spent her career helping Australian see the potential in their homes,
sometimes before the owners can see it themselves. She's a
longtime editor of Home Beautiful, a familiar face from selling
houses Australia, and someone whose brain seems permanently wired to
(01:21):
see what a house could be not just what it is.
Right now, Wendy Moore is juggling quite a few things.
She's just finished renovating an investment property, she's watching Series
eighteen of Selling Houses go to air, and she's about
to begin filming season nineteen. And because she clearly enjoys
a challenge, she's also started her own business. So today
(01:42):
we're talking renovation, brain reinvention, and why asking a busy
woman how do you do it all? Might be the
most annoying question in the world. Wendy Moore, I can't
believe you are here with us on the edit.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
How does it feel? How beautiful? Is it always feels
like coming home. It's just one of those things that
when you, I think, when you work on Home Beautiful,
you become part of a family and you don't ever
really leave. And if you meet someone, even if you
never cross paths with them on the magazine, it's like
(02:17):
you share something. It sounds a bit corny, but it's
really true.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It is true, Because how long did you work on
Home Beautiful?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Thirteen years? Gosh, yeah, didn't feel like that long. I'd
done other jobs that felt a lot longer, that were
probably ten percent of that time.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Tell me why.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It's all about the people though, isn't it? It is?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, did you start with the same team or did
you collect people as you went along.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
A pit of a mix. I inherited a really great
team and then I kind of picked up a few
people on the way. But we had very low turnover.
So quite a lot of the people that I started
working with at the beginning were still there when I
left at thirteen years so, and if they weren't there,
(03:06):
they'd kind of they were freelancing for us, or they
were you know, still in the industry and sending us stories,
or you know, there's always a connection.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, so I have to ask why did you leave?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You know, it was a funny thing because I'm Beautiful
was a It was a real career moment for me actually,
because I think before then, and probably because I was
a bit younger, all of my aspirations and goals were
about what I wanted to achieve and what job I
wanted and what I wanted to do next. And then
(03:41):
I got Time Beautiful, and all of my ambitions became
for the magazine, what we wanted the magazine to do,
and you know what circulation and you know, when I
first started Housing Garden, was just smashing this and it
was going to beat House and Garden.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I still feel that way.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, so good, you know, And I think that was
a there's a real release when your ambitions are less
personal and it's more of a team. And so I
think it never crossed my mind that I would ever
reach the end of my time. And it wasn't until
I got offered a job. And up until that point,
(04:20):
not that I'd been offered a huge amount of jobs,
but I'd never It was just like, I'm so happy,
I'm not even thinking about it. And I started to
think about it and I thought, maybe it's time. And
then a couple of weeks after, I got offered another
job weirdly, you know how that kind of happened, And
that was at Foxtel and it was running all the
lifestyle and suddenly I got really excited about what I
(04:44):
could do and this whole new medium and I've been
working on TV and yeah, and I just thought I
think it might be time. And it was a real
It was so emotional because it was just it was
my family and been there for so long, and we
all knew each other, we'd all been through all of
this stuff. You know, I had my children, and you know,
(05:07):
I lost my dad and like all of these things
that we'd all and they'd all done the same kind
of things, and then we did have a great We
had a really great farewell party.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Was that it was.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It was at a pub. And my claim to fame
is the next day somebody went to have lunch at
that pub and they asked for a grass of rose
and they said, we're sorry, Wendy Moore had a farewell
party and we're out of rosa. We drank them dry
of rose choice. Yes, well not really, so maybe we
(05:42):
drank them drive a few things. I thought that.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Look out just me. It's just very good company, a
great party.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And it's funny because I felt it was a really
it was a big decision to leave, and I felt
like I was kind of abandoning people. But actually what
I found is after I left, there was a few
people that were actually ready to go, and so maybe
we were kind of staying for each other. That's so true. Yeah,
it just kind of all happened at the same time.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, a piece of advice I was once given years
ago was you can't ever stay for the people.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
No, but but that's what you do, that's the only
thing that keeps you there. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, so you moved from Home Beautiful over to Foxtowl,
but I would say still in the same sort of genre.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah. I mean when I was first there, I was
running the lifestyle channels, which was great, and you know,
it's the same it's a funny thing where it's the
same kind of people. So I feel like I was
still with my people in a way that just love
that content and get excited about a new show. And
(06:53):
it's not just the shows that we make in Australia,
it was also the shows that we were buying in
from overseas, and you know, Alan Carr and Amanda were
doing a new show, everybody was excited, you know, that
kind of stuff. You get to watch a lot of
TV obviously, and I think also like a similar to
a magazine and like you obviously know this. You spent
(07:13):
your whole life thinking about what the reader wants, what's
going to make them excited, what's going to make them
turn that page, And exactly it's similar with TV. You know,
what are they going to love, what kind of mood
are they going to be? And when they're watching this show,
what are they going to feel like watching next? How
do we kind of make it feel nice for them
to just kind of journey through the day with this?
And it's a very similar mindset.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I think, what do you think viewers don't know about
working in TV? What do you think are some things
that would surprise people to.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I think it would surprise them just how much I'm
on the tools.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I have wondered about that. Actually seeing you with a paintbrush.
I think it is Wendy really painting now people ask her.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
It drives me insane because we were they're doing it,
and you know, they just get a few snippets of us,
you know, painting or knocking things down. I love them,
I love dem It's so much fun.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Would you say, at this point in your life, is
renovation your personality?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah? Probably? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So how do you maintain the glamour while you're doing it?
Because TV is glamorous.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I don't think selling houses, I think that's where we
hang our hat. I think I don't think I would
really be able to hold my head very high if
I'd turn up to a build site wearing heels and lushes.
Do you know what I mean, it's just not going
to know, it's not going to get get the work done.
So and I think that's what I love about selling
(08:52):
houses is that it's it's so real and it's so
down to earth, and it's such a great team. You know,
it's similar to Mags, and they're all there, they all
want the renovation to look great at the end. There's
actually an episode this season in the middle of nowhere.
It's like far north western Australia. How do you get there?
(09:13):
Two flights and an hour and a half drive or something.
It was was yeah, and it was so hot, and
it was this it's a little beat shack. Dennis and
I had I had a real vision for what I
wanted it to look like and what I thought we
could do with it. And Dennis and I had chosen
a color together for the exterior.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, because Dennis is the exterior guy.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yes, Dennis is out my co host, and we do
a lot of you know, make a lot of decisions
like that together. We painted the house and there was
really not a lot of trades and there wasn't a
lot of money, and it was really hard to get
people there. So it was all hands on deck. We
painted the front of the house and I just went, like.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It, you don't like it.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And I took Dennis across the road and said, please
tell me you agree with me. And he was like,
And Dennis is, he's a doer, like he's a task guy.
He's like got a list of things to do, and
he's and he's always panicking. On day two, we're not
going to finish, and you know, so he's and I said,
I think we have to change the color, and he said,
(10:18):
absolutely not. We do not have the time to change
the color. I said, I really think do we need
to change the color? I don't think that we can
fix it. And he was really not very keen.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
So who won?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I won? Because I can't. I said, let's just go
and have a look at some other colors. We'll go
to the local hardware store. It's only like forty five
minutes to drive. And we chose got some sample pots.
Like this, this great color and it's you know, this
is right on the water across the road from where
(10:53):
the sun sets, like it's bright orange, beautiful evening. I thought,
I'm going to do a sunset house, and so it is.
It's really bright orange and just like the color. You
didn't have a problem with the color. He had a
problem with the time. And I just said, I think
I think we can do it. He said, well, let's
just wait and see how we go with all the
other things on his list. And I just went okay,
(11:15):
And then I went away and started painting the house
because I knew once we painted, we'd started, we had
to finish.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
You had to finish to keep going.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It was so hot that we could only we had
to kind of paint around the house and follow the
shade because it was too hot to paint it in
the sun. I had all the runners, all the soundos,
all the camera guys, all the producers, some of the locals.
Everyone was painting, and I took a little video like
every single person that had to paint brush in their heads.
(11:44):
But you know what, it looked amazing. It was the
right thing. That's community. It was community. That's the kind
of crewe that it is.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Like.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
There wasn't any grumbling. Everyone was on task and we
all got it done. And that makes it so it's
not it's not glamorous at all. Same blood good so
much fun. Yeah, it's so much fun, and it's high
pressure but you know, I mean, you know, a renovation
is a lot of decisions. Ye, but you have a
(12:11):
lot of time to make the decisions, and that actually
makes it harder because you get a bit of paralysis
about but you kind affordunately, You've got four days and
you have to make a decision, and if what you're
going to do isn't going to work, you have to
make a different decision in that moment and just make
it happens. It's kind of fun, really.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And I love that for anyone. Lessening a really good
piece of advice. If you want to paint your house
a different color, start, just start because if you have
to fit, make friends with your neighbors. So, Wendy, you
have had such an incredible career working in other businesses,
but actually you've started your own.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I have. Look, I was at Foxtel for seven years
and great job, and I did end up I kind
of ended up running not just lifestyle, and so there
was pretty much all entertainment. So anything that wasn't sport
on news was in my group, which was great. You know,
it's amazing to be able to work on drama projects
and series and you know, things like high Country and
(13:10):
coming from accounts like amazing, amazing experience. But I think
I kind of got to the point where I thought
I had been working really hard for a really long
time and I was pretty tired. Yeah, and I love
doing selling houses and I love renovating, and I had
(13:31):
already kind of had a few things going on the
side around my own business, and I just thought I
was loving it and learning a lot. But I think
I was getting further away from what I really loved.
And what is that? And it's interiors, It's not actually,
I wouldn't say anteriors. It's homes as opposed to interiors.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And when is it about homes that you love?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And I look, I think I always loved it, but
I fell in love with it definitely at home Beautif.
I think our homes are our autobiography. And you know,
and I wonder if you have the same experience. Actually,
when you go out to home shoots and you meet
the homeowners and you walk around, they don't tell you
I bought this from here, or this cost this march,
(14:17):
or you know, this is that brand. They tell you
this table came actually from my mother in law, and
you know, or that piece of art we bought when
we were on holidays and it was a tiny little
alley down the side street or my husband and I
fought over that color a year and I finally won.
(14:37):
And look how beautiful it is. Like it's all a
collection of stories, and particularly for home beautiful. I've always
loved real homes. I haven't really loved looking at how
the other half lived kind of high end. Can never
afford it, and I felt like, even if I had
a lot of money, that's not really what I would do.
(14:57):
So I've always loved homes of real people and people
who just love them and it's their story, so that's
why I love them.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Have you visited any homes and taken ideas from them
to put in your own place? Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Probably, I don't know if you can avoid it. Now
I've kind of done my house. There's a lot of
things I wish i'd done after I see other people,
but mind, Oh, there's just you know, I just think
a kitchen design is never complete, no matter how much
(15:34):
you love your kitchen, no matter how much time you
spend and how great it is, you're always walking into
another kitchen and go, oh, I really wish I did that.
That's such a great idea. You know. I wish I
had an appliance to cover that everything can hide in
so I don't have to pull it out. So and
that's kind of what I wanted to do with selling houses.
I think people make you feel more comfortable doing the
(15:54):
things that you probably wanted to do anyway, particularly around color.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yes, and it's the reassurance.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
It's yes, it actually looks good and it's not exactly
the same color. But that's the way I think it'll work.
So funny enough, on selling Houses, when I first got
off with the role, it was a bit quiet, and
I rang a girl called Melissa Heath who used to
be so she was creative director on Home Beautiful with me,
(16:22):
and I rang her and said, I'm going to do
a show. I can't tell you what it is. Do
you want to do it with me? And she went okay,
And so we still work together.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Trust.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah, She's just like okay, that is trust. And so
what I said to her is I want to approach
every episode of Selling Houses the way we approached every
issue of Home Beautiful. I want it. I wanted to
feel new, you know, like you want the covers and
I see what you do with the covers. Every single
time I see it, I know it's a new issue,
and you know there's no risk that I've already read it.
(17:01):
It's definitely a new look. And also I have this
theory about when you renovate, you kind of you decide
on what style are you going to get, and then
you start shopping and looking things, and you keep falling
in love with other things. You know you're going to
do whatever it is, yes, and then you're like, oh,
now I want to do modern country, or no, now
you want to do mid century because you fall in
love with things people aren't always just one style. Then
(17:24):
you still do it in the magazine. You know, you
have this different look each time because that's what people
want to see exactly. So I want every episode to
have that same I never want to reuse the same colors.
I don't want to. You know, if I do a
white kitchen, it's because it's so much detail or color
around it that the white kitchen is the only thing
that's going to work like it needs to be the
things that people want confidence in and get inspired by,
(17:48):
Isn't it interesting?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's exactly how I approach the stories and the homes
that we shoot and create because I think it's our
job to give people confidence to create homes how wherever
you want to. Yes, it doesn't matter where you live,
it doesn't matter what your budget is or what you love.
Just have the confidence to do you.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah. Yeah, And I think I mean I see that
you and I know that's why I know you get
it because I see it in the magazine still and
I think I always used to say, I want people
after they read the magazine to and watch the show
to fall in love with the possibilities of their own
home over and over again because you see something. And
(18:31):
I wonder if you still get this. You know, you
use some old chairs and somebody goes, oh my god,
my mom's got those chairs. Yes, I'm going to use them.
They're going to be cool again. Look at that, and
suddenly they feel it all feels possible.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I think as well, when you're in your own home,
you often become blind to you know, its flaws is
an extreme way to put it. But when you go
into a house on selling houses, oh can you see
straight away other things that you think that means fixing? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And I think we all do it, like you get
your work you create workarounds and things become comfortable, and
you forget you forget how hard it was for you
to get that work around in the first place. But
you forget that other people don't see that, they don't
have that level of comfort. And so when you buy
a house, like if I buy a pair of shoes,
I'll research, I'll go in, I'll try them on, I'll
(19:23):
think about it, I'll go away. You know, it's a
process by a house. You go in, you do two walkthroughs,
and you make an offer like it's a true big,
big purchase, biggest.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Purchase of your life.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, and yet you really don't have a lot of
time to make that decision. And so those kind of
emotional reactions to a home are really powerful for that reason,
because you walk into a home and if the couch
is smelly or you know, the bathroom's dirty, you get
an emotional reaction which changes your feeling about the hearts
(19:57):
and people forget that and there's there's nothing gross than
other people's do it like my dor, it's fine, someone
else's dirt not cool.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Couldn't agree more, Wendy couldn't agree more. Us design blends
style and practicality. To enhance every day living. The new
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cooler months. Thoughtfully curated, each piece layers comfort, character, and
(20:29):
effortless style to create a welcoming, lived in feel. Balancing
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the Winter Collection in store or online with us Design Paul,
(20:54):
Welcome to the edit. It's so lovely to have you
with us and to talk all about.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Trend Thanks El, it's fabulous to be here.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I think trends are something that we both cover in
our jobs a little bit differently, but I have to
say it's always nice when it aligns when we realize
actually the trends we're both forecasting for twelve months ahead they're.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
The same, are the same.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I mean, I think with my role working with furniture
and homewares and delivering products to everyone in Australia across
different style types, you really need to understand the trends
and where they're going and make sure they're relevant to
how we live.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
We notice with trends that quite often it's a pendulum swing. Yes,
so we'll go from one trend, for example, maximalism, people
will eventually start craving a more simple interior.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
And then with color, yeah, I mean I think what's
happening is we're sort of probably swinging back the other
way a little bit. And color and warmth and texture
and tone and having a space that feels comfortable and
inviting is probably where we're heading to, you know, throughout
twenty twenty six. So the intent is to sort of
go from having a space that's cooler to something that's
(22:10):
a lot warmer and a lot more comfortable so you
feel it ease.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
And so let's get into that in more detail with color.
So color such as grays, the really crisp white, those
were quite popular, but now.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You know they still are, but they're probably too safe now. Yeah,
they're probably on their way out, I suppose. And look,
you can still use those as your basis, yes, but
I think it's important to start to layer and start
to add the comfort and warmth that is on trend
that is directional and it can be as simple or
as easy as a cushion, a throw rug, a new
(22:45):
piece of art, a new quilt cover on your bed.
It doesn't need to be necessarily a whole.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Change the big piece. But let's talk about some of
the big pieces. What colors are you seeing coming in
in the soface?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So we're seeing a movement away from those grays and
beisas to beautiful, rich, warm oatmeals. We're seeing loads of
gorgeous khcay greens, mustards, terra cottas, and look, we really
think that shift will start to continue and move into
mockas and chocolates, burgundys. And look, you may not take burgundy,
(23:22):
say as an example, and put it on your sofa,
but it could become the perfect accent cheap for you.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Absolutely. And let's talk about color as comfort. You were
referencing this before. These colors they're warm, they're embracing, They
really are comfortable.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, and look, they make you feel happy. I think
you know when you go to you gravitate to something
that's warm and earthy. You feel a bit scentered with
it and you feel a bit relaxed with it. So
it sort of enables you to walk into your home
and feel a sense of oh, I'm here, this is
how I like to live, this is what I like
to look at and feel comfortable in. And you know,
(23:59):
for me, the home is really an extension of your personality.
So I sort of think that how you see yourself
from a fashion perspective is really how you want to
present your interior to your family and friends.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Absolutely. We say that so often. Show me a person's wardrobe,
and I can tell.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
You absolutely, absolutely, And I think you've got to not
be scared of color. I think you've got to embrace it.
And if you are a little bit frened of it,
do it with small pieces. Just do it in a
way that you know. It's a beautiful new marble tray
on a coffee table, or it's a simple small vase
that you add to your bedside table, or it is
(24:36):
just a refresh of cushions and you're taking away the
colors that were there for summer and you're adding a moodier,
deeper tone in for winter.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I have to admit I have a cushion wardrobe. Me too,
Me too, what's in your wardrobe?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
My husband is not at all happy with it because
it's sort of what I've done is I've got one
set of inserts, so I then just literally will take
those out and I'll sort of take summer away and
bring winter rin. He's still waiting for the perfect insert
that doesn't give him feather pops, you know, when he's
lying down at night. But yeah, for me, it's about
(25:09):
just having a variety. Sometimes I look at my spare
bedrooms and go, wow, do we really need seven cushions
on that head? But it makes me feel good, so
I like to do it exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
And also, you are also the home wears biers. Yes, yes,
so it's your job.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Absolutely, it's my job to make things look fabulous and
to sort of bring to life pieces that you know
will look wonderful in anyone's interior.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Certain tell me.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
We touched on it. But what is your new business? Well, business,
how started or evolved?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I've evolved the business that I've got called the Interiors Edit,
and we've started kind of creating a lot more content.
I did a renovation last year of an investment home,
which was actually the first time my husband and I
bought together, and we lived there for a long time,
and then we bought our new home and then we
eventually renovated that and we've kept it since then. So
(26:08):
it's kind of my our retirement plan. But we hadn't.
We've done a bit to it, but we didn't have
the money to put a new kitchen in and it
was at that stage on quite a busy road. It's
not as busy now, so we felt that we would
over capitalize if we spent too much on it. You know,
it's been twenty years now, and I thought, I think,
(26:30):
I don't think I want to live in this house again.
So if I don't, who are we going to get
to rent it? You know? And how long they live
with your feel like exactly? If it doesn't feel like
a home, we're not going to get people that will
treat it like.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
So we did that, and then we had all these
ideas about how to create content out of that, and
we're starting we're having I don't know if you still
do this. We used to do it at home beautiful
inspiration days. We you just tell me about those go
off off location somebody's house generally because I felt it
was on brand. Yeah, And we just spend the whole
(27:07):
day just talking about ideas, what do we want to do,
what do we think the brand can do, what's happening
with the readers, what's happening with the website, all of
those things, and then we'd come away feeling really inspired
and with a whole heavy ideas that would kind of
take us through. So I'm literally doing that with the
Interior's edit team next week to work out what we're
doing next. And it's like, it's I'm scared, but you know,
(27:30):
I turned fifty five this year and I think if
I don't do it now, when am I going to
do it? And I've always wanted to, so it's time.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Do you do an inspiration day with your husband before
you renovate a house.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
No, that's a really good question to never cross my mind.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
No, it's your way and he will go along for
the ride.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
God No, absolutely not. That would not be lovely. But No,
when we did our renovated our own home, he's he
was involved. He's got a great sense of style and
he that's good and it also he's a great cook,
so he was very involved in the kitchen design and
what he wanted it to feel like. The renovation that
(28:11):
I did last year, he left that to me. It
was Yeah, it was easier so.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
So how do you approach renovating an investment property differently
to renovating a house that you want to live in.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I actually don't think I changed the way that I
do it, and maybe, you know, I didn't spend as much.
That's probably one thing which is a good different budget,
different budget.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Did you stick to the budget?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, pretty much. There were a few things that I
did that I hadn't planned to do. You know, I
ended up putting air conditioning in, and I did more
in the backyard than I planned to do. And then
in the end, because I added a bathroom, so it
was one budget of one bathroom house and I added
a bathroom and the original bathroom was pretty dodgy, but
(28:58):
I didn't know if I was going to have the
budget to do that. And then actually it was Dennis
who he came down and said, we can do this.
Let's just do it ourselves and we'll do it.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Really getting you back to paint the house again, Yeah,
that's going to do what he did, and so that
that wasn't in budget, but we ended.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Up doing it for probably ten thousand dollars, I think,
which is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
That's a question I get asked a lot. Can you
renovate a bathroom for under ten thousand dollars?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Well, obviously it came because we did it, but at
the same time, you have to do a lot of
stuff yourself. Yeah, and I couldn't have done it. There
was a lot of things that Dennis did that I
that you know, he's sat up for skills. Yeah, he
had the skills, and so that I think probably if I,
if I didn't have him and I was managing myself,
(29:48):
it probably would have cost maybe fifteen or sixteen, which
is still pretty very good. But it's and it's pretty simple.
It's a pretty simple bathroom.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, this is a nice segue because we have a
listener question. Oh yeah, So we do this thing called
Room for Advice, where people write in and we pair
the questions with the guests.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Oh okay, yeah we have.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Now Alex from Brisbane has written in and he has said,
I've always loved renovating and lately I've been thinking about
turning it into a business flipping houses, but I'm nervous
about taking the leap. I watch renovation shows and I
think it looks amazing but also terrifying. From someone who
(30:32):
has worked in the renovation world for years. What advice
would you give someone thinking about starting I think flipping
used to be a big big thing, didn't it is.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It is very risky. I would probably not advise many
people do it because there's a lot of there's a
lot of risks. Nobody can predict what's going to happen
with the housing market. You know, generally, you know that
it's probably going to grow over a ten year period,
but in that ten year period, there's a lot of
(31:04):
ups and downs. Exactly. You need to have the ability
to reduce your costs, so whether that's through materials or
labor or some sort of skills, that's where you kin'd
of reduce the risk. And a lot of people don't
think about all the extras like stamp duty as you know,
(31:26):
you're listing fees, and then your real estate commission when
you sell it, and all of these things that kind
of eat away at your profit margin. I'm a believer
that it's absolutely possible to make money out of flipping properties.
It's really exhausting to live in properties that are in
constant stage of renovation.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Did you live in yours?
Speaker 1 (31:50):
No? We couldn't because we knocked the whole back of
the house, so we just couldn't we can live there,
and we had young kids at that stage, it was
never going to work. So I think people underestimate how
hard it is to do that over a long period
of time. But I think if you if you've got
the skills and you know that you can reduce the
amount of money you have to spend in that way,
(32:11):
I would say, don't expect to flip things in a
couple of months actually living it after you've you know
you can. You can renovate a house and living it
for a year or two and it still feels brand
new to a new buyer, and that gives you some
time to take a breath and look what's happening with
the market and not feel like it's a fire sale.
So I think if you've if you're prepared to take
(32:31):
that time, you can definitely make money out of it.
But it's hard, and even like we have great trades
on the show, but really it's really hard to get
trades to work around your timeline because they can book
it in and then something delays on your side and
then they're like, well, now I've got another job and
(32:52):
I can't come back for another three weeks, and so
you have to have that flexible time frame.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I think, well, we hope that helps Alex make his decision,
because I think renovating TV shows can make it look
a bit easier. But then we have to remember often
it's condensed into an hour, and these are long processes.
Or in the case of selling houses, people have to
sell their homes.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
They have to. You have to and these aren't really
house flippers, you know, a life for a financial situations.
That means that they have to sell and then you know,
we do do them in four days, but I have
some time before that to kind of do some design
and order, you know, Melan, I would, you know, work
out what we want to do and order other things
so that we've got them there. But we do have
(33:39):
to finish it in four days, so I know it's possible,
but it's a lot of logistics and it's actually a
lot of people. You know. We get we get trades
in and we get help and like I said, the
crew gets in and helps when we really need to.
So you don't have that available to you when you're
doing it by yourself. And you know, I've just done
(33:59):
my renovation. I certainly didn't do it in four days.
So I know that it's possible on TV actually to
get a TV crew to do it when you've got
all of that structure in place. But that's by yourself.
Offensive Yeah, not so easy, not too easy.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
So, Wendy, for Alex or anyone who is wanting to
renovate and Orf flip houses, what are some first steps
that you would advise.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Look, they're pretty basic and not really newsflash, but the
first thing is to actually do a budget and have
a really clear idea about what you want to do.
And I actually like to separate a budget into materials
and labor because some jobs are very labor heavy and
(34:48):
some jobs are material heavy, and that gives you a
better idea of what levers you've got to reduce your
budget if you need to. And it's much easier to
go through and be realistick about what you're going to
choose as your materials. Do you want natural stone or
are you going to go for a laminade Benz, You
know you have to be specific, yes, and have an
idea about, well, I'm going to budget for laminade, but
(35:11):
when I add stone, I have to understand that it's
going to add four or five thousand dollars to them exactly.
So I think actually going through and choosing your materials
and working out how much they cost, and even if
you get the retail prices, that's kind of your worst case.
And if you're working with a builder or interior designer,
they can get better prices for you, so you know
(35:32):
you've got a little bit of that there. So that
would be my number one. My number two, and I'm
a massive advocate for this is make a mood board.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Doesn't love a mood board, I know, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Shocked at how many people don't make a mood board
before they do an innovation. And I think a mood
board is great for so many reasons. First, and we
used to say this in the magazine, and you know,
I know people still do this, is go through the
magazines and we all keep our home beautiful. So go through,
rip out all the pages that you like. If you
can stand doing that, it's okay, you're allowed. Yeah, yeah, no,
(36:07):
rip out the pages that everything that you really like
and just have a pile of them, and then sit
in front of that pile and just kind of put
them in groups, you know, color groups or style groups
and you'll start to see which piles getting biggerup pretty quickly. Yes,
you know, you might love mid century, but everything you
keep doing is modern country over and over, you know,
and you find out the in mid century pile is
(36:29):
like two centimeters high, in your modern country higher. So
that kind of gives you an idea of what consistently
appeals to you, and that gives you a bit of confidence. Well,
that's obviously where I keep leaning. And then so having
all those images and you know, if you're looking online
and things, just actually start to print them out or
save them in your phone and have a little folder there.
(36:52):
I still think real pictures are better, the better quality,
the easier to find, the easier to match with things.
So I like making a physical mood board and kind
of laying the pitches out, and that gives you an opportunity,
you know, just like a corkboard is perfect, gives you
an opportunity to take it around to the house and
(37:13):
as you start to choose materials, you know, when you
choose your floorine or the paint color and things, you
can start to lay them and just make sure they
work with your original vision. But also you've got the
opportunity to move that around the house, because, as you know,
when the color changes so vastly between the front of
the house and lack of the house on natural light,
(37:34):
and it allows you to go, oh, in this room
it throws a bit of pink, and in that room
it doesn't throw much pink, and that's not really the
right white for me and that kind of stuff. It's
also just a great communication tool because we're not always
great at articulating what we like. We're better at articulating
what we don't like than what we like. And it
allows you to say, this is what I want, this
(37:56):
is what I want, this is how it feels, and
there's a chance for miscommunication.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I think it's so important to share a mood board
with the trades and the people who will be working
on your home. I did a presentation last year where
we had a few key words. I think it was
the design brief, had wall paneling, modern classic, interior, blue accents,
(38:23):
and then I showed the audience two completely different houses.
They look nothing alike, but they both kicked the boxes.
And I think it just illustrates.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
How wrong it can go.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah, show them what you mean.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
That is such a great example. I might to steal there,
I'll create because it is it's so true, and it's
such a great visual representation because it is really hard
to articulate what you want because most of us are
very emotionally driven, so it's about how it feels. And
we think people understand that, but and list they've got
(38:59):
that same vision and it's just it just doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Means me to say this as a journalist, but a
picture really does tell a thousand words.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Yeah, have a great caption tells a lot about the picture,
though it does.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yes, when do you clearly have done so many things?
You do so many things, and I know there is
a question that you really don't like getting asked, So
I'm going to ask not the question, but why. The
question is how do you do it all? And why
does that annoy you?
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Since I started selling houses, I think selling houses feels
like a full time job. And then I had this
really massive job at Foxtel, which was that was more
than a full time job.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
And you're doing these at the same time, and.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm doing them the same time, and you know, I've
got kids, and I worked really really hard, and I
think in a way I kind of burnt myself out
a little bit. I didn't really realize until after that,
and people would kind of say, I don't know how
you do it all. It's a bit of a flipping
kind of thing, and it just used to It ended
(40:03):
up really pissing me off because I found that my
natural response was to lie and say that I'm okay
or diminish what I was doing, like, oh, it's not
that much, or you know, and like I do. I
have an amazing husband who you know, does the majority
of the cooking and cleaning and all that kind of stuff,
and so I'm definitely not doing it all by myself.
(40:25):
But I found that's what I was doing. I was
talking up everyone else, and I was diminishing what I
was doing, and ended up, you know, almost kind of
putting myself down because you don't want to sound like, oh, yeah,
I am doing it all reality I was, but I
was just at what cost.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
I was tired. I was really tired. And it was
hard because I loved all of the things individually, but
it was too much. And you know, it's funny because
I felt like I worked really hard at being at
home and I was, you know, if I wasn't traveling
for selling houses, which isn't that much. I was at
(41:02):
home every night for dinner and making sure I was
around the dinner table with you know, my children and
my husband, and taking them to school when I could,
and which was most days, and having those kind of moments,
and I thought I'd worked really hard at being present.
And then when I finished up at Foxtow, I kind
of had, you know, a bit of a wine downtime.
Didn't stop working completely, but kind of, you know, for
(41:24):
a month or so before Christmas, I kind of wound
down a bit and I had that moment which was uncomfortable,
which was I wasn't as present as I thought I was.
You know, not that I think I did a crap
job or anything, but I was working really hard at
being present, but I was still I was still distracted.
And you know, I'm not angry with myself now. It's uncomfortable, yes,
(41:47):
but I think we tell ourselves these things to get
through it.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
And then you get through it and then you look
back and.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Yes, and nobody ever asks a man how they do
it all? Never they don't know, I mean, And like
I work with Dennis, my co host, and Andrew Andrew
Linson because he's pretty good at doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
But Dennis is a that's Andrew Winter.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, you're very good at doing nothing. I'm very proud
of it. Unapologetic. Dennis is running his own business as well,
and you know, he's doing selling houses and he's got kids,
and nobody ever asked him. They never said that to him.
How are you doing it all?
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (42:28):
And I don't know, you do kind of feel like
you have to justify yourself, like I'm not being a
bad mum and I'm not dropping the ball here, and
the reality is of because I'm dropping the ball, always
dropping the ball.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Like all the tandem tired, and I'm tired at times cray.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
It's because I'm not crying. That's embarrassing, you know, all
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, with the with the tiredness. Do you have structure
in your life? Are you a planner? Are you a
routine person? Is there something that you have in your
mind that rely on to get you through?
Speaker 3 (43:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Look, I think there's a few things. I think you
have to kind of I think you have to forgive
yourself for not being perfect. And I think like for me,
I have these moments where I want to be present
for my children. But at the same time, I think,
if I'm present one hundred percent of the time, then
(43:21):
what am I telling them about what they're going to
do when they grow up? Are they going to have
to be present? And I don't want that for them,
So I keep reminding myself. I want this opportunity for them,
so I have to show them that it's possible. But
I want to be honest about it, like I don't
want to pretend that everything's amazing. And if people ask
me I'm more honest now, I just say, well, yeah,
(43:41):
I drop a shite load of balls all the time.
And I think you have to be you have to
be honest. And then this year I kind of had
this mantra and I can imagine you're very similar to this.
That you get excited about doing projects and you can
see what you can do and you want to get involved.
But my mantra for this year is just because you
can doesn't mean you should. And I think you have
(44:05):
to be you have to allow yourself and you know
you hear it all the time. It's not just about
saying no, it's about not throwing yourself into absolutely everything
that you're doing. I do remember I don't remember my
parents being present for me one hundred percent of the time.
I don't think I ever felt unloved. I'm fine, they
(44:26):
didn't screw me up. I'm okay. So I just you know,
I think you just got to take a step back.
And I used to kind of say this a lot
is what's going to matter in five years if I
do this or I don't do this, How am I
going to feel about it in five years? Am I
going to forget this moment? Or am I going to
regret this moment? And if I'm going to forget it,
just let it go. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
That is such good advice for everybody listening. It's to really,
yea look at the to do list and the opportunities,
and it's not how do you do it all?
Speaker 1 (44:59):
It's you don't have to do it all. You just
really don't. And the sad thing is most people don't
notice when you're doing it all anyway. So I want.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
There's another comment that I don't like, and that is, oh,
you're so lucky to do that job. And I think, yes,
but exactly the harder you work, the luckier you get.
It's funny, that, isn't it. It is an absolute privilege
doing this job, especially after icons such as yourself having
(45:35):
done it as well. It's it is just amazing, and Wendy,
I just can't thank you enough for coming back and
joining me today to reminisce about home beautiful but also
look at the future. I'm so excited for your.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Oh it's lucky. And you know, I've always every time
I pick up the magazine, I just know you love it,
and I love like when you love something like that
and then you see other people love it, like it's
just they become your people. But also I don't know,
it just feels good to say something because it's such
a beautiful magazine. It's special and like it. Yes, we
are incredibly lucky, but didn't fall into our lap like you.
(46:15):
I know how hard you work. I saw your agree.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Before you got here, like yeah, so oh yeah, Wendy,
you're my people.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
You're my people. Thanks ill.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
I feel like we've just had a masterclass in reinvention
and to be honest, a reminder that curiosity and creativity
don't have an expiry date. And great news, Wendy's coming
back for another episode where we're going to step inside
her own home talk, renovation regrets, and the houses that
she loves the most.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Will also solve a.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
Few design dilemmas from our listeners, so stay tuned. This
is the edit, your style, your sanctuary, and a little
inspiration to take into the rest of your day. This
episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes with beautiful,
functional window coverings designed to transform your light and lifestyle.
(47:10):
Thank you to Oz designed for our beautiful set. Come
and visit the experienced team in store and see the
collection for yourself.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
This is an Our Media podcast
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