July 20, 2026 • 54 mins
Claudia Lambert used to be a couples and family therapist. Now she's the interior designer behind some of Sydney's most art-filled homes, helping her clients fall in love with marble slabs and rare vintage finds.
In this episode of The Edit, Claudia chats to Home Beautiful Editor-in-Chief Elle Lovelock about her “showcasey” lounge room, why she thinks art should be the star of every space and how she implements her “no rules” rule.
And she gives us the inside scoop on her book, Shaping Spaces, answers a listener dilemma about a vintage lamp that just won’t fit anywhere and reveals her cheat codes for what she calls a “space lift”.
Plus, don’t miss Claudia’s “Art Buying 101” lesson!
This episode covers:
- Mornings with two boys, aged 9 and 12
- From 15 years as a couple and family therapist to a decade in interior design
- Her first-ever client, and the full-circle project she's working on for them now
- A home tour: the newly "vanilla" living room, a round viola marble dining table and four vintage chairs bought for $150
- What her home sounds and smells like
- Designing a life on purpose
- The "space lift": refreshing a home without moving a wall
- Designing for celebrity clients vs “everyday” people
- Her new book, Shaping Spaces, and the art-filled moments behind it
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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. My boys know not
to touch overhead lighting. They're never a lad on under
any circumstances.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You're going to say, my boys know not to touch
the candles, no headlighting.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No, they know not to touch those switches. They're like, hey, mom,
they tease me with it. They're like, let us do this,
or we'll turn the overhead lighting on. I'm like trying to.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm El Lovelock, editor in chief of Home Beautiful. Welcome
to the Edit, where we bring you into beautiful homes
with the people who create them. Today, we're heading inside
the home of interior designer Claudia Lambert, where there is
not a hint of overhead lighting, there's artwork as the
star of every room, and a collection of gorgeous home weares.
(00:56):
Because Claudia is a self confessed impulsive buyer for in love,
heart with the things she brings home, Claudia spent fifteen
years as a couples and family therapists before making the
leap into interiors a decade ago. We're talking art buying,
one oh one, why there's no design rule she won't break,
and why vintage always wins her over. Plus her new
(01:19):
book out for pre order now on creating art Field
moments at home. We've also got a listener dilemma about
a vintage lamp with nowhere to go, and Claudia tells
us what actually makes her home feel beautiful. Claudia, welcome,
thanks El, Welcome to the edit, to our little home here.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It's gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Thank you. It's great to have you. We've just been
catching up a little bit talking about our mornings. Because
you're a mum of two boys. I'm a mum of
one boy. Yes, and your kids are a bit older
than mine, So what what's it like? How old are
your boys now?
Speaker 1 (01:55):
They're nine to twelve. One's about to go into high
school next year.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Oh my gosh. Yes, morning like at your place.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
A pre school morning. It's just I'm a slave and
getting everything ready and running around and go, okay, I
say this out loud to myself. You've got this, Laudia,
You got this, Claudia. They're like, mom, stopped talking to yourself.
Like it's the only way I get through the morning routine.
Do you know how much I have to do to
get you guys ready to get out the door. And
they just sit there on their iPads, cozy with their
(02:21):
blankets on, and then eventually they don't care. So but no,
they're getting better. They're helping themselves a bit more now,
and that's good.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, yeah, And do you have to walk them to school?
Drop them off?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And so one thing I was really conscious of in
my life was I wanted to replicate how I felt
growing up, and that was that my mum was always
there for me, my dad was always around, and I
just wanted to always have them feel like I'm always around. Yeah,
And so that's what I do. So I picked them up,
(02:54):
I drop them off, Dad drop pick the Mark drops
them off. So we're just always there where, every every assembly,
every everything. And I've sort of designed my working life
around that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I was just going to ask, did that want for
your kids make you choose this career because you are
now an interior designer? You weren't always No, I wasn't
always tell us about that journey.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
When I was very young. I was like twenty, I
did a degree in psychotherapy and I went into the
field of couple of family therapy and ended up doing
a master's degree in that. I was volunteering in homeless
shelters in the Cross with women in drug and alcohol centers.
(03:41):
Ended up working for a large organization managing a couple
of family therapists and partaking in that myself, and that
was about fifteen years and working in the domestic violence
space and drug an alcohol and post separation. That was
a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It sounds heavy. Is it as heavy as people would think? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Absolutely, absolutely it is. And you know how privileged I
am in my position, not being from that background, and
I had kids and sort of just wanted something to
be different about my life and I needed I'm not
good being an employee. I'm sort of I need to
(04:25):
be my own boss. And I was sort of trying
to work out what on earth that could be, and
seat of started this side hustle blog when blogs are
a thing, and it should have shifted and grew magically,
I'll say, I don't know how, but it just turned
into his career. And then one day I'm like, when
I was pregnant with my second child, I'm like, I
(04:45):
just have to do it and make the leap.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And you did it.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I did it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah. So now it's been ten years of that.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Oh my gosh, who's your first client? Were you your
first goal.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
No, so so interesting. Probably, yes, I was first client
because that's how I was showing what I was made of.
One of my first clients, when my first child was
still in my belly is a client. I'm just finishing
another house for right now, really, which is wild. So
my son is twelve now, so that was twelve years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And they I actually went to school with this person
and she lived overseas and had an investment property and
I was designing that to accommodate them coming home every
now and then, but also as a luxury rental. Yes,
and so that was really successful and it was beautiful,
(05:41):
and then sort of progressed to more clients and now
a full circle they've come and bought another property in Tamarama,
which is even more spectacular. It is just about to
be finished. Now we're doing the art hang tomorrow. Actually
what actually it is? It is? Yeah, I want to hear.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
A bit more about your own home. Okay, so we
love a home tour. That home beautiful? Oh yeah, so
I want to take you on a guided tour. Well,
you will take me on a guided tour of your
home if I come over it you answer the door. Yeah,
what's the first thing I see.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
The first thing you'll see is a you immediately drawn
your eyes to the left, So the hallway goes straight
down and there are bedrooms to the left off three bedrooms,
and then to the right is always my showcasey lounge room, which.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The good room.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
It's the only room, so it's the biggest room, and
it's the TV is not the star. The TV is
hidden in the back right corner, so still really visible
to everyone and use her friendly. But the star of
the show is the art, the lighting, the sofa, the
coffee table, the all the pretty things there. So it's
(06:56):
been through many many iterations, which is actually documented in
my book, which we'll get to after. But since that,
I have just recently done a new version of her.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Really what does she look like now?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So now she's vanilla. She is not in the worst
way the walls of vanillas. It's kind of like a
color soak of vanilla in the space. But it's got
like really cool accents in this amazing artwork by Lauren
Dunn of Balenciaga. Look, but the image has been sort
(07:34):
of manipulated, so you can't really tell what it is.
It's got these lilac tones in it, and it's really
beautiful and there's interesting lighting and a much more kid
friendly so.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Far in the Vanilla room.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
In the vanilla room, how does that work?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
But you're just friendly, You just you just have to
wait and see.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I've never ever bought furniture that is child friendly. I've
bought furniture that I've loved every single time.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And how's that worked out?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Perfectly?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
What are your tips?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I buy quality furniture. So I am the queen of
a deal and a bargain and a thrift and a
trade and a selling things in order to get the
thing that I really want. I am great at that,
That's one thing I can say. So if I really
want something, I'll work out a way to like sell
some dining chairs or something else, or other things that
(08:28):
I find like thrifted and upcycle them, put an amazing
fabric on them, or they go to other clients. Things
like that. Nothing ever goes to waste. But in this case,
I sold this beautiful vintage Italian sofar that was so comfortable,
and I had an Italian armchair with it too, which
(08:48):
was also very comfortable, but it just didn't accommodate enough
people and the boys are growing. They want more friends over,
they want to all fit in the space. So now
that's what I've done. I sacrificed the vintoed Italian, traded
it in, got a lot more money for that than
I paid for this couch, so I was able to
buy more investment pieces in there. But yeah, it's it's
(09:10):
really pretty.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So does that mean you're not particularly sentimental about furniture.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I fall in love super hard, and I can be
very impulsive on purchases. It's like falling in love with
a handbag and you're like, I have to have that handbag.
So I do fall in love hard for things, and
then I love them and I cherish them and I
(09:36):
photograph them, and sometimes I go, Okay, I've now fallen
in love with this thing, but I don't have room
for that other thing that I fell in love with.
So how can I re home it somewhere else? Or
can I get a client to fall in love with it?
Can I re upholster it and sell it? And so
that's what I do. So there are a few things
(09:57):
which I've had forever, but mostly it's a movable feast
and I'm okay with that. They're just things. Sometimes. Yeah,
sometimes people are like, but how do you live with
boys like this? I'm like, they're just things? Why buy
them if I can't enjoy them? For people to enjoy?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Light the good candle, use the good cutlery, have the
beautiful lighting on. My boys know not to touch overhead lighting.
They're never a ladd on under any circumstances.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
You're going to say, my boys know not to touch
the candles. No's head lighting.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
They know not to touch those switches. They're like, hey, mom,
they tease me with it. They're like, let us do this,
or we'll turn the overhead lighting on. I'm like, don't you. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, I need some guidance from you then, because I
have a sideboard that I love and it houses a
portion of my collection of dinnerware because I'm a bit obsessed,
and it's got the TV above it and it all
quite nice. But I think we could use the space better.
(11:04):
But I just can't let go of the piece yet,
and I've got nowhere else to put it.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Are you sure, though? Sometimes you just need a fresh it.
Maybe you just need to invite me over and I'll
tell you where to put it. I don't think you
should let go of something that you feel a strong
attachment to. Yeah, because I always think there's space for
it somewhere that you just haven't thought about it.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Maybe I think you're right right, Well, how's this weekend?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Okay, So we've got through to the vanilla living room?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, what's next? It connected, there's sort of an arch
and it's connected to the dining space and it has
I've had this round viola marble, which is for those
of you that don't know, it's like it's a white
marble with a purple veining through it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
It's fabulous.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So it's beautiful. Yeah, and I've got these four vintage
wooden dining chairs around it and there's super sculptural and
I've had them for a very long time and I've
found them a marketplace and I think it was maybe
one hundred and fifty dollars for all four of them.
They're wildly heavy, wildly uncomfortable, but I don't care because
(12:15):
they look so good and that's okay, And that's okay
for me. Furniture is sculptural in the home and that's
super important to me. So that has a big, beautiful artwork.
I'm into massive art, So the bigger the better. I
do have some smaller pieces, but I really love playing
(12:36):
with scale and proportion, and so in that space there's
literally the dining table, the chairs, and this huge, big
artwork there. So then off to the right is the kitchen,
which is purely just a functional little kitchen, and then
off to that a is the laundry. Yeah, so then
(12:58):
if you're going back to the front door, you're looking
to the left, We've got my master bedroom. Then we've
got my youngest son's room, and then my eldest son's
room after that, and then the bathroom dead ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So what does your home sound like?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
It sounds like. So most of the time I am
obsessed with having ambient music in the background, so just
setting a mood. So if I'm at homeworking, if I'm
home with the boys, it's not the TV on in
the background. I've usually got Louis Armstrong playing in the background,
(13:36):
so it just feels viby and nice and relaxed. And
I've always got a candle on. I've always got ambient
lighting on, even if it's in the middle of the day,
it's just on and I'm making it feel really comfortable
and nice. So it will usually smell like a tom
Ford candle. It'll feel warm and glowy, and it will
(13:58):
sound like Louis Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Oh, I just I can feel myself in there. This
is a really good audio tour.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And I love it. I sit there sometimes because I
don't work from an office. I'm very nimble in my studio.
I am very fortunate in that, and I've chosen that
specifically because i want to be able to move everywhere.
I've got a lot of energy for my work and
I'm all over the place. I'm at suppliers, i'm at
(14:28):
people's houses, I'm on site all the time every day.
So it kind of feels like a bit of a
waste to have a space at.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
The moment that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
As I'm growing, I'm sort of the ideas coming more
and more into my head. I've been seeing little places
around them and I going, oh, that could be a
nice studio. That could be nice, and so I think
I'm moving closer towards that. But at the moment, there's
nothing better than like setting my mood for the day.
I'm sitting there on my couch, I've got my laptop,
I've got my music on I've got my candle on,
(14:58):
I'm seeing their working way, see admin completely tolerable.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It does. I like to think of it as romanticizing
your life, Yes, and I think that's a wonderful thing.
People Oh that's a bit cheesy or a bit cringe,
and I think why not.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I put a lot of effort into this life, a lot,
so I feel like I need to be able to
enjoy it, and that helps me do that. So I've
designed this life for myself very deliberately, and I feel
very proud of what I've done.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
How do you help people do that in their own
homes and lives? So if people are listening, they're going,
I really don't know how to design a life for me.
Where would you start?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So I think having my background in the therapeutic realm
has helped me come at clients from a perspective of
how they want to feel in their homes and how
they want to live their lives where they chuck their
every day? Do they want that to be a moment?
Do they want, you know, the ship pile to be
(16:05):
hidden or do they just need to be able to
see that pile to know? Because is that there? To do? List?
Every day? How can we elevate that a little bit more?
How can we change the lighting in their home to
make it feel more like an invitation to sit down
or an invitation to walk through each space instead of
(16:25):
merely just coming in, flipping on the overhead light and
walking in and you know, chucking everything down. It's sort
of bit more of an arrival. So is it seeing
one particular artwork or vase the second you walk in.
So painting your walls anything other than white. Some houses
(16:47):
absolutely deserve huge white walls because they may have beautiful
architectural detailing. But for the run of the mill every day,
it just makes such a difference to how you feel
and your mood really does.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And I think it is those little moments of joy
that I don't know, they just make the every day.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
They do make the every day absolutely, which is why
I encourage people. Even your drinking glasses, like go to
Maison Balzac and buy the prettiest little drinking glasses you can.
Why not, that's it because they are things that you
touch every single day. Make them nice, make them beautiful, absolutely,
make the plates beautiful. My dinner plates have a big
(17:30):
giant hand sitting on them, like they're like surrealist looking things,
so just fun. And they're the everyday plates that heat
up leftovers on like all of that kind of stuff,
but just elevated a tiny little bit.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Why not to be able to create those moments in
your interior is such a wonderful thing. And I love
that you help do that for people.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
And I think sometimes people get overwhelmed with, oh, but
I just live in this apartment into all this like
whatever it is. You know, it could be like you
know those box modern homes. You know, it's like that's okay,
there are always around it. I'm the master of a
space lift.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I've not heard this term before, a space lift set.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So it's genius. People that don't want to knock down
their walls. There's some people that don't want to reconfigure
their kitchens, but they want to breathe and entire a
new life into their house. I'm so good at it.
I've found my niche. It's replacing the kitchen countertops with
a beautiful slab of stone that you fall in love with,
(18:39):
reskinning the joinery a different color, you can micro cement it,
the things you can do a wild replacing the little
knobs like Lo and Co. Have the most beautiful little
jewel knobs. It's like jewelry for your kitchen. Retile over
ugly tiles in the bathroom, replace forrcets. It's the smallest things.
Change or the pendant lighting. It doesn't have to be
(19:01):
crazy expensive window treatments game changer, having them consistent. Painting
your walls and ceiling something other than white, brightening them up.
There are so many things you can do to a
space to make a dramatic change, give it a spacelift
without having to move a ball.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And I love what you're saying. A lot of these
tips can be used in rentals as well. Absolutely, lights
and the taps. Absolutely they can get a professional in
to do it.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Get a professional in.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
It doesn't cost a lot, but it may spops to
the original. When you move out, I can take your
fancy tap with you. Yes, it's clever, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah? It's great.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
How good is this chat with Claudia? More soon? So
you design homes for a range of wonderful people, including
some celebrities. I was wondering, and actually my teammate she
brought this question up to me, very curious about designing
(20:07):
homes for celebrities. How is that different to designing homes
for civilians? Like not, it's not. No, oh that's so
good to hear.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
No. No, I get to know them in exactly the
same way as I will get to know any other client.
I had one text me this morning saying, how do
you feel about the book coming out? And I was like,
I don't know. I feel like imposter syndrome. I feel
this And he's like, no, you need to feel proud
(20:40):
of this. You need to own this. And I'll occasionally
get like messages of like photos going if you didn't exist,
this is what my house would actually look like, and
it's like a giant disco ball. Literally, I'm like, we're glad,
I do who's that Courtney at now?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I'm getting so But other people just.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You know, beautiful, they're not. You know, you think of
these people as having completely different lives, but they don't.
They have children, they have mess they have school drop off,
they have everything the same. They want furniture that's going
to last and it's not going to get trashed straight away.
It's all the same, that's true.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
It's just their job happens to be yeah, camera.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, all the same and they're usually very beautiful people.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, so tell us about this fabulous book that we
have here. So this is coming out in a couple
of months.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So it's pre ordered now, AHAT available now, Amazon, Thames
and Hards and everywhere. You can buy it everywhere. You
can buy it in America, UK, everywhere. So you can
actually get your physical copy on the twenty ninth of September.
But the pre orders are very much appreciated because it
means people will pre order more for their physical stores,
(21:55):
which would be the pinching moment when I actually walk
into a store and see it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So give us the lift pitch. What's what's the book about?
What can we see?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
So the lift pitch is I guess it's about it's
called shaping spaces, and that is because I see the
spaces as little works of art in themselves, and it's
how to create those art filled moments, whether it is
(22:25):
through physical art or furniture or sculpture or color or materiality,
and how to use all those elements to bring a
home together and have a layered Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I love it. So you've got literally how to do it.
You've got to.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Do it for I mean, it's not a step by
step guide. It's my experience in what I have done
with clients that has helped elevate their homes and create
a very lived in and thoughtful space that makes them happy.
Like one of the funnest things is going slab shopping,
(23:04):
which I'm taking a new client slab shopping on Friday.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Actually, and for any listeners who aren't familiar with slab shopping.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Is a marble slab. So they have these huge warehouses
and they're every stone known to man, and they're absolutely incredible.
They're literal works of art pulled from the ground. So
it is falling in love with a slab that usually
jumps off a kitchen. So I've said, listen, this is
(23:33):
the way we're going moving toward your kitchen, but I
want you to fall in love with your exact slab,
so they can pick their exact slab and then what
will pull out from that is the veining and the
colors and work out how we want to apply that
in the kitchen. Is it a really soft, muted slab
(23:53):
marble and it needs some more drama around it, or
is it doing the heavy lifting and we needed to
tone everything back. And so that's where I come in
and guide them on the right. Yeah, so does it's
a tile need to be the supporting act or the
coast or the hero. It all depends on what they pick.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I was reading that people have to connect with the
thing that they buy, and that's what makes them love it.
I know this sounds a bit woo woo.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
But I think I might have used that exact phrase
with my client. I think I might have said, this
might sound a bit woo woo, but I want you
to have an emotional reaction to the slab that you buy. Yes,
because I know for a fact that you will. When
you walk in there, you will be blown away by
what you see. It's like picking an artwork. I can
suggest all the artworks under the sun, but until you
(24:50):
go and experience that art and see in the flesh.
Because that is another pillar, really strong pillar of my
work is art. So I'm deeply invested in that as
one of the main elements to bring your home to life.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And is this a passion of yours or is this
something that came about through your interior design work that
you realize actually this is really important?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Correct exactly is it is? It?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Was?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I experimented with it in my own home, and I
was like, this is game changing, either reframing the art
in a different way, hanging it in a different space,
putting art in the bathroom, putting it hanging having weird
hangs like off center, playing around with all of that.
I just adore it. And it's where I because I'm
(25:41):
not an artist in that sense, I can only do
so much. But how I hang it, how I frame
it makes all the difference and where you place it.
And I don't think art is ever meant to be
forever in one spot. I agree, So a change as
good as a holiday. You know, you change your cushions.
I've heard you say you have your cushions that you
(26:03):
change up and it gives it a new vibe in a
new life. So repositioning your artwork collection gives it a
new life completely.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's a little art buying, one oh one. So if
someone comes in and says, I have no idea where
to start. I know I want to art, I know
I need it in my home. Where do I start?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
So? I guess what I would like to know first
is what's important to them about the art? Is it
that they really love the art? Is the budget a
huge factor. Is this something that they want to build
over time? Do they want to fill five walls straight away?
So there's a lot of constraints around it. So I
(26:44):
tend to encourage people to leave a wall blank until
they fall in love with something. I would prefer that
than to have a place filler, yes, because then you
never end up replacing the place filler.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Instead of having something, you might wait a year to
find the right one. Then you find it and you're like, ah,
this is it, this is exactly where it belongs. So
sometimes we'll start with an artwork and I go, guys,
you know, after our first meeting and we've done the scope,
I've seen this piece of art and for the concept
that we've described, I'm deeply in love with that. How
(27:21):
do you feel about it? And they might go absolutely nailed,
this is it. And so we'll use that then to
refine the scope of work and as a jumping off
point as to where we want to lead the art curation.
So some people want a lot of contemporary I've got
a client at the moment. My client in tamrama. She
(27:42):
loves sort of figurative and abstract painting, paintings, large scale
and less contemporary work. So we've got a lot of
that in the home, and then we've drawn from those
palettes to build on the fabrics that are used in
the rooms. But sometimes, you know, things don't always work
out exactly that way, and we might end up with
the room and going, you know what, this piece would
(28:04):
look much better up here, and we're going to bring
this piece down here. So it's a miserable taste or
you're not locked in. Not locked in, And I say
that from the very beginning. I say, we can definitely
have a broad plan because in terms of size and
you know, how visible the art's going to be, all
of that, we can sort of have our guidelines on that,
(28:24):
like it needs to be a medium sized piece here
or a small piece here. So in that way it
can be restrictive. But overall, if they're really you know, investing,
going we want, you know, five solid pieces, we'll go, okay,
well let's let's get them. Let's make sure they're all
sort of cohesive and they have a language that talk
to each other. It may not be they're not the
(28:46):
same genre. They may be photographic, they may be sculptural,
might be a vessel, a painting could be anything, but
there's some thread that connects them.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Okay, that's really clever. What do you recommend for people?
People who maybe they've inherited or been gifted or thrifted
and artwork. They love the work, but the frame is gross?
How hard is it to change? How?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I mean? I have my go to framers and there
are a lot of good ones in where in Sydney
and where we are now, and I take it out
of its frame and I play around with borders, different colors,
I play around with the different different frame. So do
we want to modernize it a little bit? Is an
older work like or is it something from the seventies
(29:37):
that needs to be uplifted or have some cool chrome
moment around it? So I guess it's it's what we want,
how we want it to speak to the room? Is
your room more traditional? Is it a more seventies laid
back vibe? Is it? You know? Where is it that
you want to take the room? So do you want
to uplift it and be really focal or do you
(29:58):
want to sort of melt into the background a little
bit more? And so we'll do something a little bit
more subdued. But reframing it gives it a whole new life.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Is it expensive or does that all depend on the frame?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Oh, it's not huguely expensive, okay. I mean, let's say
for an average average size artwork frame, maybe like four
hundred dollars five hundred dollars okay. And then if you
want art glass which is less reflective, that I might
add on a couple of hundred. But like this, going
back to the Bondai client, she had this huge artwork
(30:32):
which is just on a bit of cardboard and it
was a photo, a black and white photo from woodstock,
and it was all raggedy around the edges, and she
bought it at Bondai markets, huge, like one point five
meters by you know, one meter high.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Oh that's big.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
So we restored it at the framers for the house
in Bondai twelve years ago. And because it was just
in her rental that she shared with heaps of girls
in Paddington and it was all raggedy and hehrlerrible and
it looked like pristine, brand new, beautiful photograph and we
framed it with no border, just with a beautiful box frame,
(31:08):
oak box frame around it, and it looked perfect in
the space that has since moved to their home in
Beverly Hills and it's now sitting above a beautiful BnB.
It tally a toughty times in this luxurious you know,
pass through hallway space and it's just given out a
whole new life and it looks incredible. So now she
(31:32):
lives in LA but you know, one day you never
know come back here again. So I love that it
just lives a different life, and I love that for people.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Let's go with that, because I know you love a
bit of vintage. Love it. Where do you go to
buy vintage?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And we're talking specifically stores.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Everything home wears and a fashion furniture, everything.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Anything, anything. So I'm a high low girl. I'm a
vintage girl. I don't care how much something costs. I
put it in one of my fancy clients' homes. I
found the most amazing crudely made ceramic little wavy dish
that was made by I don't know, it could have
been someone in high school found a business, but literally
(32:17):
five dollars and I put it down on the coffee table.
It looked a million bucks. And she picked up She's
like Lifeline, and I'm like she goes, I love this.
I'm like, good, yeah, so it doesn't matter. She loved
it before she saw where it was from, and I
love that. But then you know, I found on marketplace
(32:39):
next to that, b being Italia, actually no Minotti cube
side table in steel, and that was a marketplace for
next to nothing. But then we've got a globalst couch,
which is the family couch, which anchors it all. But
you've got these little moments sitting around it that are
collected and varied and help tell more of a story
(33:02):
and make your home feels less feel less like a
catalog and more collected.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I recently bought a pair of candlesticks, and.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Do you use them? Because I wouldn't die to use candlesticks,
but I just don't.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh every day I always have candlesticks.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
On my beautiful beautiful I love them.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
We like candles. Most nights we eat at the table.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
See that's frantic, that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I think it's lovely and makes me happy. But these
candlesticks were like dingy. They're sort of dark silvery color,
but I noticed the shape was quite interesting. There was
a pair, and I do like the rule that if
you see vintage in a pair and you like it
by it because things are more valuable in pairs. Anyway,
(33:50):
I thought these are interesting and the style is familiar
to me, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Did you reverse google image to them?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I did when I got home. I bought them because
I loved them, and they were twenty bucks, and then
I took them home reverse image search and discovered that
they were silver plate mid century haunts, Yensen.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I mean little.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I think they're lily yeah candlesticks, and so I polished
them up because I love a high shine silver and
I collect vintage silver. And I just couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
And how good did you feel? How warm and glowy?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You just feel great.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I remember once going into a thrift shop and I
found in ames ashtray for three dollars. I remember going,
it's nohow seen?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Am I being punked?
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah, there's some nuts stuff that I've found before, And
you're like, this is And then you get it home
and you find provenance and you explore more about it
and give it's so much more meaning having it there,
even if no one else knows you know exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I love researching the history. Google reverse image search.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Is better, the best, trum better the best.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
But I think buying something purely because you appreciate it,
because you don't know what brand it is, you don't
know where it's from. All you know is that.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
You like the look.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Like the look suits what you're willing to pay for it.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yes, absolutely, And imagine if they've been restored and been
in a reseller shop. Oh, I've looked named how much
you'd pay.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
For those I've seen.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
So it's the satisfaction on top of that of a
little bit why I caught that.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
It's smart, that's the best thing you've ever bought.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
I was a s A Vincent de Paul and this
would have been like thirteen years ago, and I found
it was at the time where that it was that
really glam era regency, regency when that was really popular.
(36:07):
And there was this little glistening jewel table base that
was brass, shiny, high shine brass, with this geometric shape
around it, and I was like, this cannot be real.
I just couldn't believe my eyes that something and it
was I don't know, maybe a hundred bucks or something
(36:28):
and had a glass table top, and I just I
couldn't believe I had something like that in my home
for one hundred dollars. And because I just people always say,
how do you find all this good stuff? I go,
I don't find anything. I go. How often do you go?
So like once on a Saturday, I'm like, amateur, No,
you need to go again and again and again, and
nine times out of ten I will not find anything
(36:50):
that's right. And then that tenth time, I'm like, holy moly,
look at what I've just found. And it's just keeping
going back and it keeps you excited, and I, yeah,
I do remember those things in some of my more
I guess high end purchases that have made me feel like,
holy moly, I can't believe I actually own a piece
by this designer now have been exciting.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Coming up. Claudia gets a little bit emotional about what
makes her home beautiful. So I know you've brought something
in today to share with us the mystery drawer.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I didn't really know how to approach this, but that's
the beauty in anything an Everyone brings in something different.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
We've had some interesting things from doorbells through to take measures,
door handles. What have you brought in today?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
I have brought in so oh it's still but it's
a lot number on it. I found at a at
Lawsons at an arm I live just down the street
Lawson's auction house. So it's this beautiful vintage Italian photo
frame in brass and it's got these beautiful curly edges
(38:07):
around it. And I've never in my life bought a
photo frame ever, and I've never displayed family photos. My
family home has always had family photos around it and
mom and dads they still do. And I thought, I
cannot live without this photo frame.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
It is so cool.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
It's cool, right, And I have a photo of me
and my boys in it and they it just they're
so happy and I'm so happy, and I just it
just means a lot to me. I love this.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
You see the laughter in the photo.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Yeah, yeah, they're like hysterically laughing. That was a fluke photo.
I think I took it myself like it was the
kind of a selfie moment, and I thought, this is
the photo that belongs in that frame. If I'm only
ever going to have one frame, that's the photo that
belongs to it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
That is such an amazing frame. And does this work
with your style, your aesthetic or did you just see
this ago. That's try.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I never think about that. L Yeah, that thought never
crosses my mind. If I see something and I love it,
I don't think, how is this going to work in
my home? I go give it to me. That's what
I mean by impulsive. By nature, I'm quite impulsive. I
have to restrain myself with clients. With that, I'm like,
let's not make hasty decisions. But in my head, I'm going,
(39:26):
I know this is the right thing. We've got to
buy this. We've got to buy this. But no, I
don't restraint. I just I know that if I love it,
it will work. I just know this.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
I'm going to give this back to you. This leaders
on it. We've got a dilemma. Oh gosh, gosh, Okay.
We try to tailor our listener dilemmas.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yes to the guests or we have on okay.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
To tap into their expertise. So I'm pretty confident that
you'll be able to answer this question.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
So Annie wrote him, and she says, on my last
few trips overseas, I've bought some beautiful vintage pieces. Yes,
my most recent find was a beautiful lamp that I
just had to have. My problem is that when I
looked at it in my house, it didn't really seem
to fit anywhere. So what are your tips for buying
(40:18):
vintage and then styling it when it first it seems
like it just doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I guess it depends on that there's so many variables here,
So it does it not fit in terms of scale, shape, style?
In what way doesn't it fit?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Because I think does it need a new shade? Does
it need to be sat on a completely contrasting period
furniture piece of furniture to give it a new life?
So perhaps it looks too vintage if it's sitting atop
something that has also got that age to it doesn't
(40:56):
need to sit on something that's more contemporary.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yeah, So go the opposite to make it work.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yes, very possibly.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Feels counterintuitive, but but I think that that's how design
makes sense to me.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
I enjoy mixing periods and styles, and I think that's
something that I'm quite adept at now. I've had a
lot of practice doing it. So if perhaps she had
an idea in her head that it didn't fit, and
she had a place, so it's going to look great there,
and she brought it home and it didn't. Maybe she
(41:32):
needs to look at does the wall need to be repainted?
Does the table need to be repositioned? Does there need
to be drapery there instead? Does the shade need to
have a contemporary shape to it, anything that could uplift
the piece and give it a slight tweak in order
(41:53):
to shift its personality.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
That's so good. So let's talk talk about your design
rules or design rule because Okay, I know that you
have a rule, So what why don't you share it?
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Rule?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Is your design rule that there are no rules?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Maybe how would you explain that to someone who is
chli fire designer?
Speaker 1 (42:25):
If you really? I think, I think you need to
work out what you're drawn to. So, say you're a
Pinterest girlie, oh boy, there will be a common thread
that comes through on your feed. Your algorithm will give
it to you. Is it the color red, is it brass?
(42:47):
Is it old? Is it new? What is it? What
is that common thread? And so finding that or is
it a mixture of both? Is it heavily color drenched places?
So it's finding out what that common thread is and
expanding on that. So let's say it's the color purple, right,
(43:08):
It's like Okay, well, how can I translate that? Do
I want? I don't want to overwhelming in my space,
but let's paint the walls a really soft gray lilac
so it's not too in your face. But then we
might experiment with a patterned like velvet cushion or something
(43:29):
that has a deeper merlow tone to it, which is
a friend of purple. So then we might look at
could we use like a rouge marble here then as
a little plinth to put something on top of that
plays very nicely with those cooler tones but brings a
little warmth in. And then what metal could we add
(43:49):
to that? What metal is going to compliment that lavender
that merlow? Is it going to be a bronze, so
not a bright brass, not a you know, seventies chrome,
but is it going to be a bronze so it's
sort of sophisticated, muted, but still has a strong presence.
And so then it's building that palette from there, And
(44:10):
then how do I introduce those Is it through a
lamp base that I want that bronze to come in?
Is it changing my front door handle? Is it having
a pendant that has a brass element? To it with
then a beautiful silk shade or something like that. So
it's I think all these ideas are easy for me
to come up with, but in the home, it's about
(44:30):
how to introduce them and to balance them and not
oversaturate things.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
It's not about having twins in not having cousins or
friends with common.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Mates, mates with common interests, and they can have completely
different personalities and still play really nicely together on the playground.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Yeah, absolutely, And I think that's maybe what my book
kind of helps people to see. So there's a lot,
a lot of examples of how I've used really neutral
sofas and then added you know, like a tiger print
gold cushion, and how that then ties in with what
(45:13):
I've placed on the coffee table, and then how that's
tied in with the material of the coffee table, and
how those balance each other out. So it's the layers
of materiality that make all the difference. So like linen drapes,
a slubby sofa, velvet cushions, a beautiful wool rug wall paper.
(45:37):
You could have glossy ceilings. So it's the shiny and
the dull and the mate and the glossy and all
the things playing together.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Oh, it just sounds like my idea of heaven, isn't
it though?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
But it's like kind of like getting dressed like and
balancing that out as well.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I always say, show me a person's outfit, and I
can tell you what their home looks like. Most of
the time that works because if you can curate an outfit,
then you can curate your home and to have it
reflect you.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
It's just such a big scale and people overwhelmed and
daunted by it, which is why I love the space
lift because it is just a way. It's like an
I wouldn't say an entry level because it still costs
money to do this, Like, it's still a big investment
for a home to do something like that. Because you're
giving it a big glow up. You're just not making
(46:34):
any huge structural decisions and changes, which is what people
can get overwhelmed by, definitely. But they can tolerate painting, drapes, hardware,
all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
It's not as scary.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
It's not as scary. Yeah, it's not as scary.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Let's gop back into your home for a bit because
we have our own little house rules questions.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Okay, yes.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
Go So you said you burn can do you burn
them all the time?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Or only for guests?
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yes? All the time, all the time, all the time.
That's why I'm at such a good level at Mecca
beauty loop.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Coming at us.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I like the elite tear.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Buying all the candles.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
What is the candle sponsor?
Speaker 2 (47:24):
I need, hey, girl friend, the same.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
All the time. As soon as I walk in the door,
the pendant ambient light goes on, which is the dearest
humanly possible light. It's called candlelight, so it's so low
and muted, but it just makes the room glow straight away.
Then the music goes on. Light the candle I need
to get. I need to elevate my candle lighting game,
(47:50):
is what I need to do. Because I've now seen
these beautiful metal match boxes that you can hide your
matches here from May and g Hardware in I think
they're UK based. They are beautiful, and I need to
elevate my lighting game because at the moment I'm using
a bit lighter, so I really need to I don't
(48:14):
have it next to it, and I'm like, this is
an opportunity that I could have for another little styling moment.
So maybe that's actually I'm going to do that today.
I'm going to put that on my to do list today. Excellent,
elevate my match game.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
What's something that is always fresh in your home?
Speaker 1 (48:31):
I think when you walk in my home, it always
feels fresh because it's always clean, always tidy. Really, it's
just how I need to exist, to function with the
insanity of what's going on in my brain at all times.
(48:51):
The decisions are being a mum of managing the mental
emotional load of children, the logistical load of children, all
of my clients, the administrative administrative side of my work,
the hundreds of micro decisions I have to make every
single day. Everything needs to be calm and fresh at home.
(49:14):
So there's always the most satisfying l is when at
nighttime the kids have finally wound down, the dishwasher is on,
the washing machine is on, the main lights are off,
the candles burning, The house smells fresh, the counters are clean.
(49:35):
You can smell like the windocks or whatever you use
earth something earth spray spray, so yeah, yeah, something something
like that, and always a candle burning, so it just
always feels fresh. My beds are always freshly made. No
I could not physically leave the house without being made.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Would I would be on edge all day.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
I would be on edge all day. If I tried
it just as a test, I'd probably go and then go.
I'd come home and just make the bed and go. Okay,
now I can get on with the day.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
So this song leads me to my next question. Are
you a shoes on or shoes off? House?
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Whatever? Ah? Whatever you want? What ever you feel confident?
Speaker 2 (50:18):
Yeap? What do you prefer? I?
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Okay, this is interesting actually, now that I've thought about
it for that split second. If I am settled at
home for the day, it shoes off. If I'm going
to be in and out, I do not take my
shoes off till the day is done.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Yes, So even if I've got a two hour slot
at home where I'm doing admin, the shoes will stay on, Okay,
because it still means I'm in work mode.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
So if the shoes come off, all likelihood truckies are
coming on too. Yes, And then the sweater's coming on
too because it's winter here at the moment, and then
it's over not leaving the house again. If I stay
dressed and keep the shoes on, I'm still I can
still function and leave the house and do all of
(51:08):
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
Yeah, but other people put your feet up on my
coffee table with your shoes on. Don't care. I don't care.
Furniture is meant to be lived on, lived in all
of the things. The boys kick a soccer ball around,
I don't care. If something breaks, it breaks, it can
be fixed.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
A question I love to ask all our guests is
what makes your home beautiful?
Speaker 1 (51:32):
My kids? Oh, and it almost makes you want to cry.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
Steady, that is so beautiful? And what is it? Is it?
The joy, the lough, the chaos.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
Yep, it's all of that in this photo. And the
fact that they're super proud of me and can see
everything that I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
I just think that is so beautiful, particularly having boys
to see that a woman and their role model can
be so strong but still have softness. Yeah, and you
can still be feminine but immensely powerful at the same time.
(52:18):
I think that's a wonderful thing to show.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
I think that's who I would probably I go to
them for, like how do I look? Do I look okay?
Do I look like Mum? Or like mom trying too hard?
Or like you look. Yeah. Absolutely, I wore heels on
because I'm not a heels galley and they're like, oh, mom,
take them off. What do you think? I know, but
I've got to look fancy and they're like, we'll take
(52:43):
them off as soon as you get home. I'm like, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (52:47):
Yeah, I think that is the best answer we've ever
had to that question.
Speaker 1 (52:52):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
But yeah, thank you so much for coming over today
and nice to Well, we could stay all day, I
don't mind.
Speaker 1 (53:04):
And then I wouldn't have to go home to the
kids after all this and say how much I love
But you know, being away and having these moments where
I'm being an adult and actively, you know, doing something
that I love and I cannot believe I get paid
to do, is wildly intoxicating and exciting and gratifying.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
It just keeps you going, Yeah, well, now you have
to go and buy your fancy matchbox cover.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I'm going to I'm so excited, so I'm nervous about
how much they cost, but I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
Oh, Claudia, thanks for coming, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
All that was.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
Claudia Lambert and proof that the best homes aren't built
on rules, they're built on what you actually love. If
you want more from Claudia, her book is out for
pre order now, and you can find her work and
that famous showcasey lunge room over on Instagram at Claudia
Lambert Interiors. Thanks for listening to the edit. If you
(54:04):
enjoyed this one, follow along and leave us a review.
It genuinely helps more people find the show. I'm l Lovelock.
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (54:20):
This is an our media podcast.
This is an our media podcast. My boys know not
to touch overhead lighting. They're never a lad on under
any circumstances.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
You're going to say, my boys know not to touch
the candles, no headlighting.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
No, they know not to touch those switches. They're like, hey, mom,
they tease me with it. They're like, let us do this,
or we'll turn the overhead lighting on. I'm like trying to.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm El Lovelock, editor in chief of Home Beautiful. Welcome
to the Edit, where we bring you into beautiful homes
with the people who create them. Today, we're heading inside
the home of interior designer Claudia Lambert, where there is
not a hint of overhead lighting, there's artwork as the
star of every room, and a collection of gorgeous home weares.
(00:56):
Because Claudia is a self confessed impulsive buyer for in love,
heart with the things she brings home, Claudia spent fifteen
years as a couples and family therapists before making the
leap into interiors a decade ago. We're talking art buying,
one oh one, why there's no design rule she won't break,
and why vintage always wins her over. Plus her new
(01:19):
book out for pre order now on creating art Field
moments at home. We've also got a listener dilemma about
a vintage lamp with nowhere to go, and Claudia tells
us what actually makes her home feel beautiful. Claudia, welcome,
thanks El, Welcome to the edit, to our little home here.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
It's gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Thank you. It's great to have you. We've just been
catching up a little bit talking about our mornings. Because
you're a mum of two boys. I'm a mum of
one boy. Yes, and your kids are a bit older
than mine, So what what's it like? How old are
your boys now?
Speaker 1 (01:55):
They're nine to twelve. One's about to go into high
school next year.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Oh my gosh. Yes, morning like at your place.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
A pre school morning. It's just I'm a slave and
getting everything ready and running around and go, okay, I
say this out loud to myself. You've got this, Laudia,
You got this, Claudia. They're like, mom, stopped talking to yourself.
Like it's the only way I get through the morning routine.
Do you know how much I have to do to
get you guys ready to get out the door. And
they just sit there on their iPads, cozy with their
(02:21):
blankets on, and then eventually they don't care. So but no,
they're getting better. They're helping themselves a bit more now,
and that's good.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, yeah, And do you have to walk them to school?
Drop them off?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And so one thing I was really conscious of in
my life was I wanted to replicate how I felt
growing up, and that was that my mum was always
there for me, my dad was always around, and I
just wanted to always have them feel like I'm always around. Yeah,
And so that's what I do. So I picked them up,
(02:54):
I drop them off, Dad drop pick the Mark drops
them off. So we're just always there where, every every assembly,
every everything. And I've sort of designed my working life
around that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I was just going to ask, did that want for
your kids make you choose this career because you are
now an interior designer? You weren't always No, I wasn't
always tell us about that journey.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
When I was very young. I was like twenty, I
did a degree in psychotherapy and I went into the
field of couple of family therapy and ended up doing
a master's degree in that. I was volunteering in homeless
shelters in the Cross with women in drug and alcohol centers.
(03:41):
Ended up working for a large organization managing a couple
of family therapists and partaking in that myself, and that
was about fifteen years and working in the domestic violence
space and drug an alcohol and post separation. That was
a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It sounds heavy. Is it as heavy as people would think? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Absolutely, absolutely it is. And you know how privileged I
am in my position, not being from that background, and
I had kids and sort of just wanted something to
be different about my life and I needed I'm not
good being an employee. I'm sort of I need to
(04:25):
be my own boss. And I was sort of trying
to work out what on earth that could be, and
seat of started this side hustle blog when blogs are
a thing, and it should have shifted and grew magically,
I'll say, I don't know how, but it just turned
into his career. And then one day I'm like, when
I was pregnant with my second child, I'm like, I
(04:45):
just have to do it and make the leap.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
And you did it.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I did it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah. So now it's been ten years of that.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Oh my gosh, who's your first client? Were you your
first goal.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
No, so so interesting. Probably, yes, I was first client
because that's how I was showing what I was made of.
One of my first clients, when my first child was
still in my belly is a client. I'm just finishing
another house for right now, really, which is wild. So
my son is twelve now, so that was twelve years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And they I actually went to school with this person
and she lived overseas and had an investment property and
I was designing that to accommodate them coming home every
now and then, but also as a luxury rental. Yes,
and so that was really successful and it was beautiful,
(05:41):
and then sort of progressed to more clients and now
a full circle they've come and bought another property in Tamarama,
which is even more spectacular. It is just about to
be finished. Now we're doing the art hang tomorrow. Actually
what actually it is? It is? Yeah, I want to hear.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
A bit more about your own home. Okay, so we
love a home tour. That home beautiful? Oh yeah, so
I want to take you on a guided tour. Well,
you will take me on a guided tour of your
home if I come over it you answer the door. Yeah,
what's the first thing I see.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
The first thing you'll see is a you immediately drawn
your eyes to the left, So the hallway goes straight
down and there are bedrooms to the left off three bedrooms,
and then to the right is always my showcasey lounge room, which.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The good room.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
It's the only room, so it's the biggest room, and
it's the TV is not the star. The TV is
hidden in the back right corner, so still really visible
to everyone and use her friendly. But the star of
the show is the art, the lighting, the sofa, the
coffee table, the all the pretty things there. So it's
(06:56):
been through many many iterations, which is actually documented in
my book, which we'll get to after. But since that,
I have just recently done a new version of her.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Really what does she look like now?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So now she's vanilla. She is not in the worst
way the walls of vanillas. It's kind of like a
color soak of vanilla in the space. But it's got
like really cool accents in this amazing artwork by Lauren
Dunn of Balenciaga. Look, but the image has been sort
(07:34):
of manipulated, so you can't really tell what it is.
It's got these lilac tones in it, and it's really
beautiful and there's interesting lighting and a much more kid
friendly so.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Far in the Vanilla room.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
In the vanilla room, how does that work?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
But you're just friendly, You just you just have to
wait and see.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I've never ever bought furniture that is child friendly. I've
bought furniture that I've loved every single time.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And how's that worked out?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Perfectly?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
What are your tips?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I buy quality furniture. So I am the queen of
a deal and a bargain and a thrift and a
trade and a selling things in order to get the
thing that I really want. I am great at that,
That's one thing I can say. So if I really
want something, I'll work out a way to like sell
some dining chairs or something else, or other things that
(08:28):
I find like thrifted and upcycle them, put an amazing
fabric on them, or they go to other clients. Things
like that. Nothing ever goes to waste. But in this case,
I sold this beautiful vintage Italian sofar that was so comfortable,
and I had an Italian armchair with it too, which
(08:48):
was also very comfortable, but it just didn't accommodate enough
people and the boys are growing. They want more friends over,
they want to all fit in the space. So now
that's what I've done. I sacrificed the vintoed Italian, traded
it in, got a lot more money for that than
I paid for this couch, so I was able to
buy more investment pieces in there. But yeah, it's it's
(09:10):
really pretty.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So does that mean you're not particularly sentimental about furniture.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I fall in love super hard, and I can be
very impulsive on purchases. It's like falling in love with
a handbag and you're like, I have to have that handbag.
So I do fall in love hard for things, and
then I love them and I cherish them and I
(09:36):
photograph them, and sometimes I go, Okay, I've now fallen
in love with this thing, but I don't have room
for that other thing that I fell in love with.
So how can I re home it somewhere else? Or
can I get a client to fall in love with it?
Can I re upholster it and sell it? And so
that's what I do. So there are a few things
(09:57):
which I've had forever, but mostly it's a movable feast
and I'm okay with that. They're just things. Sometimes. Yeah,
sometimes people are like, but how do you live with
boys like this? I'm like, they're just things? Why buy
them if I can't enjoy them? For people to enjoy?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Light the good candle, use the good cutlery, have the
beautiful lighting on. My boys know not to touch overhead lighting.
They're never a ladd on under any circumstances.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
You're going to say, my boys know not to touch
the candles. No's head lighting.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
They know not to touch those switches. They're like, hey, mom,
they tease me with it. They're like, let us do this,
or we'll turn the overhead lighting on. I'm like, don't you. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, I need some guidance from you then, because I
have a sideboard that I love and it houses a
portion of my collection of dinnerware because I'm a bit obsessed,
and it's got the TV above it and it all
quite nice. But I think we could use the space better.
(11:04):
But I just can't let go of the piece yet,
and I've got nowhere else to put it.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Are you sure, though? Sometimes you just need a fresh it.
Maybe you just need to invite me over and I'll
tell you where to put it. I don't think you
should let go of something that you feel a strong
attachment to. Yeah, because I always think there's space for
it somewhere that you just haven't thought about it.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Maybe I think you're right right, Well, how's this weekend?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Okay, So we've got through to the vanilla living room?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, what's next? It connected, there's sort of an arch
and it's connected to the dining space and it has
I've had this round viola marble, which is for those
of you that don't know, it's like it's a white
marble with a purple veining through it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
It's fabulous.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So it's beautiful. Yeah, and I've got these four vintage
wooden dining chairs around it and there's super sculptural and
I've had them for a very long time and I've
found them a marketplace and I think it was maybe
one hundred and fifty dollars for all four of them.
They're wildly heavy, wildly uncomfortable, but I don't care because
(12:15):
they look so good and that's okay, And that's okay
for me. Furniture is sculptural in the home and that's
super important to me. So that has a big, beautiful artwork.
I'm into massive art, So the bigger the better. I
do have some smaller pieces, but I really love playing
(12:36):
with scale and proportion, and so in that space there's
literally the dining table, the chairs, and this huge, big
artwork there. So then off to the right is the kitchen,
which is purely just a functional little kitchen, and then
off to that a is the laundry. Yeah, so then
(12:58):
if you're going back to the front door, you're looking
to the left, We've got my master bedroom. Then we've
got my youngest son's room, and then my eldest son's
room after that, and then the bathroom dead ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So what does your home sound like?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
It sounds like. So most of the time I am
obsessed with having ambient music in the background, so just
setting a mood. So if I'm at homeworking, if I'm
home with the boys, it's not the TV on in
the background. I've usually got Louis Armstrong playing in the background,
(13:36):
so it just feels viby and nice and relaxed. And
I've always got a candle on. I've always got ambient
lighting on, even if it's in the middle of the day,
it's just on and I'm making it feel really comfortable
and nice. So it will usually smell like a tom
Ford candle. It'll feel warm and glowy, and it will
(13:58):
sound like Louis Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Oh, I just I can feel myself in there. This
is a really good audio tour.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And I love it. I sit there sometimes because I
don't work from an office. I'm very nimble in my studio.
I am very fortunate in that, and I've chosen that
specifically because i want to be able to move everywhere.
I've got a lot of energy for my work and
I'm all over the place. I'm at suppliers, i'm at
(14:28):
people's houses, I'm on site all the time every day.
So it kind of feels like a bit of a
waste to have a space at.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
The moment that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
As I'm growing, I'm sort of the ideas coming more
and more into my head. I've been seeing little places
around them and I going, oh, that could be a
nice studio. That could be nice, and so I think
I'm moving closer towards that. But at the moment, there's
nothing better than like setting my mood for the day.
I'm sitting there on my couch, I've got my laptop,
I've got my music on I've got my candle on,
(14:58):
I'm seeing their working way, see admin completely tolerable.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
It does. I like to think of it as romanticizing
your life, Yes, and I think that's a wonderful thing.
People Oh that's a bit cheesy or a bit cringe,
and I think why not.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I put a lot of effort into this life, a lot,
so I feel like I need to be able to
enjoy it, and that helps me do that. So I've
designed this life for myself very deliberately, and I feel
very proud of what I've done.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
How do you help people do that in their own
homes and lives? So if people are listening, they're going,
I really don't know how to design a life for me.
Where would you start?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So I think having my background in the therapeutic realm
has helped me come at clients from a perspective of
how they want to feel in their homes and how
they want to live their lives where they chuck their
every day? Do they want that to be a moment?
Do they want, you know, the ship pile to be
(16:05):
hidden or do they just need to be able to
see that pile to know? Because is that there? To do? List?
Every day? How can we elevate that a little bit more?
How can we change the lighting in their home to
make it feel more like an invitation to sit down
or an invitation to walk through each space instead of
(16:25):
merely just coming in, flipping on the overhead light and
walking in and you know, chucking everything down. It's sort
of bit more of an arrival. So is it seeing
one particular artwork or vase the second you walk in.
So painting your walls anything other than white. Some houses
(16:47):
absolutely deserve huge white walls because they may have beautiful
architectural detailing. But for the run of the mill every day,
it just makes such a difference to how you feel
and your mood really does.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And I think it is those little moments of joy
that I don't know, they just make the every day.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
They do make the every day absolutely, which is why
I encourage people. Even your drinking glasses, like go to
Maison Balzac and buy the prettiest little drinking glasses you can.
Why not, that's it because they are things that you
touch every single day. Make them nice, make them beautiful, absolutely,
make the plates beautiful. My dinner plates have a big
(17:30):
giant hand sitting on them, like they're like surrealist looking things,
so just fun. And they're the everyday plates that heat
up leftovers on like all of that kind of stuff,
but just elevated a tiny little bit.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Why not to be able to create those moments in
your interior is such a wonderful thing. And I love
that you help do that for people.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
And I think sometimes people get overwhelmed with, oh, but
I just live in this apartment into all this like
whatever it is. You know, it could be like you
know those box modern homes. You know, it's like that's okay,
there are always around it. I'm the master of a
space lift.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I've not heard this term before, a space lift set.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So it's genius. People that don't want to knock down
their walls. There's some people that don't want to reconfigure
their kitchens, but they want to breathe and entire a
new life into their house. I'm so good at it.
I've found my niche. It's replacing the kitchen countertops with
a beautiful slab of stone that you fall in love with,
(18:39):
reskinning the joinery a different color, you can micro cement it,
the things you can do a wild replacing the little
knobs like Lo and Co. Have the most beautiful little
jewel knobs. It's like jewelry for your kitchen. Retile over
ugly tiles in the bathroom, replace forrcets. It's the smallest things.
Change or the pendant lighting. It doesn't have to be
(19:01):
crazy expensive window treatments game changer, having them consistent. Painting
your walls and ceiling something other than white, brightening them up.
There are so many things you can do to a
space to make a dramatic change, give it a spacelift
without having to move a ball.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And I love what you're saying. A lot of these
tips can be used in rentals as well. Absolutely, lights
and the taps. Absolutely they can get a professional in
to do it.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Get a professional in.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
It doesn't cost a lot, but it may spops to
the original. When you move out, I can take your
fancy tap with you. Yes, it's clever, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah? It's great.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
How good is this chat with Claudia? More soon? So
you design homes for a range of wonderful people, including
some celebrities. I was wondering, and actually my teammate she
brought this question up to me, very curious about designing
(20:07):
homes for celebrities. How is that different to designing homes
for civilians? Like not, it's not. No, oh that's so
good to hear.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
No. No, I get to know them in exactly the
same way as I will get to know any other client.
I had one text me this morning saying, how do
you feel about the book coming out? And I was like,
I don't know. I feel like imposter syndrome. I feel
this And he's like, no, you need to feel proud
(20:40):
of this. You need to own this. And I'll occasionally
get like messages of like photos going if you didn't exist,
this is what my house would actually look like, and
it's like a giant disco ball. Literally, I'm like, we're glad,
I do who's that Courtney at now?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I'm getting so But other people just.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You know, beautiful, they're not. You know, you think of
these people as having completely different lives, but they don't.
They have children, they have mess they have school drop off,
they have everything the same. They want furniture that's going
to last and it's not going to get trashed straight away.
It's all the same, that's true.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
It's just their job happens to be yeah, camera.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, all the same and they're usually very beautiful people.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, so tell us about this fabulous book that we
have here. So this is coming out in a couple
of months.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So it's pre ordered now, AHAT available now, Amazon, Thames
and Hards and everywhere. You can buy it everywhere. You
can buy it in America, UK, everywhere. So you can
actually get your physical copy on the twenty ninth of September.
But the pre orders are very much appreciated because it
means people will pre order more for their physical stores,
(21:55):
which would be the pinching moment when I actually walk
into a store and see it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So give us the lift pitch. What's what's the book about?
What can we see?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
So the lift pitch is I guess it's about it's
called shaping spaces, and that is because I see the
spaces as little works of art in themselves, and it's
how to create those art filled moments, whether it is
(22:25):
through physical art or furniture or sculpture or color or materiality,
and how to use all those elements to bring a
home together and have a layered Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I love it. So you've got literally how to do it.
You've got to.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Do it for I mean, it's not a step by
step guide. It's my experience in what I have done
with clients that has helped elevate their homes and create
a very lived in and thoughtful space that makes them happy.
Like one of the funnest things is going slab shopping,
(23:04):
which I'm taking a new client slab shopping on Friday.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Actually, and for any listeners who aren't familiar with slab shopping.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Is a marble slab. So they have these huge warehouses
and they're every stone known to man, and they're absolutely incredible.
They're literal works of art pulled from the ground. So
it is falling in love with a slab that usually
jumps off a kitchen. So I've said, listen, this is
(23:33):
the way we're going moving toward your kitchen, but I
want you to fall in love with your exact slab,
so they can pick their exact slab and then what
will pull out from that is the veining and the
colors and work out how we want to apply that
in the kitchen. Is it a really soft, muted slab
(23:53):
marble and it needs some more drama around it, or
is it doing the heavy lifting and we needed to
tone everything back. And so that's where I come in
and guide them on the right. Yeah, so does it's
a tile need to be the supporting act or the
coast or the hero. It all depends on what they pick.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I was reading that people have to connect with the
thing that they buy, and that's what makes them love it.
I know this sounds a bit woo woo.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
But I think I might have used that exact phrase
with my client. I think I might have said, this
might sound a bit woo woo, but I want you
to have an emotional reaction to the slab that you buy. Yes,
because I know for a fact that you will. When
you walk in there, you will be blown away by
what you see. It's like picking an artwork. I can
suggest all the artworks under the sun, but until you
(24:50):
go and experience that art and see in the flesh.
Because that is another pillar, really strong pillar of my
work is art. So I'm deeply invested in that as
one of the main elements to bring your home to life.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And is this a passion of yours or is this
something that came about through your interior design work that
you realize actually this is really important?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Correct exactly is it is? It?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Was?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I experimented with it in my own home, and I
was like, this is game changing, either reframing the art
in a different way, hanging it in a different space,
putting art in the bathroom, putting it hanging having weird
hangs like off center, playing around with all of that.
I just adore it. And it's where I because I'm
(25:41):
not an artist in that sense, I can only do
so much. But how I hang it, how I frame
it makes all the difference and where you place it.
And I don't think art is ever meant to be
forever in one spot. I agree, So a change as
good as a holiday. You know, you change your cushions.
I've heard you say you have your cushions that you
(26:03):
change up and it gives it a new vibe in a
new life. So repositioning your artwork collection gives it a
new life completely.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's a little art buying, one oh one. So if
someone comes in and says, I have no idea where
to start. I know I want to art, I know
I need it in my home. Where do I start?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
So? I guess what I would like to know first
is what's important to them about the art? Is it
that they really love the art? Is the budget a
huge factor. Is this something that they want to build
over time? Do they want to fill five walls straight away?
So there's a lot of constraints around it. So I
(26:44):
tend to encourage people to leave a wall blank until
they fall in love with something. I would prefer that
than to have a place filler, yes, because then you
never end up replacing the place filler.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Instead of having something, you might wait a year to
find the right one. Then you find it and you're like, ah,
this is it, this is exactly where it belongs. So
sometimes we'll start with an artwork and I go, guys,
you know, after our first meeting and we've done the scope,
I've seen this piece of art and for the concept
that we've described, I'm deeply in love with that. How
(27:21):
do you feel about it? And they might go absolutely nailed,
this is it. And so we'll use that then to
refine the scope of work and as a jumping off
point as to where we want to lead the art curation.
So some people want a lot of contemporary I've got
a client at the moment. My client in tamrama. She
(27:42):
loves sort of figurative and abstract painting, paintings, large scale
and less contemporary work. So we've got a lot of
that in the home, and then we've drawn from those
palettes to build on the fabrics that are used in
the rooms. But sometimes, you know, things don't always work
out exactly that way, and we might end up with
the room and going, you know what, this piece would
(28:04):
look much better up here, and we're going to bring
this piece down here. So it's a miserable taste or
you're not locked in. Not locked in, And I say
that from the very beginning. I say, we can definitely
have a broad plan because in terms of size and
you know, how visible the art's going to be, all
of that, we can sort of have our guidelines on that,
(28:24):
like it needs to be a medium sized piece here
or a small piece here. So in that way it
can be restrictive. But overall, if they're really you know, investing,
going we want, you know, five solid pieces, we'll go, okay,
well let's let's get them. Let's make sure they're all
sort of cohesive and they have a language that talk
to each other. It may not be they're not the
(28:46):
same genre. They may be photographic, they may be sculptural,
might be a vessel, a painting could be anything, but
there's some thread that connects them.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Okay, that's really clever. What do you recommend for people?
People who maybe they've inherited or been gifted or thrifted
and artwork. They love the work, but the frame is gross?
How hard is it to change? How?
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I mean? I have my go to framers and there
are a lot of good ones in where in Sydney
and where we are now, and I take it out
of its frame and I play around with borders, different colors,
I play around with the different different frame. So do
we want to modernize it a little bit? Is an
older work like or is it something from the seventies
(29:37):
that needs to be uplifted or have some cool chrome
moment around it? So I guess it's it's what we want,
how we want it to speak to the room? Is
your room more traditional? Is it a more seventies laid
back vibe? Is it? You know? Where is it that
you want to take the room? So do you want
to uplift it and be really focal or do you
(29:58):
want to sort of melt into the background a little
bit more? And so we'll do something a little bit
more subdued. But reframing it gives it a whole new life.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Is it expensive or does that all depend on the frame?
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Oh, it's not huguely expensive, okay. I mean, let's say
for an average average size artwork frame, maybe like four
hundred dollars five hundred dollars okay. And then if you
want art glass which is less reflective, that I might
add on a couple of hundred. But like this, going
back to the Bondai client, she had this huge artwork
(30:32):
which is just on a bit of cardboard and it
was a photo, a black and white photo from woodstock,
and it was all raggedy around the edges, and she
bought it at Bondai markets, huge, like one point five
meters by you know, one meter high.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Oh that's big.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
So we restored it at the framers for the house
in Bondai twelve years ago. And because it was just
in her rental that she shared with heaps of girls
in Paddington and it was all raggedy and hehrlerrible and
it looked like pristine, brand new, beautiful photograph and we
framed it with no border, just with a beautiful box frame,
(31:08):
oak box frame around it, and it looked perfect in
the space that has since moved to their home in
Beverly Hills and it's now sitting above a beautiful BnB.
It tally a toughty times in this luxurious you know,
pass through hallway space and it's just given out a
whole new life and it looks incredible. So now she
(31:32):
lives in LA but you know, one day you never
know come back here again. So I love that it
just lives a different life, and I love that for people.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Let's go with that, because I know you love a
bit of vintage. Love it. Where do you go to
buy vintage?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And we're talking specifically stores.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Everything home wears and a fashion furniture, everything.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Anything, anything. So I'm a high low girl. I'm a
vintage girl. I don't care how much something costs. I
put it in one of my fancy clients' homes. I
found the most amazing crudely made ceramic little wavy dish
that was made by I don't know, it could have
been someone in high school found a business, but literally
(32:17):
five dollars and I put it down on the coffee table.
It looked a million bucks. And she picked up She's
like Lifeline, and I'm like she goes, I love this.
I'm like, good, yeah, so it doesn't matter. She loved
it before she saw where it was from, and I
love that. But then you know, I found on marketplace
(32:39):
next to that, b being Italia, actually no Minotti cube
side table in steel, and that was a marketplace for
next to nothing. But then we've got a globalst couch,
which is the family couch, which anchors it all. But
you've got these little moments sitting around it that are
collected and varied and help tell more of a story
(33:02):
and make your home feels less feel less like a
catalog and more collected.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I recently bought a pair of candlesticks, and.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Do you use them? Because I wouldn't die to use candlesticks,
but I just don't.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh every day I always have candlesticks.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
On my beautiful beautiful I love them.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
We like candles. Most nights we eat at the table.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
See that's frantic, that's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I think it's lovely and makes me happy. But these
candlesticks were like dingy. They're sort of dark silvery color,
but I noticed the shape was quite interesting. There was
a pair, and I do like the rule that if
you see vintage in a pair and you like it
by it because things are more valuable in pairs. Anyway,
(33:50):
I thought these are interesting and the style is familiar
to me, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Did you reverse google image to them?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I did when I got home. I bought them because
I loved them, and they were twenty bucks, and then
I took them home reverse image search and discovered that
they were silver plate mid century haunts, Yensen.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I mean little.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I think they're lily yeah candlesticks, and so I polished
them up because I love a high shine silver and
I collect vintage silver. And I just couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
And how good did you feel? How warm and glowy?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You just feel great.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I remember once going into a thrift shop and I
found in ames ashtray for three dollars. I remember going,
it's nohow seen?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Am I being punked?
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah, there's some nuts stuff that I've found before, And
you're like, this is And then you get it home
and you find provenance and you explore more about it
and give it's so much more meaning having it there,
even if no one else knows you know exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I love researching the history. Google reverse image search.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Is better, the best, trum better the best.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
But I think buying something purely because you appreciate it,
because you don't know what brand it is, you don't
know where it's from. All you know is that.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
You like the look.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Like the look suits what you're willing to pay for it.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yes, absolutely, And imagine if they've been restored and been
in a reseller shop. Oh, I've looked named how much
you'd pay.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
For those I've seen.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
So it's the satisfaction on top of that of a
little bit why I caught that.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
It's smart, that's the best thing you've ever bought.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
I was a s A Vincent de Paul and this
would have been like thirteen years ago, and I found
it was at the time where that it was that
really glam era regency, regency when that was really popular.
(36:07):
And there was this little glistening jewel table base that
was brass, shiny, high shine brass, with this geometric shape
around it, and I was like, this cannot be real.
I just couldn't believe my eyes that something and it
was I don't know, maybe a hundred bucks or something
(36:28):
and had a glass table top, and I just I
couldn't believe I had something like that in my home
for one hundred dollars. And because I just people always say,
how do you find all this good stuff? I go,
I don't find anything. I go. How often do you go?
So like once on a Saturday, I'm like, amateur, No,
you need to go again and again and again, and
nine times out of ten I will not find anything
(36:50):
that's right. And then that tenth time, I'm like, holy moly,
look at what I've just found. And it's just keeping
going back and it keeps you excited, and I, yeah,
I do remember those things in some of my more
I guess high end purchases that have made me feel like,
holy moly, I can't believe I actually own a piece
by this designer now have been exciting.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Coming up. Claudia gets a little bit emotional about what
makes her home beautiful. So I know you've brought something
in today to share with us the mystery drawer.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I didn't really know how to approach this, but that's
the beauty in anything an Everyone brings in something different.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
We've had some interesting things from doorbells through to take measures,
door handles. What have you brought in today?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
I have brought in so oh it's still but it's
a lot number on it. I found at a at
Lawsons at an arm I live just down the street
Lawson's auction house. So it's this beautiful vintage Italian photo
frame in brass and it's got these beautiful curly edges
(38:07):
around it. And I've never in my life bought a
photo frame ever, and I've never displayed family photos. My
family home has always had family photos around it and
mom and dads they still do. And I thought, I
cannot live without this photo frame.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
It is so cool.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
It's cool, right, And I have a photo of me
and my boys in it and they it just they're
so happy and I'm so happy, and I just it
just means a lot to me. I love this.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
You see the laughter in the photo.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Yeah, yeah, they're like hysterically laughing. That was a fluke photo.
I think I took it myself like it was the
kind of a selfie moment, and I thought, this is
the photo that belongs in that frame. If I'm only
ever going to have one frame, that's the photo that
belongs to it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
That is such an amazing frame. And does this work
with your style, your aesthetic or did you just see
this ago. That's try.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I never think about that. L Yeah, that thought never
crosses my mind. If I see something and I love it,
I don't think, how is this going to work in
my home? I go give it to me. That's what
I mean by impulsive. By nature, I'm quite impulsive. I
have to restrain myself with clients. With that, I'm like,
let's not make hasty decisions. But in my head, I'm going,
(39:26):
I know this is the right thing. We've got to
buy this. We've got to buy this. But no, I
don't restraint. I just I know that if I love it,
it will work. I just know this.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
I'm going to give this back to you. This leaders
on it. We've got a dilemma. Oh gosh, gosh, Okay.
We try to tailor our listener dilemmas.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yes to the guests or we have on okay.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
To tap into their expertise. So I'm pretty confident that
you'll be able to answer this question.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
So Annie wrote him, and she says, on my last
few trips overseas, I've bought some beautiful vintage pieces. Yes,
my most recent find was a beautiful lamp that I
just had to have. My problem is that when I
looked at it in my house, it didn't really seem
to fit anywhere. So what are your tips for buying
(40:18):
vintage and then styling it when it first it seems
like it just doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
I guess it depends on that there's so many variables here,
So it does it not fit in terms of scale, shape, style?
In what way doesn't it fit?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Because I think does it need a new shade? Does
it need to be sat on a completely contrasting period
furniture piece of furniture to give it a new life?
So perhaps it looks too vintage if it's sitting atop
something that has also got that age to it doesn't
(40:56):
need to sit on something that's more contemporary.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yeah, So go the opposite to make it work.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yes, very possibly.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Feels counterintuitive, but but I think that that's how design
makes sense to me.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
I enjoy mixing periods and styles, and I think that's
something that I'm quite adept at now. I've had a
lot of practice doing it. So if perhaps she had
an idea in her head that it didn't fit, and
she had a place, so it's going to look great there,
and she brought it home and it didn't. Maybe she
(41:32):
needs to look at does the wall need to be repainted?
Does the table need to be repositioned? Does there need
to be drapery there instead? Does the shade need to
have a contemporary shape to it, anything that could uplift
the piece and give it a slight tweak in order
(41:53):
to shift its personality.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
That's so good. So let's talk talk about your design
rules or design rule because Okay, I know that you
have a rule, So what why don't you share it?
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Rule?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Is your design rule that there are no rules?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Maybe how would you explain that to someone who is
chli fire designer?
Speaker 1 (42:25):
If you really? I think, I think you need to
work out what you're drawn to. So, say you're a
Pinterest girlie, oh boy, there will be a common thread
that comes through on your feed. Your algorithm will give
it to you. Is it the color red, is it brass?
(42:47):
Is it old? Is it new? What is it? What
is that common thread? And so finding that or is
it a mixture of both? Is it heavily color drenched places?
So it's finding out what that common thread is and
expanding on that. So let's say it's the color purple, right,
(43:08):
It's like Okay, well, how can I translate that? Do
I want? I don't want to overwhelming in my space,
but let's paint the walls a really soft gray lilac
so it's not too in your face. But then we
might experiment with a patterned like velvet cushion or something
(43:29):
that has a deeper merlow tone to it, which is
a friend of purple. So then we might look at
could we use like a rouge marble here then as
a little plinth to put something on top of that
plays very nicely with those cooler tones but brings a
little warmth in. And then what metal could we add
(43:49):
to that? What metal is going to compliment that lavender
that merlow? Is it going to be a bronze, so
not a bright brass, not a you know, seventies chrome,
but is it going to be a bronze so it's
sort of sophisticated, muted, but still has a strong presence.
And so then it's building that palette from there, And
(44:10):
then how do I introduce those Is it through a
lamp base that I want that bronze to come in?
Is it changing my front door handle? Is it having
a pendant that has a brass element? To it with
then a beautiful silk shade or something like that. So
it's I think all these ideas are easy for me
to come up with, but in the home, it's about
(44:30):
how to introduce them and to balance them and not
oversaturate things.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
It's not about having twins in not having cousins or
friends with common.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Mates, mates with common interests, and they can have completely
different personalities and still play really nicely together on the playground.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Yeah, absolutely, And I think that's maybe what my book
kind of helps people to see. So there's a lot,
a lot of examples of how I've used really neutral
sofas and then added you know, like a tiger print
gold cushion, and how that then ties in with what
(45:13):
I've placed on the coffee table, and then how that's
tied in with the material of the coffee table, and
how those balance each other out. So it's the layers
of materiality that make all the difference. So like linen drapes,
a slubby sofa, velvet cushions, a beautiful wool rug wall paper.
(45:37):
You could have glossy ceilings. So it's the shiny and
the dull and the mate and the glossy and all
the things playing together.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Oh, it just sounds like my idea of heaven, isn't
it though?
Speaker 1 (45:50):
But it's like kind of like getting dressed like and
balancing that out as well.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I always say, show me a person's outfit, and I
can tell you what their home looks like. Most of
the time that works because if you can curate an outfit,
then you can curate your home and to have it
reflect you.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
It's just such a big scale and people overwhelmed and
daunted by it, which is why I love the space
lift because it is just a way. It's like an
I wouldn't say an entry level because it still costs
money to do this, Like, it's still a big investment
for a home to do something like that. Because you're
giving it a big glow up. You're just not making
(46:34):
any huge structural decisions and changes, which is what people
can get overwhelmed by, definitely. But they can tolerate painting, drapes, hardware,
all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
It's not as scary.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
It's not as scary. Yeah, it's not as scary.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Let's gop back into your home for a bit because
we have our own little house rules questions.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Okay, yes.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
Go So you said you burn can do you burn
them all the time?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Or only for guests?
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yes? All the time, all the time, all the time.
That's why I'm at such a good level at Mecca
beauty loop.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Coming at us.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I like the elite tear.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Buying all the candles.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
What is the candle sponsor?
Speaker 2 (47:24):
I need, hey, girl friend, the same.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
All the time. As soon as I walk in the door,
the pendant ambient light goes on, which is the dearest
humanly possible light. It's called candlelight, so it's so low
and muted, but it just makes the room glow straight away.
Then the music goes on. Light the candle I need
to get. I need to elevate my candle lighting game,
(47:50):
is what I need to do. Because I've now seen
these beautiful metal match boxes that you can hide your
matches here from May and g Hardware in I think
they're UK based. They are beautiful, and I need to
elevate my lighting game because at the moment I'm using
a bit lighter, so I really need to I don't
(48:14):
have it next to it, and I'm like, this is
an opportunity that I could have for another little styling moment.
So maybe that's actually I'm going to do that today.
I'm going to put that on my to do list today. Excellent,
elevate my match game.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
What's something that is always fresh in your home?
Speaker 1 (48:31):
I think when you walk in my home, it always
feels fresh because it's always clean, always tidy. Really, it's
just how I need to exist, to function with the
insanity of what's going on in my brain at all times.
(48:51):
The decisions are being a mum of managing the mental
emotional load of children, the logistical load of children, all
of my clients, the administrative administrative side of my work,
the hundreds of micro decisions I have to make every
single day. Everything needs to be calm and fresh at home.
(49:14):
So there's always the most satisfying l is when at
nighttime the kids have finally wound down, the dishwasher is on,
the washing machine is on, the main lights are off,
the candles burning, The house smells fresh, the counters are clean.
(49:35):
You can smell like the windocks or whatever you use
earth something earth spray spray, so yeah, yeah, something something
like that, and always a candle burning, so it just
always feels fresh. My beds are always freshly made. No
I could not physically leave the house without being made.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Would I would be on edge all day.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
I would be on edge all day. If I tried
it just as a test, I'd probably go and then go.
I'd come home and just make the bed and go. Okay,
now I can get on with the day.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
So this song leads me to my next question. Are
you a shoes on or shoes off? House?
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Whatever? Ah? Whatever you want? What ever you feel confident?
Speaker 2 (50:18):
Yeap? What do you prefer? I?
Speaker 1 (50:20):
Okay, this is interesting actually, now that I've thought about
it for that split second. If I am settled at
home for the day, it shoes off. If I'm going
to be in and out, I do not take my
shoes off till the day is done.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Yes, So even if I've got a two hour slot
at home where I'm doing admin, the shoes will stay on, Okay,
because it still means I'm in work mode.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
So if the shoes come off, all likelihood truckies are
coming on too. Yes, And then the sweater's coming on
too because it's winter here at the moment, and then
it's over not leaving the house again. If I stay
dressed and keep the shoes on, I'm still I can
still function and leave the house and do all of
(51:08):
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
Yeah, but other people put your feet up on my
coffee table with your shoes on. Don't care. I don't care.
Furniture is meant to be lived on, lived in all
of the things. The boys kick a soccer ball around,
I don't care. If something breaks, it breaks, it can
be fixed.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
A question I love to ask all our guests is
what makes your home beautiful?
Speaker 1 (51:32):
My kids? Oh, and it almost makes you want to cry.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
Steady, that is so beautiful? And what is it? Is it?
The joy, the lough, the chaos.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
Yep, it's all of that in this photo. And the
fact that they're super proud of me and can see
everything that I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
I just think that is so beautiful, particularly having boys
to see that a woman and their role model can
be so strong but still have softness. Yeah, and you
can still be feminine but immensely powerful at the same time.
(52:18):
I think that's a wonderful thing to show.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
I think that's who I would probably I go to
them for, like how do I look? Do I look okay?
Do I look like Mum? Or like mom trying too hard?
Or like you look. Yeah. Absolutely, I wore heels on
because I'm not a heels galley and they're like, oh, mom,
take them off. What do you think? I know, but
I've got to look fancy and they're like, we'll take
(52:43):
them off as soon as you get home. I'm like, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (52:47):
Yeah, I think that is the best answer we've ever
had to that question.
Speaker 1 (52:52):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (52:53):
But yeah, thank you so much for coming over today
and nice to Well, we could stay all day, I
don't mind.
Speaker 1 (53:04):
And then I wouldn't have to go home to the
kids after all this and say how much I love
But you know, being away and having these moments where
I'm being an adult and actively, you know, doing something
that I love and I cannot believe I get paid
to do, is wildly intoxicating and exciting and gratifying.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
It just keeps you going, Yeah, well, now you have
to go and buy your fancy matchbox cover.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I'm going to I'm so excited, so I'm nervous about
how much they cost, but I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
Oh, Claudia, thanks for coming, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
All that was.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
Claudia Lambert and proof that the best homes aren't built
on rules, they're built on what you actually love. If
you want more from Claudia, her book is out for
pre order now, and you can find her work and
that famous showcasey lunge room over on Instagram at Claudia
Lambert Interiors. Thanks for listening to the edit. If you
(54:04):
enjoyed this one, follow along and leave us a review.
It genuinely helps more people find the show. I'm l Lovelock.
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (54:20):
This is an our media podcast.
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