June 1, 2026 • 33 mins
When interior designer Shona McElroy first walked into her Edgecliff apartment, most people would have walked straight back out. The layout was awkward, the kitchen was hidden away, the bathroom opened into the living room, and a closed-in balcony came with terracotta floors, popcorn walls and a popcorn ceiling.
But Shona, founder and principal of Smac Studio, saw what it could become.
In this episode of The Edit, Shona joins Home Beautiful Editor-in-Chief Elle Lovelock to talk about turning an old 1920s apartment into a beautiful, functional home, why north-facing light matters, how to avoid the dreaded “Pinterest house”, and what interior designers really think through before a room comes together.
She also shares how she helps clients edit their belongings when downsizing, why a coffee table book can be the beginning of an entire room, how virtual reality is changing interior design, and the deeply nostalgic item she brought from her mystery drawer.
This episode covers:
- Shona McElroy’s 1920s Edgecliff apartment renovation
- How to fix an awkward apartment layout
- Why natural light can make a smaller home feel better
- What to know about popcorn walls and ceilings
- How to design cupboards, shelves and drawers around real life
- Downsizing, decluttering and editing sentimental pieces
- How to avoid creating a “Pinterest house”
- Styling travel mementos and meaningful objects
- Coffee table styling tips from an interior designer
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is an our Media podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
It was this old what was a balcony that they
then had closed up so it had set down, had
terracotta floors, popcorns walls, popcorn ceiling, fantastically ugly, Like I
was like, gigs so ugly.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
How would you describe popcorn walls and popcorn ceiling to
anyone who doesn't know? Because I have a clear visual.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Is there any other way to describe it? So having
a kind of warm tone in there really makes them
feel bougie and cute. So that's I think why we've
ended up pink. Like we have little playing cards on
our coffee table because I want to encourage people to
play games, and we played with both seas and that's
a fun thing that's going to engage people. A lot
(00:50):
of people have beautiful things mixed in with just a
lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
That's a very polite way to put it. Today's guest
is interior designer Shona McElroy, the founder and principal of
Smack Studio, and when she walked in today she is
just full glamour, which is interesting because that is not
(01:18):
the story of her home when she first saw it.
It's an apartment in Edgecliffe in Sydney, and when she
first walked in she saw potential, whereas everybody else just
walked straight back out. It was a nineteen twenties layout
with a pokey kitchen hidden away. The bathroom was interesting
(01:40):
and it had popcorn walls and ceilings. If you know,
you know that's not a good thing. But with a
bit of vision and a bit of time, she transformed
this apartment into something totally totally beautiful. Shona takes us
on a tour of her gorgeous home, and because this
is the edit, will also be asking the important questions.
(02:02):
One of my favorite things what is in your mystery draw?
And what Shona brought today really pulls on the heart strings.
I hope you enjoy shown a welcome to the edit.
It's really lovely to have you here.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I love you. What you said when you walked in
that it's a little friend space. Yeah, and that's exactly
how I hope it feels. It is. It's lovely. It's
like a little girly ketch up. A definitely, speaking of
girly catch up, I had my haircut last night and
it's taken a little while for me to get to
this point. I've been growing my hair for years and
I had a big chunk cut off and I was
(02:42):
feeling really brave about it, and it just got me
thinking about being brave. And it's something that we do
every day, but you do it a lot more than
others in your work.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yes, and no, I mean in the beginning. Yes, I
actually think you're your haircut it's braver than what I.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Do every day.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I have not been yet. I've been growing and growing
and growing mine every time I go to the salon.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I'm like, just keep the like. I know. It's quite
a thing, isn't it. Normally women cut their hair during
a big moment of change in their lives, And I've
said that nothing's really changing in my life right now.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh that's the best time to shut your hair.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I'm feeling good about it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Last time I cut my hair, I swear it was
like a breakup and I did like a bang and
like died it dark and I was a new person.
But I don't know if that ever goes that well.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Do you ever have clients who come to you perhaps
it's maybe it's post breakup, or they've just gone into
a new space on their own or they're forging a
home with a new partner, and do they have ideas
that you think, oh wow, that's that's something we need
to work through.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Mostly they're at some sort of pivotol point in their life.
A lot of my clients are actually more moving into
the downsize of market, for example, so coming out of
a bigger house looking for, you know, a place that
the kids could come back if they want to, which
is a real big thing, but not necessarily the luxury
of being there for a long time the kids. Yeah,
(04:11):
our younger clients will usually be like upsizing, so they'll
have had their first one or two children and then
they'll start to look for their kind of family home,
their forever home. So yeah, they're often at different life stages.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
With the downsizes. How do you work with them in
terms of editing down their belongings. How do you help
someone through that. You almost have to be a.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Therapist a little bit. You kind of have to softly,
you know, chat through why certain things might not work
in the new space. The scale of things you might
tap into. You know, it's new and it's fresh, and
we want to kind of revitalize and maybe you purchase
that twenty years ago, and it was great for them,
but it might not be so great for the new space.
(04:58):
There is a little bit of massaging there, and then
there's obviously just fitting the physical stuff. And sometimes I'll
actually say on the other end, get someone more professional
to come in and help you edit those little items
and organize, and we actually through our whole process, go
through this whole in our design development organization of spaces
(05:19):
where we'll design every cupboard and every drawer and every shelf,
and we'll actually allocate what's going to go there.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I love that I did that with my own home,
down to shelf heights for where I can put the
cans in my kitchen pantry, that's right, or draw heights
to fit the different height pots.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yep, it's so important. It's so I find it like
so necessary and also a great way to know if
you're designing something that's totally bespoke, that it's going to
work for your life and you can utilize every tiny
square inch and.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
It doesn't cost anymore to have drawers or shelves put
it different heights. That's exactly right. You're paying for the
same kitchen. Yeah, so you may we'll get it to
fit your stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Absolutely, it's a really important part of our process.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I'm going through so the pre phase with my parents
at the moment, in terms of their thinking about downsizing.
I have to say, my mom's really into it. She says, Oh, sweetheart,
I've been looking around the house thinking, right, I'll get
rid of that and that, but I'll bring that with me.
And she just loves interior design. So she's so excited
to start a new women a fet at that. I
(06:28):
think so too.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But give a man a garage, they will feel it.
It's like jet skis and skis and like random hobbies
that they've picked up once, golf clubs and the old
set of golf clubs to give to their sons. And
men have the big stuff as well. So my my
partner is going to look at this and he's going
to be like, no, you're a hoarder of clothes.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
No, you're a collector. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
There's a difference. It's just not comparable to like three
cute tank tops from ten years ago that you maybe
don't wear.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Do you think it's nostalgia? Do you think it's being sentimental?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Men have an ideal about their life that they're going
to surf in the mornings and on the weekends and
play golf and they'll do eighteen holes twice a week.
And then they'll get a little boat and I don't
even know go water skiing. So they buy all of
the stuff for that and they do it once or twice.
But I think life just gets in the way.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
How do you observe the wives and partners of these
men in the design process?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Oh, it's always hilarious. I love the part of our
process that feels like marriage counseling with the right couple.
It's it's totally funny, and do you kind of you
learn to put your two cents inn Where can we
fit it? If we can't fit it, what does that
look like? Maybe we could throw out some of those surfboards.
With the right family and the right clients, which is
(07:51):
honestly all of my clients, they're so fun. You have
this really beautiful little dialogue that feels just like this.
You know, you're just riffing off each other and you
kind of toe the line at some points, and it's fun.
It makes a design process like what it should be,
which is just fun and exciting and all the place.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
When clients come to you and they have different styles,
more different opinions. How do you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I tell them what I think, honestly. I think that's
what they're there for. That's a new skill actually that
I have picked up is being quite honest and trying
to put my honest opinion on things instead of make
two parties happy, which I used to do a lot
my first few projects. I definitely definitely told those lines
(08:38):
and said yes to a lot of differing things that
maybe didn't come together so well. And I think I
could have known that, but I think I wasn't strong
enough to say that. And when it came together and
the project was finished, the clients, a couple of them
over time, had been like, oh, we should have just
listened to you in the beginning, or we shouldn't have
(08:58):
tried to do that. And I think that gave me
the confidence to be like, Okay, my ideas at the
beginning are strong.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, it's quite scary to embrace that confidence sometimes, to
really trust your instinct and to go with it.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, well, you sign off on it, you put your
name to it. Whereas the client's kind of like I
want a pink wall or I want a pink room.
You're like, cool, they want to pink room, we can
make that work. Whereas if you're like, I really think
your room should be green and you really need to
trust me on it. If they don't like it, it
was my idea.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's true. So where is the blame going to? Yeah
orreas if they don't like the pink room. You wanted
a pink room, that's it. What about your own home?
Do you experiment with bold choices in your own space?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Actually, in my own space is a little more subdued
than some of my clients spaces. I think there's a
kind of a twofold to that. It's much smaller. So
I had to be limited in what I was going
to do. Otherwise, I was going to have a mish mash.
I was going to have a Pinterest house, where you
there's so many great ideas out there in the world,
and I love that the Pinterest town, Pinterest house. It's
(10:10):
not a good thing. In Pinterest house, a really bad thing.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That's so funny.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So I was actually much more subdued in my space.
The second fold things that my living room is like
two windows, huge windows due north and west, so I
couldn't really fantastic light, beautiful to me, but everything fades.
So I had to have everything really neutral and a
white sofa and a light rug because even the coffee
(10:37):
table books and I've been in there for I don't
even know, maybe a year, and I try and close
the blinds as much as possible, but they're totally faded.
If you were to lift one up, it's and flip
it over, it's completely faded.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So funny. I was thinking about that last night. I
was awake for a couple of hours from like two am.
It's randomly thinking about getting a couple of skylights in
my living room. Yeah, that's you do what to in
the morning enough. I was thinking about what I was
going to bring today, which we will get to, but
I was thinking about, no, I can't do that because
(11:10):
I think it'll fade the floorboards. Yeah, and then my
mind goes to, well could you have automated blinds put in?
And then what it will be too hot in summer?
And you just spiral into this though process.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
They're the type of decisions and those little rabbit holes
that we as designers go into in every tiny little thing,
which is just so funny. Yeah, that spiral comes through
with everything like a handle, like is it going to
be the right shade? Will it match?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Is it going to be the right like grippy pool?
Like how does it look in comparais like everything.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Is Absolutely it has to be the right grippy pool.
I remember trying all different handles. There's nothing worse than
trying to open a kitchen drawer when your hands covered
in olive oil or water and it's got this tiny
little pull. No, yeah, yeah, Why don't you take us
on an audio tour of your home because we love
a home tour at home beautiful And when did you
(12:06):
move in? How did you find this place?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
So we've been looking for around a year and we
were the underbeaters at I think two or three properties.
I had a checklist that I really really wanted. I
wanted high ceilings. I definitely wanted a north facing aspect.
We've lived both north and south, and north is just
it's the life here in a different country.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And I find you can go for a smaller place
if you have better light as well.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think you can like bounce that
light around and as humans were so drawn to pockets
of sunlight, particularly, I think at this time of year,
you know, autumn or in the winter, so to not
get any of that all day long anyway, just everyone
by north.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
If there's one tip, one tip today to find me.
So you found this house, So I found this So
you found this apartment? Yeah, off the back of a
real estate agent. He kind of had picked up what
we were looking for and he called me and he
was like, I have this one. It's kind of sat
on the market. It's a really weird layout, kind of
(13:12):
no one really gets it. When you walk in.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It feels really dark, but it is north and da
da dah, and he goes, I think, just come and
have a look at it. And so I came and
it was the whackus layout of all time. Like it
was like, yeah, it was can.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
You talk us through a walk through what it had? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So you entered the front door and then it was
like these kind of splayed almost triangular walls, one leading
into this little kitchen that was just closed off by
a door with the laundry in there, and then the
second one leading into a bedroom that was kind of
like dog legged and quite big but quite long. Then
as you went down the hallway there was the primary
(13:49):
bedroom connecting that was like a bathroom that then connected
into the living room. So the singular bathroom connected the
primary and the living which was a bit weird. I
think if it would make it easy to walk in
on someone and if you have friends over, it's just
so awkward.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Like anyway, could you see any reason and why it
would have been designed that way.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yes, it's all to do with the stacks. So it's
a nineteen twenties building. And what are the stacks the
stacks of the plumbing stacks and the waste pipe stuff. Okay,
so it's just that old school layout that they stacked
them all up and they put them all there. And
then because it was the nineteen twenties, the kitchen is
a private space. It wasn't supposed to be part of
our everyday life. It was where you cooked and then
(14:32):
you came out and you ate up in a different area.
So it was obvious to me what was happening. And
we've dealt with a lot of a lot of those
where we've opened up really old layouts of that nature.
So there was a living space, and then as you
came down it was this old what was a balcony
that they then had closed up so it had set down,
had terracotta floors, popcorns walls, popcorn ceiling, fantastically ugly, like
(14:57):
I was like gay, so ugly.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
How would you describe popcorn walls and popcorn ceiling to
anyone who doesn't know?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Because I have a clear visual? Is there any other
way to describe it? I think it's local.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
It looks like someone's chewed up bits of paper.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, and flung them at the flung it at the rip.
It's so bad. Yeah, you just know it if you
saw it. It's like it's like that old render that's
on the front of a lot of buildings. So it
was an outside wall, I guess. But yeah, it's horrendous.
And they get so dirty as well because everything just
sits in the crevices of it. And but that was
(15:36):
great for me.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
How did you remedy that? What I do?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I like, rendered it back so it was flat, and
then put like a new wall over the top, and
then did the same thing to the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So that's not overly complicated.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
No, no, no, A good builder would know what to
do with that for sure. You just have to be
willing to lose a little bit of space. I think
I think we had to bring our walls in because
we had to put in furry channels behind and set
a new group in front of it a few centimeters.
Yeah yeah, likeybe maybe forty to fifty mil.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Small price to pay. Absolutely no popcorn wall. So what
did you do with the layout here? So if I
come over to your place, you open the door, what's
the first thing I see?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We have created like an entry hall, so a very
very small but very efficient entry hallway maybe two by two. Yeah,
timber floor through there with a pendant light. And then
I've got a full wall of mirrors that have kind
of a crittal style in them, so they're like little
panes of mirrors more like a French style, with bronze rosettes.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Through that, the.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Old kitchen was shortened and it became a really cute
little bedroom where the beds pushed up against three walls,
and it's got this canopy almost, so it's like a
hotel a cute bedroom. I know, I've got a friend's
day with me at the moment, and she was saying,
what a nightmare wants to make the bed? It's my
(17:02):
partner's probably, he's so cute, he like rolls up all
the towers for the guests.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I'm like, oh, this gorgeous. Is he a man who's
stayed in a few nice hotels? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
With me now for sure. I'm not sure he's the
man that actually cares for them, but that's what he does. Now.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I like that he noticed the detail of the towels.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, so lovely. And then so off that same hallway.
So you've got that that door, You've got a laundry
that you can't see because it's just behind a pushcatch cupboard.
Then we've got what I'd like to call Hamish's Pink Room,
which is our second sitting room. It's kind of the
bigger of the bigger of the two guest rooms, but
we made it into our second sitting room. Should I
(17:38):
be watching Real Housewives out the front? And he decides
that it's not interested in that? I completely understand, Yeah,
who doesn't or should he be watching f one? Which
is like, really, if you're not in the mood for that,
like having oh that sound in the back of your ear,
it's not great. We have that room and Hamish's pink
Hamish's pink Room. It's because there's sofas in and the
(18:00):
second TV is in there, and obviously I take precedence
of the main living room and his wardrobes in there too,
which is like this big and so organized. It's like
my party trip. When people come over, I'm like, you
have to look in Hamish's wardrobe, like he folds his aunties.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Guys. How does Hamish feel apart? I think he's.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Gotten used to it. I think he's like, why are
you showing everyone my auntie? And now it's like just
something I do so and he's like, yeah, they're undies.
That's like one of those fridge tours. Is that on
MTV cribs. Instead of the fridge tour, it's like it's
a wardrobe tour. Yeah, yeah, I possibly it small wardrobe tour.
(18:42):
So then off that same entry hall, then we have
a new bathroom. So my dad is an architect, which
I'll tell you about, but he was a genius. I
was like, I can never fit another bathroom in this apartment,
but I really want one because I don't want I
don't want a single broom off the living room, and
I don't want to share obviously a bathroom, and i'd
(19:05):
prefer I'm not having on suite. But I was like,
there's no way we're going to be doing that, And
so he went outside, looked at all these stacks that
I was telling you about, and figured out that if
we ran, if we raised the bathroom a certain amount
within our apartment's scope, we could actually run it backwards
and align with one of the stacks and run it
underneath all of our toinery.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So clever, I know.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So we've put a whole new bathroom in like a
ninety sco meters of apartment.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
So tell me a bit more about your home. What
does it sound like.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It sounds like often jazz. So we went, yes, a
really good hack. We went down to Osborne House in
London noon.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's so beautiful. It's so chic and just the colors
are all right and all the shapes are all right.
I love it there. I think it's such a great guy.
And so for anyone who hasn't heard of Osborne, it's
a boutique hotel. It's very in the style of a
Soho house, I would say overseas, so there's a playfulness
about it, but it's also really grown up. There's an
(20:09):
open fire and it's in the country and it just
feels like a total getaway. So we've done that a
couple of times around the New Year's period and it's
just divine. But they have amazing playlists, so they have
a due, yes, amazing, and they're all on Spotify often
just playing Osborne Lounge or Osborne Jazz.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Well that's what I'll be listening to this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I'll give you the link. It's so so so good.
There's an Osborne Drive. So I'm just in between all
of them and making my home feel like I'm on
holidays at all times.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
That is so good. What else do you do at
home to feel like you're on holidays? Light a candle
so I'll always have candles burning. Do you have a
signature scent?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
No, not really. I'll pick up scentse so I'll kind
of I'm a little bit of like a scent hoarderdo
how do you store them? Do you have a cupboard
or a draw? We've got a cupboard that smells divine.
It's actually right above our glasses. So when you open
that whole cupboard, the whole cupboard has like a fragrance,
which is really nice.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
So I have a couple of questions about your home. Yeah,
do you have a shoes on or off policy?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
No shoes shoes? I will shoes off in the bedrooms
because we've got really light carpets. The only person who
doesn't adhere to that is me, but everyone else must.
But the rest is timber floors. So just come on in.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Oh, that's lovely. And do you entertain at home? Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We love entertaining, so we've We've got this big U
shaped lounge which is in the old popcorn dining room
that is now the sun room lounge room. Yep, And
I just absolutely love having like ten people around there.
Everyone's facing each other, the windows are all open, gorgeous. Yeah,
I just love entertaining.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Do you have a part of your home that is
maybe not social media worthy that you hide, like a
room or a drawer or a corner.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
The inside of my closet is not looking so good now,
particularly today, where I've shoved everything in there, and if
you opened it it would be scary, but not really.
When we moved in, we got a company to move
us in, like I was saying to you before, that
organized everything and I was really really ruthless with all
(22:22):
of the stuff we throughout. So we're pretty good.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
At the moment.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
But we don't have kids, so we'll say that it's
just the two of us, so it's easier to keep
tidy and there's not much that's unsightly at the moment.
But I imagine if you had toys.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
And baskets are your friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I
know that from other clients. I just love what Shona
was saying about how we all have beautiful things, but
so often they're disguised by all the stuff. Her tips
on how to sort through it and really make your
pieces shine absolute gold. What she was saying about virtual
(23:01):
reality in interior design, through to how to style a
coffee table starting with a favorite book. I think she
shows that style is for everyone, doesn't matter what your
home is, how much money you have, and what design
stars you love. Coming up, Shona talks about being brave
(23:23):
and having the confidence to really back your decisions, and
then she shares her best tips for making those gorgeous
travel mementos into design moments once you get back home.
Back in a bit so talking about organizing and keeping
your things, or being ruthless and getting rid of your things.
(23:45):
We do a little thing called the mystery drawer and
I know you've brought something in today to share with us.
What is the item from your mystery drawer, mystery room?
What have you brought in to share?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I have brought in a set square and which feels obvious,
but I'll tell you why. And with that an art
line pen zerabing to find tip.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
This is brilliant and so for anybody not in the biers.
What is a set square?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It helps you draw a straight line on a piece
of paper. So it's a square. You can get ones
that have like other rulers that pop in and out,
but yeah, it's pretty much helps you draw a straight
line on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
I have a luck. These are my mystery items. This
is so good. These are just your pick up at
a newsagent office works. Is this something that you use
every day? No, so this is not something that I
use much at all. But this is something that I
grew up with. So my dad uses it every single day,
(24:46):
still hand draws and every night when I was going
to bed, I actually tried to find he uses a
razor as well to like rub out his lines on
the tracy paper. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I just remember going, like you know, watching TV as
a kid, and he would be at the dining table
with a big set square. He's got a big one
and it's got the lines that come across like this,
And then he'd be drawing, drawing during and then he'd
this little like scrape of this razor and just that
was our whole childhood, growing up with him watching TV
(25:18):
while we were there drawing until like eleven PM.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I love that nostalgia can come from absolutely anywhere. Yeah,
were you inspired by your dad to get into interior design? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
So I actually did architecture at Unika. That was the
path I thought I was going to take. I thought
it was more prestigious than interior design. That was kind
of what we were fed in school. Not that I
think I thought that so much as a person. I
think I thought that maybe the career could be bigger
or something. When I deald into interior design, it was
no accident. I kind of found really quickly that I
(25:54):
loved those internal spaces and loved thinking through them. But yeah,
that's why I'm here, I think is mom and Dad.
They Mum's and interior designer as well, and they would
work together, and.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Do you ever work with them?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Dad does much bigger things, so he does I don't
even know master planning, and we're actually trying to find
a balance at the moment. But I think he watched
me for a little while before putting me in front
of any clients.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Oh really, yep.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I don't think he was willing to put his name
to me until he was pretty.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Sure we could fair enough. Totally fair enough. So I
love that here we have a pen and a ruler.
But I know that you use virtual reality in your
own design work. That's right, What does that look like?
We go through quite a process to get to our
virtual reality, but I start actually on Procreate, which is
(26:48):
kind of the iPad version of pen and paper. Okay,
so I'll sketch things out. As we move through the process,
we start to put these things in three D. We
build like little models of the home and everything inside
of it. And then when our kind of tech guru
was like, you know, you can put this in goggles
and you can actually get in there and look at
everything to scale and walk through these spaces, and so
(27:10):
obviously immediately online purchasing the goggles.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That's incredible, I know. So we've been testing that. At
the first time I got in them, I was like, oh,
my god, It's like I'm in the project and I
could almost critique my own work from inside of their. Wow.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, because you get a stronger sense of being in
it totally. And the clients that we have tested on
have been blown away. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
They often are like, can you bring to site? Can
can the builder come in and try it?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Like?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And I said, my friend, and I'm like, yeah, bring
them all in.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
This is a technology that enables you to feel what
a space is like before it's built.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, the scale of the space and how does it
feel to walk around that kitchen, and how does it
feel to look up and see this big pendant light
and the overall look of space.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I would say, what about the other elements that I
like to call on our photoshoots, proof of life, the
trinkets or the travel mementos? Yeah, how do you bring
those into your client's homes and it's still personal for them?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I mean often there's so much stuff that they have
that we can really easily sift through it with them
and decide it's lovely.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I want to look at what they have first and
what's going to work for them. And what I like
to say is their conversation starters. Yeah, Like we have
little playing cards on our coffee table because I want
to encourage people to play games, and we play the
Moss and yeah, that's a fun thing that's going to
engage people. So we'll often look at what they have first.
(28:47):
I think the problem is that a lot of people
have beautiful things mixed in with just a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
That's a very polite way to put it. Well, yeah,
that's true. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
If you put this stunning something or other in kmart, yeah,
it starts to not look stunning. Yeah, Whereas if it's
pull it out, you can see that there's a little
more beauty to any imperfection or beauty to something unique.
And I feel like it's just distilling.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
That if I'm sitting in my home and looking around
and I'm being quite critical about it and identifying the
beautiful things from the stuff, what do I do them?
So I've found the pieces that I think are beautiful, Yeah,
how do I start with them?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Proportion would be the first one, and colorways. I love
to start on a coffee table. I think it's a
really easy place to start. Stuck up a couple of books. Again,
I think they should be ones that mean something to you.
But it is nice if they have a certain scale
to them. So a coffee table book is a coffee
table book. For scale, I think it needs to be
around you know, that's thirty eight centimeters long. Yeah, if
(29:58):
you're looking online, that's actually really helpful, and then start
to lay out, so on top of you might have
like two or three stacks. I have four on my
coffee table, and I'll have one or two things on
each of those stacks. So I have, for example, a
little duck that means something to Haymish it's his grandmother's duck,
and so it sits there. Then I had my playing
(30:21):
cards on another one, and then I have like a
vintage candle holder I found at the vintage markets, and
then I'll have a vase for example. So we're creating
like a lot of tension there, but these things are
still individually important and they have space to breathe.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I love the idea of a book as a starting
point as well. I have a book on my ottoman,
which is the anchor for the whole living room. It's
a book on Renaissance art. I studied Renaissance art at Uni.
I got married in Florence, the home of the Renaissance,
and this color palette has really inspired the whole room. Yeah,
(31:00):
and it's just it's a book cover.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, but it's crazy. It brings in, it brings in
that element of fun, and it brings in this layering
that you can't see a room the same without it
there anymore. If the room feels incomplete, if you were
to take it away and have this bare boned coffee table.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, so showna. There are a couple of questions that
I just love asking our guests, and one of them is,
in your opinion, what is a homemaker these days? Because
I think the concept of a homemaker can be seen
as something quite traditional, but I feel it's just it's
totally different now. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Absolutely, I think a homemaker is somebody that loves their
home and has pride in their spaces and wants to
potentially host or even not wants to host themselves.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah. I love that exactly. To be able to create
a space just for you.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, or just for you and your partner or a
rainy Sunday or whatever it is. Yeah, I think you
have a space that is your home. You should enjoy
being there, definitely, And to what makes a home beautiful.
Oh that's a tough one to me. What makes the
home beautiful? I think again, it's the pride around it.
I think if someone's home is clean and you can
(32:16):
just tell that they take care of their items and
that they love them and they've collected them, and it
means something to them, I think the home is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
This has just been so beautiful discussing everything I think,
from what virtual reality actually is in interior design, through
to how to start a scheme and style from a book.
I think there are some really practical tips that our
listeners and certainly I will be able to use in
(32:45):
my own home. Shana, thank you so much for coming
in and chatting with me today.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
You've been listening to the edit the show about your
style and your sanctuary, l Lovelock. If you enjoyed this episode,
I'd love for you to follow the show, leave us
a rating, and definitely share it with the person whose
camera role is full of saved interiors. I am all
for sharing. Recently, I had a listener message me on
(33:16):
Instagram to share her experience with making sourdough. She read
that I've just started and got to say it's not
going well, so to share the advice. Building on this
community here, it brings me so much joy. Thank you
for listening. I can't wait to see you next time.
(33:39):
This is an our media podcast
This is an our Media podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
It was this old what was a balcony that they
then had closed up so it had set down, had
terracotta floors, popcorns walls, popcorn ceiling, fantastically ugly, Like I
was like, gigs so ugly.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
How would you describe popcorn walls and popcorn ceiling to
anyone who doesn't know? Because I have a clear visual.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Is there any other way to describe it? So having
a kind of warm tone in there really makes them
feel bougie and cute. So that's I think why we've
ended up pink. Like we have little playing cards on
our coffee table because I want to encourage people to
play games, and we played with both seas and that's
a fun thing that's going to engage people. A lot
(00:50):
of people have beautiful things mixed in with just a
lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
That's a very polite way to put it. Today's guest
is interior designer Shona McElroy, the founder and principal of
Smack Studio, and when she walked in today she is
just full glamour, which is interesting because that is not
(01:18):
the story of her home when she first saw it.
It's an apartment in Edgecliffe in Sydney, and when she
first walked in she saw potential, whereas everybody else just
walked straight back out. It was a nineteen twenties layout
with a pokey kitchen hidden away. The bathroom was interesting
(01:40):
and it had popcorn walls and ceilings. If you know,
you know that's not a good thing. But with a
bit of vision and a bit of time, she transformed
this apartment into something totally totally beautiful. Shona takes us
on a tour of her gorgeous home, and because this
is the edit, will also be asking the important questions.
(02:02):
One of my favorite things what is in your mystery draw?
And what Shona brought today really pulls on the heart strings.
I hope you enjoy shown a welcome to the edit.
It's really lovely to have you here.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I love you. What you said when you walked in
that it's a little friend space. Yeah, and that's exactly
how I hope it feels. It is. It's lovely. It's
like a little girly ketch up. A definitely, speaking of
girly catch up, I had my haircut last night and
it's taken a little while for me to get to
this point. I've been growing my hair for years and
I had a big chunk cut off and I was
(02:42):
feeling really brave about it, and it just got me
thinking about being brave. And it's something that we do
every day, but you do it a lot more than
others in your work.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yes, and no, I mean in the beginning. Yes, I
actually think you're your haircut it's braver than what I.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Do every day.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I have not been yet. I've been growing and growing
and growing mine every time I go to the salon.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I'm like, just keep the like. I know. It's quite
a thing, isn't it. Normally women cut their hair during
a big moment of change in their lives, And I've
said that nothing's really changing in my life right now.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Oh that's the best time to shut your hair.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I'm feeling good about it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Last time I cut my hair, I swear it was
like a breakup and I did like a bang and
like died it dark and I was a new person.
But I don't know if that ever goes that well.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Do you ever have clients who come to you perhaps
it's maybe it's post breakup, or they've just gone into
a new space on their own or they're forging a
home with a new partner, and do they have ideas
that you think, oh wow, that's that's something we need
to work through.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Mostly they're at some sort of pivotol point in their life.
A lot of my clients are actually more moving into
the downsize of market, for example, so coming out of
a bigger house looking for, you know, a place that
the kids could come back if they want to, which
is a real big thing, but not necessarily the luxury
of being there for a long time the kids. Yeah,
(04:11):
our younger clients will usually be like upsizing, so they'll
have had their first one or two children and then
they'll start to look for their kind of family home,
their forever home. So yeah, they're often at different life stages.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
With the downsizes. How do you work with them in
terms of editing down their belongings. How do you help
someone through that. You almost have to be a.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Therapist a little bit. You kind of have to softly,
you know, chat through why certain things might not work
in the new space. The scale of things you might
tap into. You know, it's new and it's fresh, and
we want to kind of revitalize and maybe you purchase
that twenty years ago, and it was great for them,
but it might not be so great for the new space.
(04:58):
There is a little bit of massaging there, and then
there's obviously just fitting the physical stuff. And sometimes I'll
actually say on the other end, get someone more professional
to come in and help you edit those little items
and organize, and we actually through our whole process, go
through this whole in our design development organization of spaces
(05:19):
where we'll design every cupboard and every drawer and every shelf,
and we'll actually allocate what's going to go there.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
I love that I did that with my own home,
down to shelf heights for where I can put the
cans in my kitchen pantry, that's right, or draw heights
to fit the different height pots.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yep, it's so important. It's so I find it like
so necessary and also a great way to know if
you're designing something that's totally bespoke, that it's going to
work for your life and you can utilize every tiny
square inch and.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
It doesn't cost anymore to have drawers or shelves put
it different heights. That's exactly right. You're paying for the
same kitchen. Yeah, so you may we'll get it to
fit your stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Absolutely, it's a really important part of our process.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I'm going through so the pre phase with my parents
at the moment, in terms of their thinking about downsizing.
I have to say, my mom's really into it. She says, Oh, sweetheart,
I've been looking around the house thinking, right, I'll get
rid of that and that, but I'll bring that with me.
And she just loves interior design. So she's so excited
to start a new women a fet at that. I
(06:28):
think so too.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But give a man a garage, they will feel it.
It's like jet skis and skis and like random hobbies
that they've picked up once, golf clubs and the old
set of golf clubs to give to their sons. And
men have the big stuff as well. So my my
partner is going to look at this and he's going
to be like, no, you're a hoarder of clothes.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
No, you're a collector. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
There's a difference. It's just not comparable to like three
cute tank tops from ten years ago that you maybe
don't wear.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Do you think it's nostalgia? Do you think it's being sentimental?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Men have an ideal about their life that they're going
to surf in the mornings and on the weekends and
play golf and they'll do eighteen holes twice a week.
And then they'll get a little boat and I don't
even know go water skiing. So they buy all of
the stuff for that and they do it once or twice.
But I think life just gets in the way.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
How do you observe the wives and partners of these
men in the design process?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Oh, it's always hilarious. I love the part of our
process that feels like marriage counseling with the right couple.
It's it's totally funny, and do you kind of you
learn to put your two cents inn Where can we
fit it? If we can't fit it, what does that
look like? Maybe we could throw out some of those surfboards.
With the right family and the right clients, which is
(07:51):
honestly all of my clients, they're so fun. You have
this really beautiful little dialogue that feels just like this.
You know, you're just riffing off each other and you
kind of toe the line at some points, and it's fun.
It makes a design process like what it should be,
which is just fun and exciting and all the place.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
When clients come to you and they have different styles,
more different opinions. How do you navigate that?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I tell them what I think, honestly. I think that's
what they're there for. That's a new skill actually that
I have picked up is being quite honest and trying
to put my honest opinion on things instead of make
two parties happy, which I used to do a lot
my first few projects. I definitely definitely told those lines
(08:38):
and said yes to a lot of differing things that
maybe didn't come together so well. And I think I
could have known that, but I think I wasn't strong
enough to say that. And when it came together and
the project was finished, the clients, a couple of them
over time, had been like, oh, we should have just
listened to you in the beginning, or we shouldn't have
(08:58):
tried to do that. And I think that gave me
the confidence to be like, Okay, my ideas at the
beginning are strong.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, it's quite scary to embrace that confidence sometimes, to
really trust your instinct and to go with it.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, well, you sign off on it, you put your
name to it. Whereas the client's kind of like I
want a pink wall or I want a pink room.
You're like, cool, they want to pink room, we can
make that work. Whereas if you're like, I really think
your room should be green and you really need to
trust me on it. If they don't like it, it
was my idea.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's true. So where is the blame going to? Yeah
orreas if they don't like the pink room. You wanted
a pink room, that's it. What about your own home?
Do you experiment with bold choices in your own space?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Actually, in my own space is a little more subdued
than some of my clients spaces. I think there's a
kind of a twofold to that. It's much smaller. So
I had to be limited in what I was going
to do. Otherwise, I was going to have a mish mash.
I was going to have a Pinterest house, where you
there's so many great ideas out there in the world,
and I love that the Pinterest town, Pinterest house. It's
(10:10):
not a good thing. In Pinterest house, a really bad thing.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That's so funny.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So I was actually much more subdued in my space.
The second fold things that my living room is like
two windows, huge windows due north and west, so I
couldn't really fantastic light, beautiful to me, but everything fades.
So I had to have everything really neutral and a
white sofa and a light rug because even the coffee
(10:37):
table books and I've been in there for I don't
even know, maybe a year, and I try and close
the blinds as much as possible, but they're totally faded.
If you were to lift one up, it's and flip
it over, it's completely faded.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So funny. I was thinking about that last night. I
was awake for a couple of hours from like two am.
It's randomly thinking about getting a couple of skylights in
my living room. Yeah, that's you do what to in
the morning enough. I was thinking about what I was
going to bring today, which we will get to, but
I was thinking about, no, I can't do that because
(11:10):
I think it'll fade the floorboards. Yeah, and then my
mind goes to, well could you have automated blinds put in?
And then what it will be too hot in summer?
And you just spiral into this though process.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
They're the type of decisions and those little rabbit holes
that we as designers go into in every tiny little thing,
which is just so funny. Yeah, that spiral comes through
with everything like a handle, like is it going to
be the right shade? Will it match?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Is it going to be the right like grippy pool?
Like how does it look in comparais like everything.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Is Absolutely it has to be the right grippy pool.
I remember trying all different handles. There's nothing worse than
trying to open a kitchen drawer when your hands covered
in olive oil or water and it's got this tiny
little pull. No, yeah, yeah, Why don't you take us
on an audio tour of your home because we love
a home tour at home beautiful And when did you
(12:06):
move in? How did you find this place?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
So we've been looking for around a year and we
were the underbeaters at I think two or three properties.
I had a checklist that I really really wanted. I
wanted high ceilings. I definitely wanted a north facing aspect.
We've lived both north and south, and north is just
it's the life here in a different country.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And I find you can go for a smaller place
if you have better light as well.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think you can like bounce that
light around and as humans were so drawn to pockets
of sunlight, particularly, I think at this time of year,
you know, autumn or in the winter, so to not
get any of that all day long anyway, just everyone
by north.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
If there's one tip, one tip today to find me.
So you found this house, So I found this So
you found this apartment? Yeah, off the back of a
real estate agent. He kind of had picked up what
we were looking for and he called me and he
was like, I have this one. It's kind of sat
on the market. It's a really weird layout, kind of
(13:12):
no one really gets it. When you walk in.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It feels really dark, but it is north and da
da dah, and he goes, I think, just come and
have a look at it. And so I came and
it was the whackus layout of all time. Like it
was like, yeah, it was can.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
You talk us through a walk through what it had? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So you entered the front door and then it was
like these kind of splayed almost triangular walls, one leading
into this little kitchen that was just closed off by
a door with the laundry in there, and then the
second one leading into a bedroom that was kind of
like dog legged and quite big but quite long. Then
as you went down the hallway there was the primary
(13:49):
bedroom connecting that was like a bathroom that then connected
into the living room. So the singular bathroom connected the
primary and the living which was a bit weird. I
think if it would make it easy to walk in
on someone and if you have friends over, it's just
so awkward.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Like anyway, could you see any reason and why it
would have been designed that way.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yes, it's all to do with the stacks. So it's
a nineteen twenties building. And what are the stacks the
stacks of the plumbing stacks and the waste pipe stuff. Okay,
so it's just that old school layout that they stacked
them all up and they put them all there. And
then because it was the nineteen twenties, the kitchen is
a private space. It wasn't supposed to be part of
our everyday life. It was where you cooked and then
(14:32):
you came out and you ate up in a different area.
So it was obvious to me what was happening. And
we've dealt with a lot of a lot of those
where we've opened up really old layouts of that nature.
So there was a living space, and then as you
came down it was this old what was a balcony
that they then had closed up so it had set down,
had terracotta floors, popcorns walls, popcorn ceiling, fantastically ugly, like
(14:57):
I was like gay, so ugly.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
How would you describe popcorn walls and popcorn ceiling to
anyone who doesn't know?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Because I have a clear visual? Is there any other
way to describe it? I think it's local.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
It looks like someone's chewed up bits of paper.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, and flung them at the flung it at the rip.
It's so bad. Yeah, you just know it if you
saw it. It's like it's like that old render that's
on the front of a lot of buildings. So it
was an outside wall, I guess. But yeah, it's horrendous.
And they get so dirty as well because everything just
sits in the crevices of it. And but that was
(15:36):
great for me.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
How did you remedy that? What I do?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I like, rendered it back so it was flat, and
then put like a new wall over the top, and
then did the same thing to the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So that's not overly complicated.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
No, no, no, A good builder would know what to
do with that for sure. You just have to be
willing to lose a little bit of space. I think
I think we had to bring our walls in because
we had to put in furry channels behind and set
a new group in front of it a few centimeters.
Yeah yeah, likeybe maybe forty to fifty mil.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Small price to pay. Absolutely no popcorn wall. So what
did you do with the layout here? So if I
come over to your place, you open the door, what's
the first thing I see?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We have created like an entry hall, so a very
very small but very efficient entry hallway maybe two by two. Yeah,
timber floor through there with a pendant light. And then
I've got a full wall of mirrors that have kind
of a crittal style in them, so they're like little
panes of mirrors more like a French style, with bronze rosettes.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Through that, the.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Old kitchen was shortened and it became a really cute
little bedroom where the beds pushed up against three walls,
and it's got this canopy almost, so it's like a
hotel a cute bedroom. I know, I've got a friend's
day with me at the moment, and she was saying,
what a nightmare wants to make the bed? It's my
(17:02):
partner's probably, he's so cute, he like rolls up all
the towers for the guests.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I'm like, oh, this gorgeous. Is he a man who's
stayed in a few nice hotels? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
With me now for sure. I'm not sure he's the
man that actually cares for them, but that's what he does. Now.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I like that he noticed the detail of the towels.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, so lovely. And then so off that same hallway.
So you've got that that door, You've got a laundry
that you can't see because it's just behind a pushcatch cupboard.
Then we've got what I'd like to call Hamish's Pink Room,
which is our second sitting room. It's kind of the
bigger of the bigger of the two guest rooms, but
we made it into our second sitting room. Should I
(17:38):
be watching Real Housewives out the front? And he decides
that it's not interested in that? I completely understand, Yeah,
who doesn't or should he be watching f one? Which
is like, really, if you're not in the mood for that,
like having oh that sound in the back of your ear,
it's not great. We have that room and Hamish's pink
Hamish's pink Room. It's because there's sofas in and the
(18:00):
second TV is in there, and obviously I take precedence
of the main living room and his wardrobes in there too,
which is like this big and so organized. It's like
my party trip. When people come over, I'm like, you
have to look in Hamish's wardrobe, like he folds his aunties.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Guys. How does Hamish feel apart? I think he's.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Gotten used to it. I think he's like, why are
you showing everyone my auntie? And now it's like just
something I do so and he's like, yeah, they're undies.
That's like one of those fridge tours. Is that on
MTV cribs. Instead of the fridge tour, it's like it's
a wardrobe tour. Yeah, yeah, I possibly it small wardrobe tour.
(18:42):
So then off that same entry hall, then we have
a new bathroom. So my dad is an architect, which
I'll tell you about, but he was a genius. I
was like, I can never fit another bathroom in this apartment,
but I really want one because I don't want I
don't want a single broom off the living room, and
I don't want to share obviously a bathroom, and i'd
(19:05):
prefer I'm not having on suite. But I was like,
there's no way we're going to be doing that, And
so he went outside, looked at all these stacks that
I was telling you about, and figured out that if
we ran, if we raised the bathroom a certain amount
within our apartment's scope, we could actually run it backwards
and align with one of the stacks and run it
underneath all of our toinery.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So clever, I know.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So we've put a whole new bathroom in like a
ninety sco meters of apartment.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
So tell me a bit more about your home. What
does it sound like.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It sounds like often jazz. So we went, yes, a
really good hack. We went down to Osborne House in
London noon.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's so beautiful. It's so chic and just the colors
are all right and all the shapes are all right.
I love it there. I think it's such a great guy.
And so for anyone who hasn't heard of Osborne, it's
a boutique hotel. It's very in the style of a
Soho house, I would say overseas, so there's a playfulness
about it, but it's also really grown up. There's an
(20:09):
open fire and it's in the country and it just
feels like a total getaway. So we've done that a
couple of times around the New Year's period and it's
just divine. But they have amazing playlists, so they have
a due, yes, amazing, and they're all on Spotify often
just playing Osborne Lounge or Osborne Jazz.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Well that's what I'll be listening to this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
I'll give you the link. It's so so so good.
There's an Osborne Drive. So I'm just in between all
of them and making my home feel like I'm on
holidays at all times.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
That is so good. What else do you do at
home to feel like you're on holidays? Light a candle
so I'll always have candles burning. Do you have a
signature scent?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
No, not really. I'll pick up scentse so I'll kind
of I'm a little bit of like a scent hoarderdo
how do you store them? Do you have a cupboard
or a draw? We've got a cupboard that smells divine.
It's actually right above our glasses. So when you open
that whole cupboard, the whole cupboard has like a fragrance,
which is really nice.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
So I have a couple of questions about your home. Yeah,
do you have a shoes on or off policy?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
No shoes shoes? I will shoes off in the bedrooms
because we've got really light carpets. The only person who
doesn't adhere to that is me, but everyone else must.
But the rest is timber floors. So just come on in.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Oh, that's lovely. And do you entertain at home? Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We love entertaining, so we've We've got this big U
shaped lounge which is in the old popcorn dining room
that is now the sun room lounge room. Yep, And
I just absolutely love having like ten people around there.
Everyone's facing each other, the windows are all open, gorgeous. Yeah,
I just love entertaining.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Do you have a part of your home that is
maybe not social media worthy that you hide, like a
room or a drawer or a corner.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
The inside of my closet is not looking so good now,
particularly today, where I've shoved everything in there, and if
you opened it it would be scary, but not really.
When we moved in, we got a company to move
us in, like I was saying to you before, that
organized everything and I was really really ruthless with all
(22:22):
of the stuff we throughout. So we're pretty good.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
At the moment.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
But we don't have kids, so we'll say that it's
just the two of us, so it's easier to keep
tidy and there's not much that's unsightly at the moment.
But I imagine if you had toys.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
And baskets are your friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I
know that from other clients. I just love what Shona
was saying about how we all have beautiful things, but
so often they're disguised by all the stuff. Her tips
on how to sort through it and really make your
pieces shine absolute gold. What she was saying about virtual
(23:01):
reality in interior design, through to how to style a
coffee table starting with a favorite book. I think she
shows that style is for everyone, doesn't matter what your
home is, how much money you have, and what design
stars you love. Coming up, Shona talks about being brave
(23:23):
and having the confidence to really back your decisions, and
then she shares her best tips for making those gorgeous
travel mementos into design moments once you get back home.
Back in a bit so talking about organizing and keeping
your things, or being ruthless and getting rid of your things.
(23:45):
We do a little thing called the mystery drawer and
I know you've brought something in today to share with us.
What is the item from your mystery drawer, mystery room?
What have you brought in to share?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I have brought in a set square and which feels obvious,
but I'll tell you why. And with that an art
line pen zerabing to find tip.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
This is brilliant and so for anybody not in the biers.
What is a set square?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It helps you draw a straight line on a piece
of paper. So it's a square. You can get ones
that have like other rulers that pop in and out,
but yeah, it's pretty much helps you draw a straight
line on a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
I have a luck. These are my mystery items. This
is so good. These are just your pick up at
a newsagent office works. Is this something that you use
every day? No, so this is not something that I
use much at all. But this is something that I
grew up with. So my dad uses it every single day,
(24:46):
still hand draws and every night when I was going
to bed, I actually tried to find he uses a
razor as well to like rub out his lines on
the tracy paper. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I just remember going, like you know, watching TV as
a kid, and he would be at the dining table
with a big set square. He's got a big one
and it's got the lines that come across like this,
And then he'd be drawing, drawing during and then he'd
this little like scrape of this razor and just that
was our whole childhood, growing up with him watching TV
(25:18):
while we were there drawing until like eleven PM.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
I love that nostalgia can come from absolutely anywhere. Yeah,
were you inspired by your dad to get into interior design? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:32):
So I actually did architecture at Unika. That was the
path I thought I was going to take. I thought
it was more prestigious than interior design. That was kind
of what we were fed in school. Not that I
think I thought that so much as a person. I
think I thought that maybe the career could be bigger
or something. When I deald into interior design, it was
no accident. I kind of found really quickly that I
(25:54):
loved those internal spaces and loved thinking through them. But yeah,
that's why I'm here, I think is mom and Dad.
They Mum's and interior designer as well, and they would
work together, and.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Do you ever work with them?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Dad does much bigger things, so he does I don't
even know master planning, and we're actually trying to find
a balance at the moment. But I think he watched
me for a little while before putting me in front
of any clients.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Oh really, yep.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I don't think he was willing to put his name
to me until he was pretty.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Sure we could fair enough. Totally fair enough. So I
love that here we have a pen and a ruler.
But I know that you use virtual reality in your
own design work. That's right, What does that look like?
We go through quite a process to get to our
virtual reality, but I start actually on Procreate, which is
(26:48):
kind of the iPad version of pen and paper. Okay,
so I'll sketch things out. As we move through the process,
we start to put these things in three D. We
build like little models of the home and everything inside
of it. And then when our kind of tech guru
was like, you know, you can put this in goggles
and you can actually get in there and look at
everything to scale and walk through these spaces, and so
(27:10):
obviously immediately online purchasing the goggles.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That's incredible, I know. So we've been testing that. At
the first time I got in them, I was like, oh,
my god, It's like I'm in the project and I
could almost critique my own work from inside of their. Wow.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, because you get a stronger sense of being in
it totally. And the clients that we have tested on
have been blown away. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
They often are like, can you bring to site? Can
can the builder come in and try it?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Like?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And I said, my friend, and I'm like, yeah, bring
them all in.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
This is a technology that enables you to feel what
a space is like before it's built.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, the scale of the space and how does it
feel to walk around that kitchen, and how does it
feel to look up and see this big pendant light
and the overall look of space.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I would say, what about the other elements that I
like to call on our photoshoots, proof of life, the
trinkets or the travel mementos? Yeah, how do you bring
those into your client's homes and it's still personal for them?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I mean often there's so much stuff that they have
that we can really easily sift through it with them
and decide it's lovely.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I want to look at what they have first and
what's going to work for them. And what I like
to say is their conversation starters. Yeah, Like we have
little playing cards on our coffee table because I want
to encourage people to play games, and we play the
Moss and yeah, that's a fun thing that's going to
engage people. So we'll often look at what they have first.
(28:47):
I think the problem is that a lot of people
have beautiful things mixed in with just a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
That's a very polite way to put it. Well, yeah,
that's true. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
If you put this stunning something or other in kmart, yeah,
it starts to not look stunning. Yeah, Whereas if it's
pull it out, you can see that there's a little
more beauty to any imperfection or beauty to something unique.
And I feel like it's just distilling.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
That if I'm sitting in my home and looking around
and I'm being quite critical about it and identifying the
beautiful things from the stuff, what do I do them?
So I've found the pieces that I think are beautiful, Yeah,
how do I start with them?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Proportion would be the first one, and colorways. I love
to start on a coffee table. I think it's a
really easy place to start. Stuck up a couple of books. Again,
I think they should be ones that mean something to you.
But it is nice if they have a certain scale
to them. So a coffee table book is a coffee
table book. For scale, I think it needs to be
around you know, that's thirty eight centimeters long. Yeah, if
(29:58):
you're looking online, that's actually really helpful, and then start
to lay out, so on top of you might have
like two or three stacks. I have four on my
coffee table, and I'll have one or two things on
each of those stacks. So I have, for example, a
little duck that means something to Haymish it's his grandmother's duck,
and so it sits there. Then I had my playing
(30:21):
cards on another one, and then I have like a
vintage candle holder I found at the vintage markets, and
then I'll have a vase for example. So we're creating
like a lot of tension there, but these things are
still individually important and they have space to breathe.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I love the idea of a book as a starting
point as well. I have a book on my ottoman,
which is the anchor for the whole living room. It's
a book on Renaissance art. I studied Renaissance art at Uni.
I got married in Florence, the home of the Renaissance,
and this color palette has really inspired the whole room. Yeah,
(31:00):
and it's just it's a book cover.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, but it's crazy. It brings in, it brings in
that element of fun, and it brings in this layering
that you can't see a room the same without it
there anymore. If the room feels incomplete, if you were
to take it away and have this bare boned coffee table.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, so showna. There are a couple of questions that
I just love asking our guests, and one of them is,
in your opinion, what is a homemaker these days? Because
I think the concept of a homemaker can be seen
as something quite traditional, but I feel it's just it's
totally different now. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Absolutely, I think a homemaker is somebody that loves their
home and has pride in their spaces and wants to
potentially host or even not wants to host themselves.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah. I love that exactly. To be able to create
a space just for you.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, or just for you and your partner or a
rainy Sunday or whatever it is. Yeah, I think you
have a space that is your home. You should enjoy
being there, definitely, And to what makes a home beautiful.
Oh that's a tough one to me. What makes the
home beautiful? I think again, it's the pride around it.
I think if someone's home is clean and you can
(32:16):
just tell that they take care of their items and
that they love them and they've collected them, and it
means something to them, I think the home is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
This has just been so beautiful discussing everything I think,
from what virtual reality actually is in interior design, through
to how to start a scheme and style from a book.
I think there are some really practical tips that our
listeners and certainly I will be able to use in
(32:45):
my own home. Shana, thank you so much for coming
in and chatting with me today.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
You've been listening to the edit the show about your
style and your sanctuary, l Lovelock. If you enjoyed this episode,
I'd love for you to follow the show, leave us
a rating, and definitely share it with the person whose
camera role is full of saved interiors. I am all
for sharing. Recently, I had a listener message me on
(33:16):
Instagram to share her experience with making sourdough. She read
that I've just started and got to say it's not
going well, so to share the advice. Building on this
community here, it brings me so much joy. Thank you
for listening. I can't wait to see you next time.
(33:39):
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