November 2, 2025 • 5 mins
We all want to live in a beautiful space, but knowing the difference between feature walls and focal points and your accents from your architraves can leave you scratching your head. Thankfully, interior design superstar Jono Fleming has a knack for making the beautiful accessible. His new book, 'A Visual Feast' is the style bible to demistify the design process and create a space you can be proud of.
For more, Jono Fleming joins.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we all want to live in a beautiful space,
that's for sure, but knowing the difference between feature walls
and focal points and your accents from your architras can
leave you scratching your head.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, thankfully, interior design superstar John O. Fleming has an
act for making the beautiful accessible. His new book, A
Visual Feast is the style Bible to demystify the design
process and create a space that you can be proud of.
And Johno joins is now live.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And this hello see you Good to be back.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Interior design it can be so overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Absolutely, Why is that?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
I think people don't really understand how to describe their
space sometimes. So when I was writing the book, I
was thinking actually about cookbooks and it's called a visual Feast.
But when it comes to food, people know what flavors,
they like, what they got, textures, I don't eat this.
I love that when it comes to interiors, the spaces
where in every day people don't know how to describe it.
(00:56):
So the idea was like, let's break it down. No
fancy interior doors, tim jargon, just simple tips and tricks.
It's all about the eight ingredients you need to build
this beautiful home.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Love that idea, making it simple.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Eight essential ingredients. Right, let's start with light and color.
Talk us through that.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
What do we need to know?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
I think with light and color, you've got natural light
in your home. You want to create layers. Though nobody
wants the down lights. You want nice soft layers of lighting.
With color, people can get really scared of it, so
you sometimes want to just layer it in a little bit.
You just want hints of color. If you want to
be bold, go for it. But you don't have to
go all out all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Okay, So if you're like pink, for example, don't paint
your wall pink just by a pink lamb shape. Stopt
with that stock mixed up something scary. Some patterns and
textures go really range. How do we start with that?
What do we do?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
I think if you love pattern in your drawn to pattern,
the key is to mix up the scale of it.
So don't go all big patterns. It'll really clash and
make it feel really noisy. Do different scales of patterns
with textures. You know, yes, you have.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
White walls and flat walls.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Text you would add a little bit more life, a
little bit of depth to the space.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
We hear the word layering a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You like that. Yeah, I love layering.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I think that's sort of one of my key things
when I'm designing, and with layering, start small.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's like making a bed.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
You start with the douner in the sheets, and then
you start putting the smaller things on top. The same
with your room. Start with the couch, start with the rug.
Then you can start to bring in all those other
little bits and pieces on top.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's the bits and pieces where we go.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So, yes, yes, I think that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
It's like, it's about bringing your You want the space
to feel like you.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You don't want it to feel like just a trend.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I want it to look like architectural digist. I don't
want it to look like me.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I think there's a bit of a balance there.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You need to have those little personal things that make
it your home and not a styless home as well.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
What you just said would be funny if it wasn't true.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Finally, the book encourages read is to inject their own
history and personality into the space. Yeah, yeah, what do
you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I think it's about that personal storytelling. So that's the
difference between a styled home and your home, and as
you said, you know, we wanted to look beautiful and elevated,
but you need to have those little personal touches. It's
the books that you love, it's the family mementos, the
photos that makes it a home that no one else owns.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That is your home, that's your story.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
People scared to invite you around to the house for
that sometimes a little bit, but you know, they walk
into my place and they're like, oh, it looks like
it's out of a magazine.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I'm like, I hope it looks good.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
But also I wanted to feel welcoming and comfortable, and
I think that's the whole point. I wanted to just
not make designs so scary. This is like your little
cookbook for design. People can open a cookbook, they know
what they're getting. This is what you're going to get
when you open it.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Okay, would you encourage people like they're looking at their
lounge from that it doesn't look right? Should you maybe
take everything out and then start I'm not saying gone
by all new things. I'm saying start fresh and then
just slowly add the things back.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think that's a good place to start.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
You just need to edit a little bit, and so
like even space is such an important thing. Just doesn't
mean you have to have a minimalist home, but you
need your idle land in certain places at your home.
You wanted everything to have its moment. So just pull
things back, edit a little bit, and then you can
start to like put things back slowly or some things just.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Stay away for a bit. Yes, pull them out, swap
them over.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Okay, everybody watching it, stay tuned. The Facebook marketplace incentivized
one hundred thousand people to throw stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Out and that's where you find lots of great stuff there.
You can be hitting the road with the book.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
The book is out tomorrow, Yes, what's going to be?
And some styling workshops that sounds yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
So I'm hitting the road. I'm doing a tour of
New South Wales home web stores. I'm going to be
in Sydney, Manly, Bangalow, Newcastle, orange Berry. So I'm going
all around New South Wales to some of my favorite
home web stores. So you can head to my website
you can see all the where I'm going to be
and get some tickets and yeah, come and meet me
(04:51):
and talk about your homes.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It's a beautiful book.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Everything you do, everything you do, it looks fabulous.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Thank you for coming, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
John Fleming's book is called a Visual Feast. It is
out now with all the ingredients for a stylishly beautiful home.
Well, we all want to live in a beautiful space,
that's for sure, but knowing the difference between feature walls
and focal points and your accents from your architras can
leave you scratching your head.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, thankfully, interior design superstar John O. Fleming has an
act for making the beautiful accessible. His new book, A
Visual Feast is the style Bible to demystify the design
process and create a space that you can be proud of.
And Johno joins is now live.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And this hello see you Good to be back.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Interior design it can be so overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Absolutely, Why is that?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
I think people don't really understand how to describe their
space sometimes. So when I was writing the book, I
was thinking actually about cookbooks and it's called a visual Feast.
But when it comes to food, people know what flavors,
they like, what they got, textures, I don't eat this.
I love that when it comes to interiors, the spaces
where in every day people don't know how to describe it.
(00:56):
So the idea was like, let's break it down. No
fancy interior doors, tim jargon, just simple tips and tricks.
It's all about the eight ingredients you need to build
this beautiful home.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Love that idea, making it simple.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Eight essential ingredients. Right, let's start with light and color.
Talk us through that.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
What do we need to know?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
I think with light and color, you've got natural light
in your home. You want to create layers. Though nobody
wants the down lights. You want nice soft layers of lighting.
With color, people can get really scared of it, so
you sometimes want to just layer it in a little bit.
You just want hints of color. If you want to
be bold, go for it. But you don't have to
go all out all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Okay, So if you're like pink, for example, don't paint
your wall pink just by a pink lamb shape. Stopt
with that stock mixed up something scary. Some patterns and
textures go really range. How do we start with that?
What do we do?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
I think if you love pattern in your drawn to pattern,
the key is to mix up the scale of it.
So don't go all big patterns. It'll really clash and
make it feel really noisy. Do different scales of patterns
with textures. You know, yes, you have.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
White walls and flat walls.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Text you would add a little bit more life, a
little bit of depth to the space.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
We hear the word layering a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You like that. Yeah, I love layering.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I think that's sort of one of my key things
when I'm designing, and with layering, start small.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's like making a bed.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
You start with the douner in the sheets, and then
you start putting the smaller things on top. The same
with your room. Start with the couch, start with the rug.
Then you can start to bring in all those other
little bits and pieces on top.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's the bits and pieces where we go.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So, yes, yes, I think that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
It's like, it's about bringing your You want the space
to feel like you.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
You don't want it to feel like just a trend.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I want it to look like architectural digist. I don't
want it to look like me.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
I think there's a bit of a balance there.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You need to have those little personal things that make
it your home and not a styless home as well.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
What you just said would be funny if it wasn't true.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Finally, the book encourages read is to inject their own
history and personality into the space. Yeah, yeah, what do
you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I think it's about that personal storytelling. So that's the
difference between a styled home and your home, and as
you said, you know, we wanted to look beautiful and elevated,
but you need to have those little personal touches. It's
the books that you love, it's the family mementos, the
photos that makes it a home that no one else owns.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That is your home, that's your story.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
People scared to invite you around to the house for
that sometimes a little bit, but you know, they walk
into my place and they're like, oh, it looks like
it's out of a magazine.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I'm like, I hope it looks good.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
But also I wanted to feel welcoming and comfortable, and
I think that's the whole point. I wanted to just
not make designs so scary. This is like your little
cookbook for design. People can open a cookbook, they know
what they're getting. This is what you're going to get
when you open it.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Okay, would you encourage people like they're looking at their
lounge from that it doesn't look right? Should you maybe
take everything out and then start I'm not saying gone
by all new things. I'm saying start fresh and then
just slowly add the things back.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think that's a good place to start.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
You just need to edit a little bit, and so
like even space is such an important thing. Just doesn't
mean you have to have a minimalist home, but you
need your idle land in certain places at your home.
You wanted everything to have its moment. So just pull
things back, edit a little bit, and then you can
start to like put things back slowly or some things just.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Stay away for a bit. Yes, pull them out, swap
them over.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Okay, everybody watching it, stay tuned. The Facebook marketplace incentivized
one hundred thousand people to throw stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Out and that's where you find lots of great stuff there.
You can be hitting the road with the book.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
The book is out tomorrow, Yes, what's going to be?
And some styling workshops that sounds yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
So I'm hitting the road. I'm doing a tour of
New South Wales home web stores. I'm going to be
in Sydney, Manly, Bangalow, Newcastle, orange Berry. So I'm going
all around New South Wales to some of my favorite
home web stores. So you can head to my website
you can see all the where I'm going to be
and get some tickets and yeah, come and meet me
(04:51):
and talk about your homes.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It's a beautiful book.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Everything you do, everything you do, it looks fabulous.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Thank you for coming, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
John Fleming's book is called a Visual Feast. It is
out now with all the ingredients for a stylishly beautiful home.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com