Design Anatomy

What if a home could feel calmer, look warmer, and bring you closer to your neighbours—all at once? We sit with interior designer Rebecca Leijer of Leÿer Design Studio to explore design with restraint that still feels generous, and the surprising community benefits of a street‑facing, glass‑fronted home in Torquay. From the first sketch to the final touch, Rebecca shares how simplicity, texture, and tactility can deliver spaces that welcome sandy feet, morning light, and real life without dating fast.

We dig into the budget realities shaping residential design right now and why pairing building design with on‑site know‑how changes everything. Rebecca and her builder husband are combining forces to deliver a full‑service studio: think early cost clarity, fewer nasty surprises, and smarter paths like extending at ground level instead of paying for scaffolding on a small second storey. We compare laminate and stone with open eyes, defend the “big three” of tapware, tiles, and lighting, and map priorities so clients protect what truly changes how they live.

Then we jump to hospitality, where deadlines are brutal and ceilings do the heavy lifting. Rebecca reveals the bamboo canopy that redirected the gaze in an Anglesea venue and the burgundy spray that unified a tricky Ocean Grove ceiling—proof that one bold, well‑placed move can transform a space fast. Along the way, we reframe trends and timelessness: cork can be cool or tired; stone is forever until your taste evolves. The goal isn’t to dodge fashion, but to choose materials you’ll love longer, and build confidence through a curated, step‑by‑step process.
Check out Rebecca's socials: Insta  @leyer_td & website Leÿer Design Studio

If you’re craving a calmer home, fighting scope creep, or curious how a single design gesture can carry a room, you’ll find practical ideas you can use tomorrow. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s the one element—lighting, tiles, or tapware—you’ll never cut from your budget?
Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment.
Bookings now open - Book now
Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn:
What has worked for Lauren over the past year
What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects
For more info see below
The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.

What if your home could meet you where you are, every day? We sit down with Paris-based designer Cléophée Poli of Cléo Interior Design Studio to explore the psychology of home and why the best interiors are built around how people live, not what’s trending. Cléo’s path from luxury hospitality to interiors sharpened her instincts for service, diplomacy, and solving problems before they start, and she shares the scripts and strategies that keep projects humane and on track.

We trace how culture and climate shape design choices, from Australia’s indoor–outdoor ease to Paris’s nimble apartment living and Scandinavia’s cocooning warmth. Cléo designs across borders for expats and international clients, translating codes and expectations while protecting a clear vision. You’ll hear how she adapts drawings across regions, keeps trades aligned, and uses communication as the true universal tool of design.

Then we dive into a standout project at the famed Marché Paul Bert: a packing-and-shipping studio reimagined as a living gallery. With rotating vintage curated from market dealers, caramel and buttery tones, and a custom rug inspired by Eileen Gray and art deco geometry, the space proves even a practical brief can carry real theatre and soul. Along the way, we talk about sourcing vintage that gives rooms presence, building relationships with dealers for off‑market finds, and resisting trend fatigue by choosing objects with weight and memory.

If you’re rethinking your space, this conversation is a roadmap: honour your rituals, design for your climate, and choose a few pieces that speak so loudly they quiet the rest. 
Check out Cléo's socials: @cleointeriordesign ,  www.cleointeriordesign.com & Paul Bert Project
Subscribe, share with a friend who loves design, and leave a review to tell us what makes a space feel like home to you.
Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment.
Bookings now open - Book now
Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn:
What has worked for Lauren over the past year
What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects
For more info see below
The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.

Predictions are only fun when they’re a little risky, so we’re putting our names to a future that feels warmer, braver, and far more liveable. We share the moves we’re already testing with clients—laminate countertops that look sharp and wear hard, wide-blade Venetian blinds in fresh powder-coated colours, and coloured stained glass that solves privacy without killing natural light. The goal isn’t shock value; it’s designing homes that work for real life and still make your heart skip when the sun hits just right.

We dig into how the shift to home hangouts is changing the brief: bigger, deeper sofas for sprawling chats, modular layouts that flex, and conversation pits for the bold. Comfort beats perfection, which flows straight into our stance on lighting—no more default downlight grids. Instead, we advocate layered ambience with wall washing, table and floor lamps, and targeted accents that flatter texture and art. If you’ve ever wondered why your room feels harsh at night, this is the fix.

Texture and detail are back with a wink. Tassels, trims, and fringing add personality to drapes, cushions, and lampshades without tipping into fuss, while mirrored walls return when treated as architecture—full-height, neatly gridded, reflecting views and borrowing light in narrow halls or entries. We also unpack colour with a hot take on avocado green: pair it with warm timbers, mustard, brass, or even cobalt blue for a striking balance that dodges the 70s hangover.

Threaded through it all is a mindset shift: design slow, source with intent, and let spaces evolve. We talk about resisting the fast before-and-after cycle, chasing the right vintage mirror for months, and staying open as a scheme grows. If you’re ready to host more, stress less, and build a home that feels collected instead of completed, this one’s for you.

Love the conversation? Follow, share with a design-obsessed friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.
Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment.
Bookings now open - Book now
Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn:
What has worked for Lauren over the past year
What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects
For more info see below
The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.

What happens when you lift a 100-year-old Queenslander, drench a kitchen in deep olive, and build a business around family, community and place? We invited Jana from Studio Isaza to share the gutsy choices behind her coastal move, flood-resilient renovation, and colour-rich design language that feels joyful, lived-in and deeply personal.

We start with the sea change: swapping Melbourne’s buzz for a sleepy pocket north of Byron, where trees loom large, streets stay slow, and a raised timber home gathers light and breeze. Jana explains the surprisingly lo-fi mechanics of house lifting, why it transformed ventilation and under-house living, and how a modest extension became a Scandinavian-barn-meets-Queenslander blend. Then we step inside the now-iconic green kitchen—why ceiling-to-skirting colour calms lofty volumes, how tonal drenching draws the eye to a treetop outlook, and the moment of panic that vanished once the primer white disappeared.

The conversation moves through client-led colour strategy, the art of selling bold ideas, and the power of dustier, desaturated tones to make primaries feel grown-up. We dig into playful details—scalloped edges, buttery yellow mosaics, burgundy ranges—that add wit without noise. Jana’s second-career path from psychology and film to interiors offers grounded advice on starting small, using Instagram to find peers, and leveraging self-employment for flexibility rather than fewer hours. Along the way, we trade rituals that actually help—ocean swims, quick walks, shameless dance breaks—and share unexpected inspiration sources from cinema sets to fashion palettes and local nature.
Check out Studio Isaza here & her insta: @studioisaza

If you’re craving a push toward braver colour, planning a heritage renovation, or wondering how to pivot into interiors with kids in tow, this one’s a warm, practical guide. 
Listen, share with a design-curious friend, and tell us: what colour would you dare to drench? And if you loved the chat, hit follow, leave a review, and join us next week for more design anatomy in real life.
Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment.
Bookings now open - Book now
Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn:
What has worked for Lauren over the past year
What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects
For more info see below
The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.

Feeling overstimulated by screens and underwhelmed by white-on-white rooms? We dive into the real interior shifts shaping 2026 and explain why homes are moving from performative to restorative—spaces built for calm, conversation, and everyday joy. Drawing on years inside the industry, we unpack how cultural mood, technology, and cost-of-living pressures are changing what good design looks and feels like.

We start by reframing trends as signals of how we live, not flimsy fads. That lens reveals a decisive turn from digital gloss to tactile craft: honed stone with movement, handmade tiles with irregular glaze, timber with grain you can feel. Planning follows suit. Open plan fatigue makes way for thoughtful zones that support work, rest, parenting, and hosting without throwing everything into one echoing space. Kitchens become emotional centres with islands that meet dining, softer materials, and art on the walls—rooms that invite people to gather and stay.

Warm colour palettes continue their rise. Think ochre, nettle green, duck-egg blue, tobacco, and clay—tones that ground timber and ease the eye. White still has a role, but as accent rather than default. Bathrooms evolve into living spaces with layered lighting, joinery that feels like furniture, and even home saunas as wellness settles into daily life. We also make the case for personality: eclectic, collected objects, family photos curated with care, and flea-market finds that carry stories. The outcome is a home that feels human—not a showroom or a shop-the-look grid, but a place that holds you.

We also share a special invite: one final spot on our insider Paris and Milan design tour, with private access, line-skips, studio visits, and a guided morning at the legendary flea markets. 
For more info about the tour reach out to us on insta:  @Design.anatomy.podcast, @sisalla_interior_design & @bree.banfield
Want your home to feel calmer, richer, and unmistakably you? Hit play, then tell us the first trend you’re retiring and the material you’re bringing in next. If you loved this conversation, subscribe, share it with a design-loving friend, and leave a review to help others find the show.
Bree is now offering a 90-minute online design consult to help you tackle key challenges like colour selection, furniture curation, layout, and styling. Get tailored one-on-one advice and a detailed follow-up report with actionable recommendations—all without a full-service commitment.
Bookings now open - Book now
Join Lauren online for a workshop to help break down pricing & fees for 2026! You'll learn:
What has worked for Lauren over the past year
What hasn’t worked, and what she has changed
The exact fee structure Lauren now uses across all projects
For more info see below
The Pricing Shift: How I Structure My Fees in 2026.