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Why Sydney keeps falling back in love with the corner shop
Sydney corner-shop conversions are turning old shopfronts into bright homes while keeping a little neighbourhood memory alive on the street.
Why perfect homes suddenly feel a bit embarrassing
The chicest rooms in 2026 are warmer, looser and a little less camera-ready, as Australian interiors drift away from beige perfection.
The $19.95 room where IKEA sells hope
IKEA PS 2026 turns budget furniture into a small-space fantasy, pairing a $19.95 Sydney stay with colour, wit and rental-era optimism.
What a bicycle tyre knows about a better room
Melbourne Design Week women are turning tyre tubes and timber offcuts into tactile furniture, and quietly redrawing Australian interiors.
Anthony Burke wants a smaller Australian dream
Anthony Burke thinks smaller houses and shared backyards might leave Australians less lonely, less indebted and better at living together.
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Anthony Burke wants a smaller Australian dream
Anthony Burke thinks smaller houses and shared backyards might leave Australians less lonely, less indebted and better at living together.
What a bathroom showroom now understands about renovation fatigue
Sydney's new Reece Rosebery showroom suggests bathroom retail is now selling relief: calmer choices, steadier pacing and help for renovators already worn thin.
Open plan is not the answer: what three designers who live tiny taught me
Three Melbourne design professionals who live in tiny homes share counterintuitive advice: open-plan is not the answer, budget is a design driver, and homes will never be perfect.
What a room reveals when every chair is trying a little harder than comfort
Melbourne Design Week's 100 Chairs brings together 130+ Australian designers rethinking the humble seat, and local craft is finally telling its own stories.
How to style textile art at home without flattening the room
Textile art at home works best when you use scale, texture and restraint. Here's how to hang a woven piece so a room feels warmer, not themed.
The martini trolley is back, and not ironically
The martini trolley revival is less about retro kitsch than a new appetite for visible hosting, small rituals and rooms that know company is coming.
Why our kitchens keep borrowing from restaurants
Restaurant-inspired kitchens are showing up across Australian renovations as homeowners chase warmer light, better flow and rooms built for company.
The small bathroom changes that pull a room together
In a cramped bathroom, the best budget updates are rarely the glamorous ones. Start with light, scale and storage, then let the room breathe.
When the roof becomes the fantasy
A penthouse carved from the sky above Elizabeth Bay is less interesting as a trophy sale than as a clue to the way Sydney now packages scarcity, taste and home as one shimmering thing.
What a stylish home looks like on a tight budget
A stylish room rarely comes from buying more. Start with a tighter palette, better light, one solid second-hand piece and a little restraint.
The renter micro-makeover that changes a room
An hour, roughly $200 and a better eye for light, texture and scale can make a rented room feel far less borrowed.
When Sydney's grand old sandstone loosened up
The Lands by Capella is more than a heritage rescue. It offers a glamorous, usable model for how older Australian buildings keep dignity and gain a pulse.
The Melbourne house that learned to exhale
Twelve years after its last major overhaul, Stephen and Tanya Mendel's Melbourne home shows how art, texture and editing can make a familiar house feel alive again.
Why the living room looks better a little undone
Living rooms in 2026 are turning softer and more personal, with books, textiles and better light replacing flat showroom minimalism.
The designer making modular lighting feel warm, not clinical
Joanne Odisho's modular lighting won the 2026 AFDA, but the real story is why flexible design is starting to feel intimate in Australian homes.
The renovation moves that let a small home breathe
Architects say the smartest compact-home renovations do not chase extra floor area. They chase light, flow, storage and the kind of daily ease that makes a small Australian home feel bigger.
The rental upgrades that survive inspection day
In a white-box rental, the smartest upgrades change light, texture and storage, then lift out cleanly before inspection day.
North Queensland houses stop fighting the weather
The 2026 North Queensland architecture winners point to a sharper Australian home ideal: less sealed-box glamour, more shade, airflow and climate sense.
The winter bedding swaps that warm a room
A colder bedroom does not need a full overhaul. The smartest Australian winter-bedding shift starts with what sits beneath you, then builds warmth in layers that still feel breathable.
Why I keep booking flights to Melbourne in May
Melbourne Design Week opens its tenth edition on 14 May with more than 400 events, and I have been booking flights down for years now. The honest answer to why is that the rest of the country still has not built what Melbourne already has.
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