The Designory Studio

The longer we work in design, the less interested we become in arbitrary rules. Because after enough homes, enough renovations, enough tricky floorplans and real-life budgets, you realise there very rarely is one universally “right” answer.

There’s only the answer that works for 'this' house.
This architecture. This budget. This family. The way they actually live.
And, just as importantly, the way they want their home to feel.

That’s why we’ll always come back to thinking before designing. Of course the beautiful bit matters... we love the beautiful bit. But the homes that stay with us are the ones where the beauty feels almost inevitable, because everything underneath it has been properly considered.

The flow. The function. The proportions. The light. The materials. The feeling.

Get those things right, and the material and design choices become the final layer, not the thing doing all the heavy lifting.

These are some of the design hills we’ll happily die on.

We’ve always loved materials that age, soften and tell the story of a home being lived in and right now, in a world that feels increasingly polished, digital and artificial, they feel more relevant than ever.

Not perfect. Just real.

Want to read more? Comment READ the download the latest issue of our Little Black Book: 130+ pages of design, sourcing, makers and places worth knowing.

We wish you’d use the F word more when designing your home…

Feeling.

Form matters. Function matters even more, we believe. But feeling? That’s often the difference between an interior that looks good and one that feels truly great.

It’s the mood of a room. The way it welcomes you in. The way it supports how you want to live, not just how you want your home to look.

Our Design Intelligence Method explores this in much more detail and, importantly, gives you the tools to actually put it into practice in your own home. Coming September 1.

Stay tuned.

This Merricks North home is such a beautiful example of what happens when you let natural materials become the design language.

Rammed earth. Blackbutt timber. Concrete. Warm, textural surfaces balanced against clean architectural lines. There’s an earthiness to it, but also a restraint that keeps everything feeling contemporary.

We particularly love the contrast between the weight of the concrete and rammed earth and the warmth of the timber, from the cabinetry to the ceilings. Nothing is fighting for attention, and yet there’s so much texture and detail to take in.

The four-metre concrete kitchen island could easily feel imposing, but surrounded by timber and natural light it becomes this beautifully sculptural anchor to the room.

Sometimes the materials ARE the decoration. A beautiful one to save for the inspiration folder.

Home: Merricks North, Victoria
Design: Western Port Building Design
Build:
Photography:
Styling:
Featured via Homes to Love / Inside Out

Four years after we sold Sikata House, we snuck back in to see how its new owner has made it his own.
Lucky for us, he’s also a friend — and one of the owners of klaylife — so we were especially curious to see how his own pieces had found their way into the house.
What we loved most was seeing how much of the original vision he kept. Sikata was designed by Mel as her own personal home, so there’s something pretty special about seeing that design still resonate with someone else years later…while evolving so naturally around a new owner and a new layer of personality.
Swipe through and you’ll spot some of the changes, including the Petal Pendant, Okina Table Lamp + Pendants from klaylife, the Weylandts leather sofa represented exclusively by Klaylife in Australia, and a brilliant series of custom pieces by Annalisa Lawrence upstairs. We originally had one piece there — he went for four, and we love the impact.
And if you want to see exactly what we originally sourced for Sikata, we’ve made the full project schedule available to download for free — including materials, finishes, paint colours and decorating selections.

Comment SOURCE and we’ll send you the link.

Swipe through to see how Sikata looks now.