My Decorating Journey

Decorating your own home can be a rewarding and frustrating challenge.  Sometimes it’s important to look back, and reflect on where you’ve come from and what you’ve achieved.  Decorating a home is a gradual process.  Your tastes and styles change over time.

Here, I’m sharing my decorating journey.  I’ve been renovating and decorating for 20 years, and I’ve learnt a thing or two along the way.  Watch the video to see inside the houses.

An Apartment in Glebe

1994 – 1998

Our first apartment was a basic but spacious 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in Glebe, in Sydney’s inner west.  It was definitely a fixer-upper.  Imagine a Chinese restaurant with gold foil and velvet wallpaper, fake timber laminate panelling, a vermiculite (popcorn) ceiling and no carpet on the floor.  Make sure you see the padded palm toilet seat – it’s special!

The Brisbane Brown House

1998 – 2000

Mission brown on the outside.  Apricot and lace curtains on the inside.  This house in Brisbane was also a fixer-upper.  Check out the blow-fly lights in the lounge room.  I was brave here and painted the kitchen blue.  Not something I would probably do now, but sometimes you just have to go for it.

The Henley Builder’s Home

2000 – 2013

This was the big family home in the suburbs.  On a quarter-acre block, with a pool and backing onto 10 acres of parkland, it was a great place to raise children.  These were the years where we entertained at home most weekends.  The house was big, but there was nothing flash about it.  All the fixtures and fittings were builder’s grade.

The London Terrace (Rental)

2008-2010

Living in a rental house was a challenge for a serial decorator used to owning the home I live in.  Lucky it was London and there was far too much to see and do to worry about the decor of the house.

The Queenslander

2013 – Present

And so, we’ve arrived in our current home.  Each home is unique, and what works in one house doesn’t necessarily work in another.  The stage or season of life you are in also influences your decorating choices.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my decorating journey.  Where are you in your decorating journey?  Renting or buying your first apartment?  Moving into your first family home?  Or maybe the kids have grown up and left home and now your downsizing.  I’d love to hear about your decorating journey and see some of your pictures.

I'm Kylie, and I love to share practical home decorating and styling tips. I'm a qualified interior designer and self taught crafter and DIY'er. I'm addicted to decorating, and can't walk past a homewares shop without going in for a look. I live in a 1930's Queenslander in Brisbane's inner suburbs which I'm turning into a home one project at a time.