• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Interiors Addict

Heart Your Home

@interiorsaddict on Instagram   @interiorsaddict on Facebook   @interiorsaddict on Pinterest  
Subscribe
  • Job Board
  • About
  • Before & Afters
  • RENO ADDICT
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Kids Rooms
  • Bedrooms
  • Living Room
  • Shopping
  • Expert Tips
  • Recipes
  • Parenting
  • Travel
Interiors Addict
  • Job Board
  • About
    • Our Story

      Australia’s largest interior design, styling and renovation blog for the everyday Aussie. By former journalist and magazine editor Jen Bishop, the original interiors addict!
      READ MORE

      We’re big on Instagram!
      @interiorsaddict

      • About
      • Contact Interiors Addict
      • Work with Interiors Addict
      • Advertise / Find a job in Interiors
      • Press
      • Get Your Free Ebook

        This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
    • bookcover-jens-reno
  • By Room
    • Browse by Room

      Where you can search for all our posts about a specific room. Only interested in kitchens and bathrooms? We got you!

      • Kitchens
      • Bathrooms
      • Kids Rooms
      • Bedrooms
      • Living Room
      • Home Office
      • Dining
      • Laundry
      • Outdoor & Exteriors
      • Renting
    • bookcover-jens-reno
  • Before & Afters
    • Before & Afters

      Who doesn’t LOVE a good before & after? If you want to be inspired by the whole reno process, and not just the shiny photos at the end, this is the place for you!

      View Articles

      • Before & Afters
      • Jen’s reno
      • Real Renos
      • RENO ADDICT
    • DINING-6-AFTER-0P9A4023Before & After: This week’s Selling Houses recap (Clermont QLD)
    • AFTERLush, resort-style backyard reno provides holiday at home
  • Reno Addict
    • RENO ADDICT

      Looking for reno inspo? Find it all here, from other people’s projects to the latest trends, tools and products, whether you’re DIY-ing or employing trades.

      View articles

      • Reno Products
      • The Block
      • DIY
      • Reno Trends
      • Before & Afters
      • Real Renos
    • Screen Shot 2023-03-26 at 6.58.44 pmAmazing $2k balcony transformation using Kmart stone tiles
    • AFTERLush, resort-style backyard reno provides holiday at home
  • Shopping
    • Shopping

      Want to know where to buy the latest furniture, homewares, rugs, art and more? We’re always sharing our latest finds and telling you where you can buy them.

      View Articles

      • Furniture
      • Homewares
      • Art
      • Smart Home
      • Appliances
      • Reno Products
    • MargueriteNew Sage x Clare range + creative director’s top picks!
    • Screen Shot 2023-03-08 at 9.49.47 amKmart partners with Wiradjuri artist Judith Young on home range
  • Inspiration
    • Inspiration

      While Jen’s a legitimate interiors addict, she’s no design professional, so she calls on an army of the country’s best to share their expertise with you. Be inspired by their stories too!

      View Articles

      • Decorating 101
      • Interviews
      • Expert Tips
      • Before & Afters
      • House Tours
      • Designers
      • Styling
      • Renovating
      • Real Renos
      • Covet my coffee table
    • TAYLORS OF BERRY HR-11Inside Neale Whitaker’s stunning new modern country guesthouse
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle

      We’re mostly about the home but Jen also likes to share other things she thinks you’ll love, like food and travel.

      • Recipes
      • Travel
      • Parenting
    • Sashi X Cobram Shoot – 15th November_GRIFFIN SIMM_Finals 36Foodie Friday: Sashi Cheliah’s chickpea curry in a hurry
    • 211025_Rosedale_12Stylist Steve Cordony’s stunning Rosedale Farm is on Airbnb!
  • Jobs
    • Advertise on our job board
    • Job Board FAQs for advertisers

An interview with stylist and interiors writer Heather Nette King

By Jen Bishop •

FacebookPinEmailTweet

Heather Nette King’s enthusiasm for styling and interiors is palpable and so inspiring. Brave enough to make the move out of an unfulling career in PR to try her hand as an interiors writer and stylist, it’s safe to say she’s never looked back. These days you’ll mostly see her gorgeous work in the Melbourne homes pages of Sunday Life and she recently took on her first official interior decorating job after spending years advising friends and family on what to do with their homes.

Heather Nette King blue

Having always dreamed of working on an interiors magazine, when Heather and her family moved to Sydney, she quit her PR job and was starting to contact the editors at her favourite titles to see if they’d take on an unpaid intern, when she got a very lucky break. “I was given a trial period producing the home pages for Sunday Life magazine. They knew I could write, so I had to source and shoot some fabulous homes so they could see if I had what it took to do the rest of it. I am forever in debt to the wonderful Aleksandra Beare (then the art director at Sunday Life, and currently acting creative director at Inside Out) who gave me this lucky break. Five years on, I am still doing these home pages. I get to visit the most incredible homes and talk interiors for hours – so I am like a pig in mud!” Her advice to aspiring stylists is to team up with an aspiring interiors photographer and “just get shooting”. Build up a portfolio then start knocking on doors.

Heather Nette King fluro

And although she feels very fortunate, Heather’s a great believer in making a change when it’s needed. “I really don’t get it when people stay in jobs, or any kind of relationships for that matter, when they are not happy. Like everyone, I find change a bit daunting, but sometimes you just have to back yourself and jump!”

Heather Nette King
Heather Nette King

Writing about how people live in their homes gives you an amazing insight into the human condition, she says. “Honestly, during interviews, I have sobbed along with someone who was describing how their grandfather smuggled just one possession out of a war zone, and I have laughed until I cried with other people describing their renovating experiences. The common denominator is how important our little patch of space and our belongings are to us, and it’s an honour to get the chance to do justice to people’s stories.”

The best homes stories are the ones where people really open up about their hopes, dreams, aspirations and history. ”It’s about so much more than just room dimensions, or building materials, how much a home cost, or great views,” says Heather. “Being able to include all of the practical information that readers want, together with some heartfelt stories about history, relationships and dreams, is what makes a good story for me.”

Home for Heather and her family is a 110 year-old weatherboard Victorian that needs a new bathroom, laundry and kitchen. “The opportunity to renovate it seems so far away that I concentrate on things I can change myself – like painting. I am constantly painting the walls and the furniture, just for change’s sake. I also use my home as a location pretty frequently so it gets a few work related makeovers.” Her bedroom was olive green for a few weeks last year but you’d never know it today as it’s back to white.

Heather's own bedroom (that never stays the same for long)
Heather’s own bedroom (that never stays the same for long)

Of course, it’s not all roses. “If I am shooting a product story it’s up early and off to the studio or location. Hopefully all the props have arrived, or I will have a carload of them to unpack. Then the photographer and I will usually paint or paper a backdrop, lay out some flooring, then get cracking with the styling, lighting and shooting. Then we pack it all up (sometimes it breaks my heart – I just want to live in those make-believe rooms forever). If I am styling a home on location it’s usually a mad race against the weather and the light to capture up to 30 shots of a home before the sun goes down. It can be tricky in Melbourne’s winter! Some days I dedicate to hitting the shops (I know, it’s tough) and others I spend on the road looking for fab homes to shoot. It’s hard to get bored!”

A spread for Country Style
A spread for Country Style

After years of shamelessly telling friends and family how to decorate their homes, Heather recently took on her first private interior decorating job. “I have always been a bit reticent to impose my own taste on people I don’t really know but this is a lovely, really collaborative job with a divine client who has great taste, and I have really enjoyed it. I’m kinda wanting to do more!” Also on her wishlist is her own paint range, which would feature many different shades of pink! She even knows what she’d call them all.

A campaign for Dulux
A campaign for Dulux

Her tips for the everyday person wanting to create a stylish home include not being a slave to fashion. “Interior fashion trends come and go as quickly as the fashion we wear. Know your own style and add just a few little seasonal accents to keep it up to date. Don’t be afraid of paint – it’s so cheap and easy to do, and cheap and easy to change.” And my favourite nugget of wisdom is this: “The only person you have to please is yourself. Don’t decorate for others – they don’t have to live in your home. The worst thing in the world for me is competitive decorating – keeping up with the Joneses! It’s tragic.”

Read Heather’s blog here.

First two photos by Mike Baker, Country Style photos by Sharyn Cairns, Heather’s bedroom photo by Armelle Habib. 

FacebookPinEmailTweet

February 1, 2013

Primary Sidebar

Popular This Week

  • Australian kitchen dimensions: standard sizes for every last detail
  • Breathtaking new Hamptons style home in Melbourne’s south east
  • Before & After: This week’s Selling Houses recap (Clermont QLD)
  • Palette Cam 15 apps to help you build your dream home
  • Before & after: Classic, contemporary Adelaide bathroom reno

Follow us on Instagram

Wallpaper in every single room! What do you recko Wallpaper in every single room!

What do you reckon? You'd think it would be overkill but it isn't because so many of the designs are subtle yet still impactful.

Head over to the blog to see how @grafico_walls transformed this blank canvas Melbourne townhouse with their products, which you've probably seen on The Block over the years. And read how Damian Corney has grown this Melbourne business with wife Adele and a growing team. There's also a look inside the very cool Motley Hotel which has used a whopping 4km of their wallpaper throughout!

You can also watch a video tour with Bec Douros as the house featured on Open Homes Australia over the weekend.

Via link in bio now.

#wallpapergoals #wallpaperdesign #australianwallart #australianwallpaper #wallmurals #wallpapermural #wallpapermurals #wallpapereddoor #digitalwallpaper #digitallyprintedwallpaper #customwallpaper #wallpaperaesthetic #wallpapertrends #wallpaperaustralia #grafico #graficowallcoverings #melbournebusiness #melbournesmallbusiness #openhomesaustralia #theblock #becdouros
Kids and fluffy chickens. Does it get any cuter?! Kids and fluffy chickens. Does it get any cuter?! 

Braved the rain second morning in a row to feed the animals at @edenfarmescape because life's too short to worry about a bit of mud and drizzle!

Feeling relaxed 🥰
Did you see this cracking little transformation on Did you see this cracking little transformation on @sellinghousesaus last night?

We have all the finer details on the blog today via link in bio. Particularly love the kitchen refresh using the existing blue cupboards which really weren't doing anything for me before 😂

#sellinghouses #sellinghousesaustralia #beforeandafterkitchen #beforeandafterrenovation #beforeandafterlivingroom #renoshow #realreno #interiorsblog #interiorsaccount #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #bluekitchen #budgetkitchenmakeover #budgetdiy #budgetmakeover
How's this for a compact back yard TRANSFORMATION? How's this for a compact back yard TRANSFORMATION?!

Our friends at @mintdesignau have done it again!

Homeowner Briony Marsh says: It’s totally changed our home lifestyle now we can sit outside on the lounge in the sun or shade, be in the pool, spa, sauna or cooking pizzas and hanging out with friends. It sounds cliched but it really feels like we are on holiday at home!”

Head over to the blog to see the finer details, including a sauna and a seriously good looking copper pizza oven. There's a lot packed into this space!

#backyards #smallpools #smallpool #homesauna #pizzaovens #outdoorpizzaoven #landscapedesigner #mintdesign #holidayathome #resortstylehomes #landscapeartist #backyard #exteriorinspiration #exteriormakeover #exteriordesigns #pergoladesign #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome
Swipe for before & afters of today's real reno. L Swipe for before & afters of today's real reno.

Located inside a 1912 sandstone villa in Adelaide’s Kensington, this bathroom makeover combines classic and contemporary elements that complement the home’s original, period features. 

Designed by the home’s owner @designby_Tahirih, who is a property stylist too, the renovation came sooner than expected after water ingress made the makeover of their only bathroom an urgent necessity!

The whole project cost an impressive $20k, project managed herself.

Read all about it via link in bio now.

#realrenovations #realhomes #realreno #heartyourhome #renoaddict #freestandingbath #classicbathroom #classiccontemporary #classiccontemporaryinteriors #theinteriorsaddict  #interiorsaddict #jenbishop #homestaging #laundrymakeover #bathroomrenovations #bathroomremodels
Maybe it's an antidote to the grey weather but we Maybe it's an antidote to the grey weather but we find some of the most colourful interiors from my motherland, the UK!

This beautiful lilac kitchen is found in a renovated apartment by @llidesign in a grand mansion block in London's Bloomsbury. You can tour the rest of it on the blog now, via link in bio.

#londonapartment #bloomsbury
#bloomsburylondon #luxuryapartment #westendlondon #lilackitchen #colourfulkitchen #londonhome #londonhomes #londoninteriordesigner #londoninteriors #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsdaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #kitchenshelf #kitchenshelves #kitchenshelfie #openshelves #openshelvingkitchen
I remember the chair being such a key purchase whe I remember the chair being such a key purchase when I put together my first ever baby room for Seb. I spent many an evening relaxing on mine while pregnant as I tried to get my head around impending motherhood! Not only are glider recliners like the Chelsea from @iltutto the most comfortable chairs EVER for those many hours spent feeding and settling, why shouldn't they look this good too, am I right?!

Did you love your nursery chair? Did it look this good?!

See more on the Il Tutto Chelsea Glider Recliner Chair via link in bio now.

#feedingchair #nurserychair #nursingchair #reclinerchair #nurseryroomdecor #nursery #nurserygoals #nurserydesign #babyroomdecoration #babyrooms #babyroominspo #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #iltutto #newmumlife
Here's a sneak peek of the kitchen and powder room Here's a sneak peek of the kitchen and powder room to whet your appetite! 

Head on over to the blog via link in bio to see the rest of this gorgeous Sydney reno by @_studio_trio 

Pix by @mareehomer.photography and styling by Jackie Brown.

#interiorsblog #interiorsaccount #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome #realreno #housetour #australianhomes #australianhouses #sydneyhomes #sydneyhouses #texturedtiles #kitchenshelfie #kitchenshelves #kitchenshelf #powderroomdesign #powderroomwallpaper #studiotrio #kitchenhooks
There's a LOT of goodness in @sageandclare's lates There's a LOT of goodness in @sageandclare's latest collection Marguerite but the Aida rug has to be my personal fave.

Handcrafted from wool, it features a rustic check design with a rainbow of nostalgic colour. Embroidered edge stitching furthers its handcrafted feel. 

“This is pure colour joy bundled up in a hard-wearing and happy rug that will lift any room with ease," says creative director Phoebe Bell.

Head over to the blog now via link in bio to see more, including Phoebe's 5 faves.

#sageandclare #rugshopping #rainbowrug #tartanrug #checkeredrug #flatweaverugs #statementrug #handcraftedhomedecor #handcraftedhomewares #funhome #interiorsblog #interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop #heartyourhome
Follow on Instagram
Visit Jen's profile on Pinterest.

Get Your Free Ebook

Ebook cover

Never miss the latest renovating and interiors products, news and inspo again! Sign up for our newsletter and we'll send you the best bits from the blog, direct to your inbox. Plus you'll get our latest eBook: What Made The Biggest Impact in Jen's Own Reno.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Avatar

About Jen Bishop

Jen Bishop is our owner and publisher and an experienced journalist and editor. Interiors Addict has been her full-time job for more than 10 years. She is mum to two young boys and lives in Sydney.

More from Interviews

Dining room

The case for wallpapering every room in the home

A sofa shelf is just one of the accessories within the range

Sofa startup’s modulars win design award and rave reviews

AFTER

Lush, resort-style backyard reno provides holiday at home

Before & after: Classic, contemporary Adelaide bathroom reno

Luxe, textured materials star in modern classic Sydney home reno

Marguerite

New Sage x Clare range + creative director’s top picks!

Adore Home’s latest reno: Contemporary meets mid-century

Kitchen

Modern Hamptons style: How to bring it into the kitchen

Small space living: Three houses on one petite Melbourne block

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatarjane frosh stylist says

    February 1, 2013 at 8:01 am

    gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!! XXX

  2. AvatarKirsty says

    February 1, 2013 at 8:41 am

    I love Heather! Clever, generous & gorgeous.

  3. AvatarMeghan Plowman says

    February 1, 2013 at 3:24 pm

    What a talent! LOVE the spread for Country Style and the collection of speckled eggs, simply beautiful.

  4. AvatarLouise says

    February 1, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    My favourite Interiors Addict Article. Great subject, excellent questions and fantastic answers. Thanks for sharing. I’m more determined than ever to buy some paint and splash it on a wall in my home.

  5. AvatarMarie Walsøe says

    February 2, 2013 at 1:01 am

    What a wonderful splash of colours.

  6. AvatarMelissa Simonetta says

    February 6, 2013 at 8:30 am

    Fantastic interview! Very inspirational, thanks Heather!

  7. AvatarEmilia says

    February 8, 2013 at 8:18 am

    Love Heather’s Sunday Life articles. I am addicted to them and always rip them out and keep them.

  8. AvatarMaria Malakellis says

    February 13, 2013 at 10:03 am

    Heather and so talented and has a beautiful personality too.

Footer

Interiors Addict

Interiors Addict

  • About
  • Contact
  • Work with Jen
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure Policy

Browse

  • RENO ADDICT
  • Jen’s Reno
  • House Tours
  • Real Renos
  • Interviews
  • Styling
  • Designers
  • Bedrooms
  • Covet My Coffee Table
  • Expert Tips
  • The Block
  • Art
  • Furniture
  • Recipes

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RENO ADDICT

Copyright © 2011–2023 Addicted Media Pty Ltd
Website care by ClickWP · Log in

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!