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      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!
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Chelsea Hing: the reality of running your own interior design practice

March 21, 2012

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Chelsea Hing had a strong grounding within top interior design firms before starting her own Melbourne practice five years ago. “It was fantastic as I got to see all the working parts of a design business up close. I loved learning on the job and quickly moved onto bigger things.”

Starting her own business was, she says, another massive learning curve. “As any creative knows, there’s a tremendous amount of not so glamorous stuff that needs constant attention behind the scenes. It takes a lot of hard work to build a practice and reputation, with long hours to get everything right that never get billed. But when you work for yourself there’s a great opportunity to shape your world the way you want to and to choose who you work with which is kind of freeing.”

Working from home on her own to start off with, she was always itching to get out into her own studio space. “I was lucky enough to find this amazing 1850s Italianate Victorian mansion in St Kilda, which has been our base ever since. Over the years, I have worked on developing the business, trying to refine it so it’s as efficient as possible to allow me time to spend on the fun creative stuff.” These days, Chelsea has the luxury of only choosing to work on the residential projects she really enjoys.

“Residential work requires a different set of skills and sensibilities. People are actually going to live in the space you design. I enjoy building those relationships and making people happy.” Chelsea employs another interior designer and a studio manager and calls on a number of freelancers. “I have no plans to expand much larger as I like the more personal connection to the work.”

Start as you plan to go on is her design philosophy. “The fundamentals are absolutely critical to getting the details right. There are no shortcuts or magic bullets. Invest in smart, thoughtful planning, layer up with good looking natural (where logical) finishes and finish with the things that create meaning around you.”

Her own home, like so many designers it seems, is a work in progress. She shares it with partner Nik Epifanidis, an architecture and interiors photographer. “Funnily enough we also live in another one of St Kilda’s landmark Italianate Victorian mansions (in an apartment) with soaring high ceilings, plantation shutters and a good mix of contemporary and classic pieces from the 50s & 70s. Nik’s personal photographs line many of the walls. I find myself digging deeper into my black book to source a look that captures my personality. It takes time.”

Chelsea is now working on a furniture collection. “Moving into a small apartment, we were starved for space. I needed functional furniture that looked beautiful and could multi-task. The first piece was a bedside table that has a drop down lid to rest your morning coffee on (by the time you have lamp and alarm clock, there’s not much space left on top, right?) as well as two drawers and a big space for storing multiple books and magazines that are on constant rotation. The second was a hall console that conceals the household filing, in/out compartments for paid and unpaid bills and a drawer for charging phones and iPad plugged into power inside the drawer.” They’re the first two pieces from a collection she’s calling Five Easy Pieces.

Chelsea and her team recently finished work on a house in Brighton East which has been shortlisted for an Australian Interior Design Award, conceptually based around Mies Van Der Rohe’s legendary Barcelona Pavilion. “It was just so much fun to work on.” Her work has been shortlisted many times but is yet to win an award. Entering is the most important part though, says Chelsea. “There’s no better way to benchmark your practice against your peers. It’s a great feeling as a very small practice to be in the same pages as the heavy hitters. It’s another element that helps to broaden your reach.”

She applauds those designers who have taken on an almost celebrity status of late. “Australia is a young culture when it comes to embracing and commissioning design in any form, so there is a great responsibility on those with a public profile to positively educate people about the value of design and what designers actually do. The fact that local talent is finally being recognised and rewarded is also long overdue.”

What does Chelsea think she is known for? “That’s hard to say. I would hope to be known for creating interiors that are elegant, interesting, engaging and thoughtful.”

Find out more about Chelsea at her website. Read more of my interviews here.

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Australian made bathroomware is seriously impressi Australian made bathroomware is seriously impressive!

The new @studio.xox ONLY sells Australian brands. Like @nood_co coloured basins, lead-free eco brass from @faucetstrommen and @lindseywherrett's  ceramic basins made by hand in Tassie.

And as for their Sydney showroom (they also sell online): WOW.

See and read more on the blog now via link in bio.

#interiorsaddict #theinteriorsaddict #jenbishop
#creatingbeautifulspaces #homestylingdesign
#designbywomen #homestylingtips #sydneycreatives
#homestylingsydney #interiorstyling #interiordesignsydney
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#loveinteriors #homeimprovements #interiordesignaustralia
#dreamhomeinspiration #homemakeover #personaldesign
#interiordesignaus #creatingbeautifulspaces
#creativehomes #housestyling #sydneyhomes
#interiorinspiration #myhomedesign
I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new I'm THRILLED to be an ambassador for the brand new @madeinaustshow in Sydney this August.

🦘🐨Forget every tacky association you ever had about touristy Australian made and prepare to see a showcase of the best of home, lifestyle, fashion and beauty made right here. If the pandemic has made you appreciate buying local even more, this is for you.

It's the first business to business trade event connecting retailers with Australian made products to champion our local makers🙏

Apply to exhibit or find out more at their website, via their bio, now!

Are YOU buying more Australian made post covid?

#madeinaustralia #australianmade #aussiemade #aussiedesign
Do I recommend a timber vanity top? A big fat NOP Do I recommend a timber vanity top?

A big fat NOPE! 💧 

Which is why we have recently covered ours with a Caesarstone top (thanks to @justinplace_sydney for the advice and supply) and the sweet RELIEF of not having to worry about this high traffic area anymore, I'm telling you!🤗

Doesn't matter what they tell you or how many times it's sealed, I'm not sure it's a great idea in a room which is so, well, wet!

I love having the warmth of timber in the bathroom and it's a beautiful piece, but timber on the top? Never again.

Ours probably lasted a year (if that) before it started to go downhill (and we want a good decade out of a bathroom, right?!). 2.5 years on, everything else in this bathroom looks virtually brand new and the water marked vanity top was really letting the side down and making me sad!

But I'm so pleased with this solution, I have to say! Took the plumber less than an hour to remove the sink, install the top and connect the sink back up. We didn't need to move the tap and it isn't too close to the basin.

The kids are allowed to brush their teeth and wash their hands (liquid soap 🥴) in here again and I can leave my hair straightener on there with gay abandon 😆

The reflective surface (which I can clean with whatever I like!💪🏻) brightens the room up too!

Next week I'll tell you what I really think of my brass tile trim too 😉

#interiorsaddictbathroomreno2 #interiorsaddictfamilyhomereno #timbervanity
Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than F Is there a more decadent and delicious soup than French onion?

I think not!

Grab the recipe on the blog this morning via link in bio.
Get to know me! I haven't done one of these in YE Get to know me!

I haven't done one of these in YEARS so there's possibly thousands of you who don't know my back story. Here's a few things you may not know about me!

✔️ I'm English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and I moved here (just for one year) back in 2008😆 

✔️ I can't end the day without a bath, even if I get home really late or on a really hot day. It's a mental health thing and my happy place. 🛁 

✔️ Before becoming a blogger and running my own small business, I was a journalist from the age of 18. My favourite news gathering times were as a newspaper crime reporter (bit different to interiors!) 📓 

✔️ I once worked at New Scotland Yard in London 🚔 

✔️I had an interview at Oxford (didn't get in!) but chose not to go to uni at all after being offered a job on the local paper #universityoflife 😁

✔️ My mum died when I was 3, I have an excellent dad and one sister (younger) in the UK ❤️ 🇬🇧 

✔️ At school, my favourite subject was French 🇫🇷 and I was head girl 🤓🤓

✔️ I'm addicted to ☕️ , long hot baths and💄 (been wearing it since I was about 14!)

✔️ I'm not a phonecall person and will never ever pick up an unknown number. Ever. They can leave a message 😁

✔️ My favourite cuisine is Japanese 🍣 🍜 and Damian and I honeymooned in Tokyo and Venice 

✔️ I have zero design qualifications. I just started blogging about my passion, which is trying to persuade everyone to #heartyourhome That was 11 years ago...

✔️ My favourite tipple is a good GnT or🍷 

✔️ Cheesy as it sounds, 💁‍♀️being a mum is my absolute biggest joy in life 🧒👦

✔️ I will never give up my old school paper diary! Has to be A5 and week to view 📖 

✔️ My official surname isn't Bishop. I kept my maiden name for work after I got married but changed it for everything else. Often confuse myself!

✔️ I didn't get my Ps until I was 37 and I'm still a terrible parker 😯 🅿️

Hope you feel like you know me a bit better 😘

📸 @vanlowvanlow
Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 @nood_co coloured con Blue, green or lilac? 🎨 

@nood_co coloured concrete basins is a great Aussie business success story. Although co founder Matt Di Costa first found fame as one half of Matt and Kim on The Block, he hasn't relied on this to build his brand.

“We are very honoured to have been a part of The Block, and all they have done for us. I am, however, a believer in letting the product take centre stage,” he says.

Read our interview with Matt via link in bio now.

🙏Share your favourite colour basin in the comments!

#colouredconcrete #noodco #colouredbasin #blockheads #the block #bathroomtrends2022

Pic 1 by @naibudesign_ and 2 by @twostyleinteriors
I'd love to see more colour in Aussie interiors! I'd love to see more colour in Aussie  interiors! 🎨 

At the end of the day though, it's a matter of personal taste. I love pops of colour but it's not for everyone. 

We couldn't resist featuring this Canadian house tour today. The amazing Kelly Green  hutch (swipe) was an upcycled $200 find 🤗

Head over to the blog via link in bio to see the rest including one of the best playrooms we've seen in ages!

Project by @in.house.design
📸 @philcrozier
Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis o Create an unexpected city oasis with an emphasis on light and nature.

That was the brief for the conversion of a corner shop and a warehouse bakery into a luxury family home in Sydney's Newtown. And how about the library?!

Take the tour of this very special @annacarindesign project on the blog now, via link in bio.

Pic: @justinalexanderphoto
The things that excite me as a 40 year old 🤭 N The things that excite me as a 40 year old 🤭

None of us enjoy laundry (OK, there are a few of you out there who do. Weird!) but we have to do it. And often. So if your laundry bin can be as good looking, functional and space saving as this, then why wouldn't you?!

I've lost track of how many baskets I've thrown out because they've gone soggy or mouldy. They look pretty, sure, but they're not fit for purpose and they're often messy and overflowing.

Here's what I love about his @brabantia_australia one:

✔️ ventilation holes
✔️ no need to remove the lid for small items plus it hides your dirty laundry from view
✔️ easily removable and washable inner laundry bag that velcros back on 
✔️ corrosion resistant so fine in bathroom or laundry 
✔️ Brabantia make things as sustainably as possible
✔️ compact, sleek, European design
✔️ 10 year warranty
✔️ tall and skinny so takes up less floor in my tiny laundry

The Rolls Royce of laundry bins? I think so 👌🏻

TOLD you this was going to be exciting!

Now I need to know, do you have your laundry basket in the bathroom, the laundry, every bedroom? We used to have one in each bedroom but moved to the laundry-only situation which I much prefer (one for colours and one for whites). My boys know to put their used clothes in the bin in the laundry each night and they're 7 and 3!  #raisingfuturehusbands

#gifted
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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 8 years. She is married to Damian and mum to Sebastian and Charlie.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatarsam says

    April 15, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    Love the white table – where does it come from and price?? Thx

    • Avatarinteriorsaddict says

      April 15, 2012 at 10:23 pm

      I will pass the query on to Chelsea for you 🙂

  2. AvatarChelsea Hing says

    January 23, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    A bit belated but just discovered this comment. The table is from Space Furniture & unfortunately is the price of a small car. Sorry!

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