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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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Meet Shaynna Blaze from Selling Houses Australia

September 10, 2011

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Shaynna Blaze is the well loved female face of LifeStyle Channel’s most popular show, Selling Houses Australia. Not bad for her first TV gig.

She recently ran a colour masterclass on Ten’s The Renovators. As she points out, free to air TV has been slow to catch on to what has been a hugely popular genre on Foxtel for years.

“People have always loved renovation shows and free to air is just getting back into it,” she says. ”I think these shows will do two things. There’ll definitely be more renovation and improvements to homes as we hit a flat spot again in our real estate market and secondly, it will put the focus back on creating a home and a beautiful space.

“Too often we feel we are governed by trends but renovation and design shows are about creating a beautiful and functional space no matter what style or trend. The importance of function unfortunately does get left behind on some of these shows as they focus too much on the entertainment angle.

“I do like all the shows for different reasons. The Block has been more about the personalities of the renovators and how their style is reflected in the interior, and sometimes your style isn’t what everyone wants to see which has encouraged healthy discussion of what people do and don’t like. The Renovators is all about learning skills that will get you a renovated house but like a lot of other people watching, I would like to see a lot more renovating and seeing them get stuck into the house. I would like to see how they use or fail with their skills in the actual work. All these houses are for sale and need a professional to oversee them, so why not show where people go wrong?”

Shaynna was keen to run the colour masterclass on The Renovators because all too often people are terrified of picking colours for their home. “Whether it is painting, bed linen or furniture, there is such a fear of selecting the right mix of colours that the majority of people play it safe with too many neutrals. That or they go crazy and overdo it and it’s like colour vomit!”

Her advice? “The best way to stop scaring yourself is work out the base of a colour. That means does it have more blue or red or yellow etc, and then use one main colour as your starting point. Slowly introduce one colour or neutral at a time that has a similar base to it and then build layers of contrasting hues slowly. Stop trying to do it all in a weekend as colour is affected by natural and artificial light and you need to look at the colour over a few days to see how it settles in the home. Until you train your eye, take it slow. Most people procrastinate for months, even years, to change the colour and expect it all to look perfect in a weekend. Take the pressure off yourself and take time with colour and enjoy experimenting with it. A couple of weekends with paint pots won’t be the end of the world!”

Shaynna, who has her own design business blankcanvas INTERIORS, went straight to college from high school and landed her first job as a designer for showrooms for a national company. She did most of her work in the retail and commercial sectors before taking some time off to be a mum and concentrating on her other loves of singing and art.

“I got back into interiors about eight years ago and it has been a huge ride ever since,” she says. “I am very lucky to be on an award-winning TV show, Selling Houses Australia, while creating some amazing interiors for my own private clients. I feel totally blessed!”

She’s currently filming the show’s fifth season. “For three years in a row we have been voted the most popular show on Foxtel! The show is about people struggling to sell their homes anywhere from a couple of months to several years (one lady had hers on and off the market for seven years if you can believe it!) and most of them have serious difficulties, whether financially or healthwise and they have to sell their home.

“Andrew Winter is the main host and real estate expert and my role as the interior designer and co-presenter is to get the houses ready for sale. Charlie Albone whips the gardens and exteriors into shape.

“This is more than just a makeover, it is getting behind the reasons why the houses don’t sell and giving solid ideas and tips to viewers for their own real estate campaign. I love working on the show as I am constantly surprised by how different every situation is and the homeowners are at such a vulnerable time in their lives as they open their homes and problems to us.” She freely admits to being  “the sook and hugger” on the show. “During a three-day makeover I get quite close to the homeowners. I always leave knowing we are seriously changing these people’s lives and helping them to move onto another chapter.”

Shaynna spends a lot of time on the road, traveling around the country for filming. “The traveling is fantastic for a while but you do get a little jaded. I do treat the plane as a big bus and it is not until I get on a plane with my husband and see how excited he is to travel that I realise I do take it for granted.”

I asked Shaynna to share some tips for people working away from home a lot. “It is so important to make the hotel room where you are staying have a little ‘you’ in it. I used to take a scented candle but I am so paranoid of the sprinklers going off I have now resorted to good quality room sprays! I was given a beautiful Diptyque one (Mimosa) as a present and I spray it around the room as soon as I get settled. I also travel with a teapot and a three-stacker tin of loose leaf teas. Lemongrass & ginger, Moroccan green tea and chamomile are the flavours of the moment.

“It is important to take a few things that make you feel at home and to complete it I put on my comfy slippers (I’m really sounding like a nana now!). I spend most of my days traveling in designer heels or getting dirty in bludstones and painting gear so comfort when I get back to the room is number one for me (there might be a daggy trackie thrown in there too)!”

About half of 40-something Shaynna’s year is free of filming commitments and that time is all about blankcanvas INTERIORS (when she is busy filming she reduces her number of clients by half). “I have a great team to support me but it is important for me to know the jobs and have the connection with the client.

“I love working on jobs where the client wants to push the envelope a bit. Most are a little timid and want to make that change but are too fearful to make the change themselves. There is a certain energy that goes into a home and I like to tap into the client’s energy to bring that to life.

“A good client shows trust. They have employed us to put their home together and need to let us guide them into the vision. Most people start to see the transformation of their home only when the end is in sight so as designers it is also our job to be the best tour guide possible in showing them the potential of their home.”

As if she wasn’t busy enough already, Shaynna will soon be adding an online shop to her website. “I am finally getting my artwork onto prints, designing furniture and selling curios I have picked up on my travels. This is such an exciting time for the business as we expand into a new area.”

Shaynna says her own home suffers from a little bit of a split personality. “It’s part relaxed entertaining and part structured and dramatic. Even though these are polar opposites in description the reality is similar in that it revolves around simplicity, very little clutter and lots of black. I love black!”

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Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into tiled steps 🤕

Oh what a night. Thankfully Hornsby Hospital were as amazing as always and we avoided stitches. All taped and glued  back together and now to keep him calm for the next few days (🤪) and watch for signs of concussion. 

Bravest little patient ever. Yes I've had a 🍷

Funny how we go into super organised mama mode in times like these. Grabbed dinosaurs, textas and scrapbook on the way out in case we had a long wait!
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
#everydaydesign #interiortrends #renovationinspiration
#homedesigninspo #lovemyhome #stylingdetails
#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
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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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Comments

  1. Avatarscott white says

    February 19, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    you may not mean to ssem this way Ms Blaze but you come across as sarcastic and opinionated

    other people have their own ideas and you should acknowledge that

    as a judge on the block you aoppear arrogant as do your fellow judges

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