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Watercolour house sketches a hit with homeowners

August 12, 2019 Leave a Comment

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Interior designer, stylist and makeup artist Melissa Rettore stumbled across yet another string to her bow when she started doing watercolour hand drawn renders and soon realised people would pay her to sketch their much-loved homes. It’s work she has come to really enjoy because of the personal stories behind the commissions, as well as the fact she’s been obsessed with houses and their details for as long as she can remember.

It’s perhaps no surprise that, as a child growing up in Melbourne, she could be found rearranging her bedroom or madly sketching, and she remembers being as young as seven, making a hobby of walking past houses, spying into bay windows and trying to catch a glimpse of life inside.

A Coburg cottage.

As an adult, she went on to get qualifications in art, teaching and interior design and decorating.

“Iโ€™ve always been obsessed with Edwardian charm, California Bungalows, Victorian terraces and Melbourneโ€™s unique Boom Style housing. It was around my fifth year as a primary school teacher that it dawned on me that my favourite part of the school year was during summer break when I would set up the classroom โ€• organising and styling the space. The penny finally dropped.”

Melissa realised her true calling was in interior design.ย “Turning a space into a home is what makes me feel content. I love that I have combined my childhood obsession of houses with my instinctual understanding of how people respond to, use, and inhabit a space.ย Oh, and I happen to have married a carpenter who builds houses for a living. No secret motive there at all, I promise!”

She’s been officiallyย working in the interiors industry for the last three years. “The very first time I presented a design concept, my hand rendered sketch highlighted with watercolour received a great response from my peers and tutors. I suspect this approach offered a personal touch that digitally produced images lack, and captured their attention.

“I began sketching houses to assist with designing colour schemes. What started as a preliminary approach to design planning, led me to develop a unique series of architectural drawings that I now regard as art in themselves. The clients I have designed for have also become the clients I have sketched for.”

She’d already been sketching purely for pleasure for a long time though, largely prompted by her love of nostalgia. “I started to explore my inspiration through an investigation into my childhood. I grew up in Melbourneโ€™s charming suburbs of Coburg, Brunswick, Preston and Reservoir and started sketching memorable houses of my childhood.” This evolved into an exploration of iconic TV houses of her childhood such as Ramsay Street (Pin Oak Court) from Neighbours, Monicaโ€™s Apartment from Friends andย the McCalister mansion from Home Alone.

Think you recognise it? It’s because you do! The iconic Ramsay Street from TV show Neighbours.

“I love sketching the exterior of houses and places I frequented as a child. I have fond memories of heritage buildings, local pasticierras, Italian restaurants, churches, the family bakery and local businesses,” says Melissa, who admits her home is a shrine to things that remind her of the good times. “Iโ€™m a sucker for gorgeous architectural details and ornate houses and over time Iโ€™ve allowed myself to become obsessed with drawings and discovering the details within each architectural style.”

Her favourite sketching job is a funny little story. “I had recently taken a screenshot of a gorgeous little kitchen I wanted to sketch, while deep in an Instagram rabbit hole. A few weeks went on, and I had forgotten about the image and started sketching another find. After sharing the sketch on Instagram, it gained the attention of the owner of the original kitchen I was going to sketch. Her name was Jen Bishop.”

[Yes folks, that’s how I got talking to Melissa, and I couldn’t wait to share her work with you all. Of course, Melissa has since sketched that kitchen, my pride and joy, and here it is! You might also recognise my living room above! Jen]

My kitchen, as sketched by Melissa.

Ironically, her own home — contemporary with black structural details, concrete floors and bright white walls — is the complete opposite to the character houses she loves to sketch. “My styling inspo comes from my favourite artist Claude Monetโ€™s Water Lilies.ย Wherever possible, everything is organised by colour, and I display nostalgic treasures Iโ€™ve collected throughout my life. My dream home is a character-filled arts and craft home with a stepped roof, in a leafy suburb. Think gingerbread house meets Alice in Wonderland!”

Among those who have commissioned sketches from Melissa are proud homeowners that have fallen in love with their new space, and people who have recently sold their childhood home and want a keepsake. “Interior designers have used my drawings to help sell their designs, stylists have used them in properties they finesse, and agents have bought them for vendors as settlement gifts,” she says. “I love it when family members buy one for their parents or grandparents, and share with me the stories and history attached to a home.”

A Brunswick exterior.

If you’re interested in getting aย sketch of your own home, you can simply send Melissa aย photograph, she quotes depending on the amount of detail required, and it’s yours within three weeks. “If thereโ€™s a floor plan that you need help visualising, I can sketch the space and assist with a theme and scheme or with the styling and design.”ย 

If you’re as nostalgic as Melissa you could ask her to, for example, sketch your grandparents’ kitchen from the 70s from a photograph. What a great keepsake or meaningful gift idea!

Sketching a coloured interior starts at $350. Detailed black and white exterior house sketches start at $280 ($350+ for colour) and basic black and white house sketches start at $120. These are provided as digital files or prints.ย 

For more about Melissa Rettore | Follow her on Instagram

A video tour of Jen’s real life kitchen

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Those finishing touches make ALL the difference! Those finishing touches make ALL the difference! 

@kethy.australia, whose cabinet hardware I've used in my own kitchen, laundry and on my recent sideboard glow up, are passionate about bringing you the latest design and finishes from around the world!ย 

Their stunning timber knobs and handles from Denmark add texture, warmth and an organic feel to yourย projectsย that can only be achieved by using natural materials.

Whether you're embarking on a new build, renovating an existing kitchen, bathroom or laundry or updating a piece of furniture, Kethy have something for you in their huge range.

See it all online and find your local re-seller at their website via link in @kethy.australia bio.

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Before & after: Renovating a kitchen while keeping Before & after: Renovating a kitchen while keeping ALL the character!

What a great example this is by @huntingforgeorge 

See all the details, and the laundry, on the blog now, via link in bio.
The patient has very much bounced back! Letterbox The patient has very much bounced back!

Letterbox kinder egg deliveries from a friend, dressing changes without a flinch and refusing to nap despite all the bribes (check the face on him in pic 3!).

Thanks for all your care and messages/comments for this tired and shaken up mama! Now very relieved and grateful ๐Ÿ™
Before & after It's not just the award winning de Before & after

It's not just the award winning designer houses that get us excited here. It's also the beloved family homes which are renovated and extended to make them fit for purpose so people can continue to live where they love ๐Ÿค—

@inspiredspacesaus helped her clients with teenage kids transform this house in Sydney's Hills District inside and out, making it their forever home. 

Due to the nature of the block they could only extend sideways and then gave it street appeal with render, new windows and doors.

See inside on the blog now, via link in bio. It was completely overhauled!
Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into Charlie doesn't recommend running head first into tiled steps ๐Ÿค•

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 (๐Ÿคช) and watch for signs of concussion. 

Bravest little patient ever. Yes I've had a ๐Ÿท

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!

UPDATE: thanks for all the love! Charlie is so well this morning after a big sleep!
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.

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#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.

๐Ÿฆ˜๐ŸจForget 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 makers๐Ÿ™

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! ๐Ÿ’ง 

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!๐Ÿค—

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 ๐Ÿฅด) in here again and I can leave my hair straightener on there with gay abandon ๐Ÿ˜†

The reflective surface (which I can clean with whatever I like!๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿป) brightens the room up too!

Next week I'll tell you what I really think of my brass tile trim too ๐Ÿ˜‰

#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.
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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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