Yesterday we launched the TDF Design Directory: our easy-to-search curated guide to the best furniture, lighting, rugs and paint colours to shop for your home!
After 16 years of TDF, we wanted to create a useful destination where you can not just appreciate the homes and interiors we share everyday, but also, be empowered to channel this inspiration into your own home!
Today, we revisit some of the most-loved homes ever featured on The Design Files – complete with our hand-picked product recommendations to help you achieve a similar look in your own home. You can shop all the products featured, and 100s more now via the Directory!
Photography – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli
Photography – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli
Sarah Conly’s Beautifully Refined Mid-Century Home
Recreate the equally beautiful and practical look of interior designer Sarah Conly’s family home by introducing hardworking, textured pieces.
The home’s mid-century architecture is highlighted by classic furniture, including Thonet No.811 Hoffmann chairs, and a traditional patterned rug.
This is a house that masterfully blends old and new!
Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Mandy Wilton’s Warm Minimalist South Yarra Home
This small but spectacular Victorian home renovation — designed by one of Australia’s most acclaimed modern architects, Sean Godsell — has been styled to perfection by owner Mandy Wilton.
Warm timbers lining the walls and roof, whilst floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and low-profile sofas facilitate an intimate ambience, illuminated by soft Akari lighting.
Outside, and a potted forest pansy in the courtyard sits amongst a robust materials palette of concrete and timber, providing a minimalist, Japanese feel.
Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli and Sarah Hendriks
Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli and Sarah Hendriks
Eve Wilson’s Palette-Perfect, Inner-City Family Home
The family home of The Design Files’ very own photographer Eve Wilson designed by Studio Bright features a gorgeous palette of pastels and cool stone accents.
Colour is used strategically to set the mood, personality, and intention of each space — from olive green Dulux Dollar joinery, to trims and breeze blocks painted a pinky shade of brown.
Plump furniture and asymmetric lighting pendants, such as the Nau Jolly Lighting Double Rod Pendant, add a sculptural element to the inner-city home.
Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli
Photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files. Styling – Annie Portelli
Jenna and Josh Densten’s Dreamy Family Home
Jenna and Josh Densten’s former Melbourne family home designed with Foomann Architects is a calming inner-city oasis full of soft lines, subtle textures, and natural materials.
The playfulness of curving furniture and sculpture wall lights such as Nemo Lighting’s Lampe de Marseille is balanced with a neutral colour palette designed to stand the test of time.
The result is a seriously stunning home, offering the comfort and tranquillity of a day spa, with the practicality to suit a young family of four.
Photo – Sean Fennessey
Stylist Nat Turnbull’s Serene Melbourne Home
Stylist Nat Turnbull and photographer Sam Wong worked with architect Adriana Hanna to create their utterly unique home.
Sculptural furniture pieces including a Togo Fireside Chair gives the home a distinctive design edge, whilst the use of pastel, muted shades facilitates a serene, almost otherworldly feel, enhanced by a diffused lighting scheme.
Photo – Eve Wilson. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Leigh Ellwood’s Historic Apartment With Artful, Lived-In Interiors
Located in Melbourne’s 1930s Beverley Hills apartment building, Leigh Ellwood’s home is personalised with a thoughtful edit of furniture and a brilliantly eclectic art collection.
Pieces have been sourced with longevity in mind, including the iconic Ligne Roset Togo sofa, classic timber dining chairs, and textural, hand woven rugs that contribute to the home’s relaxed, inviting feel.
Photo – Eve Wilson. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Photo – Eve Wilson. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s Calm + Contemporary Family Home
Cook, best-selling author, and our very own food columnist Julia Busuttil Nishimura and her husband Nori chose their home for its location, architectural design, and its self contained studio out the back — allowing Julia’s mum to also live on the property.
Recreate the look of their exact living room with the nostalgic Jardan Lemmy Modular Sofa and subtly patterned Jardan Stevie Rug Camel.
Pale timber joinery, floors and furniture provide a light base for the multigenerational family home designed by by Eliza Blair Architecture and Studio Mkn.
Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files. Editorial styling – Annie Portelli
A Melbourne Architecture Power Couple’s Home, Drenched In Rich Colour
Monique and Scott Woodward, directors of Wowowa Architecture, are known for designing playful, colour-loving, ‘yummy’ houses, including their own family home.
Throughout the home, deep magenta tones appear in varying degrees of intensity, from pink travertine accents, to red gum timber surfaces, terrazzo floors, and painted joinery.
Complementary browns, caramels, blues, greens, and golds all contribute to an immersive tapestry of joyous colour, whilst furniture in a mix of dark and blonde timbers provides a counterpoint to bold statement pieces – like Jardan’s Valley Modular Sofa, in the brightest shade of pink!
