Tomorrow morning at 8:30am marks the opening of the doors to the Canberra Centre’s brand new Monaro Mall lifestyle precinct. As a lover of homewares and interiors I’m so excited about this new addition to the Canberra Centre which will host 16 home, lifestyle and gift stores in a celebration of all things culture and style. The Canberra Centre has an amazing lineup of classes and events planned to celebrate opening week including a Decoding Colour masterclass hosted by the queen of style and design herself, Lucy Feagins of The Design Files.
I was lucky enough to have a chance to interview Lucy Feagins ahead of her masterclass this Saturday 4 November and got the inside scoop on what we can expect from the class on Saturday, the importance of colour in interior styling and a few amazing tips for getting ahead as a newbie blogger!
What can we expect to learn from you at your upcoming Masterclass at the Canberra Centre?
Through generating content for our website, I see so many beautiful Australian homes, and every week I chat to incredible local architects, artists and designers, so I guess I am well placed to talk about what I’m seeing in interiors and design right now, and where we might be headed.
I’m excited to bring together a whole lot of amazing imagery of vibrant colourful interiors, to lead a discussion on what colour trends I’m seeing right now, and offer some ideas on how to bring colour into the home.
What’s your favourite interior colour trend prediction for 2018?
My favourite colour trend right now, which I am sure will carry in 2018, is a return to the rich, warm tones of the 1970s. Think deep orange and nutmeg tones, dark timber, and decorative woven textiles. Oh, and terrazzo!
How important is colour choice when styling an interior space?
For me, colour is the most important aspect of any space – this is the base layer upon which everything else rests. The good news is that adding colour is also one of the easiest and cheapest things you can do at home. With just one weekend and 6L of paint, you can significantly update any space. Even just repainting one wall or door can have a huge impact.
Consider the ‘feeling’ a colour gives you when selecting a new palette, as colour can be so emotive – the difference in atmosphere between a bright white bedroom, or a moody dark bedroom is remarkable.
What’s your current source of inspiration?
Right now I am obsessed with Site Unseen – a great US design blog http://www.sightunseen.com. I also love trawling Pinterest!
Your blog The Design Files has been incredibly successful, do you have any tips for newbie bloggers?
It’s been such a long time since I started (almost ten years!) and the landscape has changed so much since then! Some of the more obvious tips include:
1. Producing original content, to give your site a point of difference
2. Updating often – daily if you can
3. Be on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, but don’t let Instagram replace your actual blog content. It’s important to have somewhere to post your content in full
4. Start gathering an email database as soon as you launch (a simple sign up form will suffice, try Mail Chimp)
5. Survey your readers now and then to learn who they are and what they want to see more of on your site. I use Survey Monkey
6. Don’t look too much at what other bloggers are doing, it’s really hard to be original if you revere other blogs too much. Do your own thing!
Important Details
What: Decoding Colour with Lucy Feagins of the Design Files
Where: Canberra Centre
When: Saturday, 4 November 2017 at 11:00am
