As much or as little as you need.
I work mostly in Sydney and surrounding areas, like the Central and South Coast. Houses, terraces, semis and apartments. Most design firms are full service or nothing. I work differently: my services come in pieces, so you can take exactly what your project and budget need. Maybe that's one afternoon of colour advice. Maybe it's a whole renovation. Every option below starts the same way, with a conversation that costs you nothing.
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A room, a floor or a whole house. We walk through your home together and you come away with a palette that works with your light, your furniture and each other: paints, finishes and the confidence to commit.
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The recipe for a room: a concept, colours, materials, furniture and lighting, resolved into a scheme you can implement yourself, at your own pace.
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Furniture, rugs, art, lighting and the objects that make a room yours. I choose the pieces, you approve them, your home gets its personality back.
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If an architect or building designer has already drawn your house, the hard spatial work is done but nobody has chosen the tiles, the tapware, the joinery detail or the colour, and your builder needs answers sooner than you think. That layer is the service here. Send me the drawings and I will tell you what it costs.
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The best value transformation in design: fixing how a space works before you spend anything on finishes. Measured drawings and layout options for a room or a whole floor.
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Layout, joinery, benchtops, lighting and finishes, designed around how you actually cook and where everything lands.
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The one room where every surface matters. Layout, fixtures, tiling and a palette that holds together beautifully in a small space.
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Strata approval is a process, not a brick wall. I read the by-laws, the plan and the minutes, tell you in writing which tier your project falls into and what it actually needs, then put together the documentation pack your committee expects. The design is usually the easy part. The paperwork is what stops people.
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Everything above, working together: concept, spatial planning, colour and materials, joinery and drawings your builder can price and build from. Staged, so you commit one step at a time.
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Before you spend anything, it is worth knowing whether it is worth spending. I look at what has sold and what is renting on your street and in your suburb, the yield now against the yield done, and where in the property the renovation budget actually earns its return. Every source named. It might tell you not to do it which is a useful answer and a much cheaper one than finding out afterwards.
If your home is an apartment.
Renovating in a strata building has a reputation it only half deserves. The rules are real, but they are rules rather than obstacles, and most of the worry comes from not knowing which of them apply to you.
There are three tiers, and nearly everything turns on which one your project lands in. Painting, carpet, curtains and wardrobes need no approval at all. A kitchen in its existing layout, new flooring, lighting, wiring, or moving a wall that holds nothing up: these are minor renovations, and they need a resolution from the owners corporation or, in many buildings, a decision from the committee. Anything touching waterproofing, structure, services or the way the building looks from outside is major works, and needs a by-law passed at a general meeting. One bathroom is enough to put an entire project in that last category, which is a useful thing to know before you fall in love with a plan.
What committees actually want is documentation. A clear scope of works, plans and elevations, specifications, acoustic certification for the flooring and a sensible plan for access, noise and waste. That part I can take off you completely. I'll read your by-laws, tell you in writing which tier you're in and what it means for your timeline, and prepare the pack in the form your committee expects to receive it.
Where the work involves waterproofing or structure in an apartment building, New South Wales requires a registered design practitioner to sign off that part of the design. I'm not one, and I'd rather say so at the start than halfway through. I'll design your bathroom, I'll bring in the right person for the certification, and you'll know the cost of both before anything begins.
Strata doesn't limit what your apartment can be. It asks for a more organised project than a house does, and organised I can do.
How it works.
First, a chat. Send me a note through the form; tell me about the space and what isn't working. It's free, and there's no obligation on either of us.
Then, if it feels right, a consultation at your home. We walk the space, I ask a lot of questions (some will seem tangential; trust me) and you get ideas on the spot. You'll know the cost of this visit before you book it.
Some projects skip that step. If you already have plans drawn, or you are weighing up whether a renovation is worth doing at all, we start somewhere else, usually with your drawings, or with the numbers. Say so when you get in touch and I will tell you what makes sense.
Then a proposal. A fixed fee for exactly the pieces your project needs, agreed before any design work starts. If the scope changes along the way, we talk before anything changes on the invoice.
No hourly surprises, no locked-in packages, no pressure to take more than you need.