Kribashini assembles unique range of products for her family home at Leith Road

Kribashini and her husband funded and renovated in stages, as they didn't have much equity being first home buyers. Taking the better part of 5 years, the build was completed in small bursts as far as their funds could take them.

“Our home is the sum of us and has seen good times and bad and like most families have evolved with us as we have grown and changed in style and personality."

Kribashini shares the story of her home with us.

“When we purchased the house there was no front fence and the front garden was open to the street. We wanted privacy straight away but decided to wait and keep the old venetian blinds until the room was ready for some lovely sheers. We get so much light, and I wanted an added layer of insulation, so I went for double curtains with sheers at the front for texture and permeability. The sheers I selected were from the Bali Range in colour Cloud. I still remember when the installers from DIY Blinds came over to measure, I was so excited to finally have privacy in my own home. I had just had little Rory & found myself breastfeeding in the lounge at 3AM with no curtains."

Our kitchen has a large east-facing window and the sun comes streaming in first thing and a little too often our neighbours would peer in, so we opted for some Plantation Shutters from DIY Blinds in the kitchen. I didn’t have the budget to replace the window and again this gave me some added insulation and privacy but also a great smooth surface for keeping clean, particularly important in the kitchen!

The work from home life juggle became real in 2020 when we moved our whole team @buildhercollective to remote working. This put a whole new level of pressure on our modest home, without ample space for a home office for two. We quickly realised we desperately needed storage and with video conferencing on all day, my husband and I could not share the same small space.

I wanted this space to get me in a “work zone”. I picked a sheer that had more depth, so Allusion Silver was my go-to. I was nervous about picking a different tone to the other rooms, but I am glad I did. One of the amazing design consultants, Marieke, from DIY came out to consult on the final curtain colour. The curtains did a wonderful job balancing the joinery. It also means I can hide my junk pile on the back porch when I want to feel good about life!

The last spaces that got any attention were the bedrooms, I wanted mine to be a sanctuary and Rory’s, my now toddler, to feel fun.

I used the same colour sheers as our living area paired with roller blinds for Rory’s room but then decided to change it up for our master bedroom. I wanted this room to ooze personality – I feel perhaps it is a bit more “me” than my husband, he’s still not sure if our feature wall is pink or not!

Bringing in warm tones and a lovely texture to the room we selected Allusion Marzipan; it was the best colour for the room when it was just painted in a light pink and worked even better when the feature wall was painted in Toast by Haymes.

Our master bedroom had the worst old-fashioned yellow curtains that cut so much light out of the room, and I used to feel like they were dragging the whole space down. I can not begin to tell you how happy it made me the day these were changed over. Taking the sheers to full height gives my room so much more height and they extend from wall to wall. This gave me the luxurious feel I was going for.

A special thanks to @alisolewisinteriors for always being a phone call away and a great sounding board when making decisions, @dylanjames and @heylaureneagan for photographing & styling seconds before Christmas.

Great things are never done alone and there is always a team around you making things happen, as I always say it’s ok to ask for help, you’ll be surprised who is ready, willing, and able.

You can follow along with Kribashini as she helps others create spaces suited to their personality and build their homes and lifestyle in their own way @buildplaylive!

Photos by Dylan James and Martina Gemmola