In this episode of "Live Life in Colour," interior designer Justine Knox, known for her vibrant and eclectic style, discusses her unique approach to design with Vicki McLeod. Justine shares her philosophy of pushing clients out of their comfort zones with bold, unexpected choices, and the importance of creating spaces that reflect the personalities and lifestyles of their inhabitants. She recounts her journey from working with limited resources to owning a successful retail store, and the challenges of blending contrasting styles in various projects. This episode is a treasure for design enthusiasts looking to infuse their spaces with creativity and personal flair.

Speaker A [0:05 - 1:04]: Living life in color. Welcome to live life in color. My name is Justine Knox and I'm an interior designer and queen of dopamine decor. I'm passionate about helping you to create the perfect environment for you to live in where you'll feel comfortable, happy and inspired to be the best version of yourself for you and your loved ones. Living life in color. So some of you may already know about my reputation as a colour loving designer. I do not live in a beige world. And this time, Vicki MacLeod and I are going to speak about my wild card design strategies and the challenges of blending contrasting styles. This episode is a must listen for anyone passionate about design, creativity and the art of making spaces truly personal. Perhaps you'll even find some inspiration in this episode to rethink your own space.

Speaker B [1:06 - 1:37]: When you started out as an interior designer, when you actually started to do projects after, you know, offering your opinion to people. But like, when you were actually hired as an interior designer, the first project that you would have done, or the second ones, how challenging was it for you to just hold back on Justine and put in the person? Or was that always something that you found easy?

Speaker A [1:37 - 4:29]: Well, I would say the first few projects that I did, I didn't have my retail store at the time, so I was having to buy from other stores on the shop, so I was having to use what was available. So I would say that my first projects were a little bit restricted simply because the choices weren't all there. So I had to work with what I could find. But luckily, my clients have always been interesting people as well. And so nobody has asked me to come up with a white, boring box yet. Thankfully, I have been asked to do neutrals, but then I make sure that I pack in the texture. But I think that I do try and push people out of their comfort zones because, you know, if you're paying somebody for a service, then you know you want to get. It's not that you want to get your money's worth, but you want to make sure that, you know, if you tell your friends, well, I've had an interior designer do my home, they need to walk in and see that you've had an interior designer do your home. And by that I mean that there should be at least some wow factors. There should be some things that perhaps they wouldn't think of doing that way. There should be a nice harmony, things, everything should be, you know, have its place, be practical, but at the same time be aesthetically pleasing. Yeah. So I do sometimes push them and I have what I called my wild cards. So a client will kind of give me the brief of what they're looking for and then I'll go away and give that some thought. And with the information that I collect from them as people or as a family, their lifestyles, the property that they've purchased, where it is, what type of life, I know that they're going to be living in that property based on where it is as well. And the style of the property then gives me the bones to work with of what I think should be introduced. And so I will then meet with them and give them, well, meet with them or I'm sending digital newsborder. Because, as you know, I don't always meet my clients face to face. I'll then give them the option of what I know that they'll be happy with, but then I also give them the wild cards and that will be. Let me just show you this. And quite often they will surprise themselves by saying, oh, actually, actually, we are on board with that. That would be great. They would never have chosen it. Maybe a lot of the time people are not brave enough to think, could I. Yeah, could I put that in my house?

Speaker B [4:29 - 4:31]: Maybe they don't know it's there or.

Speaker A [4:32 - 6:09]: Possible, but no, I think they do because sometimes, you know, you can people see, you know, a wallpaper book and there might be plain wallpapers in there and there might be pattern wallpapers in there and there might be safe patterns and there might be wild, bold out there, huge in your face patterns. And they would probably, because they've been either brainwashed into it or never been brave enough to think, oh, look at that. Big, bold, massive, you know, could we do that? Are we that person? Does that reflect me or doesn't it? And so maybe they would never even consider giving it an opportunity. They just go straight away. Well, let's look at the plain ones or let's look at the safe ones. And I give them the wild, big, bold. And then they're kind of like, can we. Absolutely. We can. We can make this work. Yeah, but will it be overpowering? No, because we'll do it this way. But then will it be, will I get bored of it? Well, no, because we'll put it in this space. Well, I, you know, will it work with the. Well, we'll make sure that it does work with the sofa, curtains, whatever, because we'll choose the right ones to make sure that it works together. You know, it's not a question of just having this big alien thing in the room. That's not going to work. I wouldn't dream of doing it otherwise. But it is definitely a lot about, I think, just making. Pushing people to be a little bit braver and. And it's funny because you'll start with one and then I gradually see them being a little bit braver in other aspects.

Speaker B [6:09 - 6:30]: Baby steps. Yeah, because, I mean, originally my question would have been, what's your style? But actually, that's not the right question. Is it because your style is more about how you empower or enable the owner of the property to live in that house?

Speaker A [6:30 - 6:43]: Yes. So I would say. I mean, I have a style myself, so I could tell you what my home is like. That's my style. And that's very colourful. That's very eclectic.

Speaker B [6:43 - 6:43]: Yeah.

Speaker A [6:43 - 8:25]: That is a lot of what other people perhaps wouldn't do with their own homes. So I have black wallpaper in my kitchen that has a multicoloured jungle theme happening on it. Not many people would put that in their kitchens, but actually works very well and everyone that sees it loves it. My home is also home to pets, children, visitors. We live in the country. We walk around outside barefoot and then walk straight into the house over my silk rugs. So it's a silk rug. Doesn't sound practical, but actually it doesn't. Actually, it's a multicolored patterned silk rug. So it's a. It hides a multitude of sins, but also because it's silk, it can be professionally cleaned, whereas a lot of the synthetic, cheaper rugs that you might think, well, put one of those down, because if it gets a mark on it, then you're not ruining a silk rug. But actually, that rug would probably end up in the bin after a year or two because you can't clean it up. So I'm practical in the sense of, I know who's coming in and out of that home and. But I like to. I like my creature comforts, so. And I like a bit of wackiness and I like colour. And so I guess that's a bit like how I dress. You know, I like different styles, I like mixing them up together. But the overall, I would say the overall style of my home is comfortable, colorful and different.

Speaker B [8:26 - 9:41]: I mean, going back to the teenage Justine who wore tartan trousers and had blue hair, that was an expression of you at that time. And maybe, I mean, like, now you don't have blue hair, nicely cut hair, but it's not blue, which, of course, you know, go ahead, have blue if you wish, but maybe now. But you have more control over your space. Becomes that you have your living space, that also then becomes an extension and expression of you. And I think that having been in your home, I know that you also have things like memories from your travels, which are very important to you. Those are things that I remember from your house, things that are on the walls, and that, to me, is an expression in my own home. I don't have anything on the walls at the moment. And that's not because we don't have things to put on the walls, it's just we haven't had the time. But the things that I have to put on the walls are things that matter to me. I don't just go into. Remember Athena in the poster place? You'd go and get some pretty picture. That's not what I would do. I have things that matter to me. Yes, I suppose is that everything in.