Meet the talented Interior Designer Briar Stanley

Meet the talented Interior Designer Briar Stanley. The lucky grand prize winner of the #BrotherInspires competition will get to work with her to put together their ultimate sewing / craft space.

The prize includes up to $7,000 in styling and decorating services with Briar Stanley. Briar will work with the winner to create the perfect Craft Studio, this will include:

• Consultation – assess the room and chat with the winner to understand what inspires them
• Plan – provide the winner with a presentation of the suggested space, based on the discussion. This will include furniture and décor suggestions mocked-up for final approval
• Process – Briar and the winner will shop for the larger furniture items to help pull the room together
• Completion – Briar will work with the winner to style the Craft Studio and complete the space

 

We can’t wait to find out who the winner will be!! In the mean time let’s get to know Briar Stanley.

We are all very excited to see who will be the Brother Australia Grand Prize Winner- what an amazing prize pack. Can you tell us about your exciting styling and decorating service package that is part of the grand prize?

It will involve and in depth consultation with me initially, and after getting to know what the winner would like for their ultimate creative space, they will go shopping with me to source everything, including product from Brother and sewing furniture to really make the design come to life.  Once we have everything ready to install, Ill visit the space to pull everything together and help style the room.

 

Do you get many requests to decorate and style craft studios? Quite possibly the messiest room in the house – a creative mess of course!  

I’ve decorated quite a few home office spaces in my time, but its a bit of a rarity for a client to have a house big enough for a dedicated craft room – so its quite common that a room will have two purposes; a home office with a second table/corner that is dedicated to craft or sewing.  However, I did recently do a design to  help a client convert a large timber garden shed in to a craft studio,  which was a fun challenge.

 

What top tips could you give our readers on how they can keep their creative spaces organised?

Its all about organised storage. Good quality boxes that are labelled clearly will usually ensure your space remains neat and tidy. I’m also pretty ruthless in what I keep, so my advice would be the same to a client “ avoid clutter by making sure you complete a Spring clean every year and donating anything you haven’t used since the last clean¦or create a new project to use up some of or supplies.

 

Out of all the lovely places you use to source your interiors, do you have any favourite Australia handmade businesses you use?

I’ve recently sourced a beautiful selection of furniture for a gorgeous home from Jardan “ which create hand made pieces in Melbourne.

Mark Tuckey creates beautiful furniture too.

You’ll also find a gorgeous range of Australian hand made homewares  and furniture at Koskela in Sydney “ the perfect shop for a unique gift. Online, Etsy is always my go to for original and inexpensive art.

 

Any tips on decorating children’s bedrooms or playrooms?

Take your time in thinking about the look you want to achieve, and create a mood board (it doesn’t have to be fancy, just a collection of images) “ there are some amazing reference images on Pinterest to get you inspired. If shopping on a budget, check out places like Gumtree for a change table or a vintage chair that could be reupholstered, there are often gems to be found! Most of all, have fun and try and get it in to the headspace of the child. It is a space for them, after all.

 

Besides all the amazing things you already do – do you do any crafting yourself?  

I have a love for gift wrapping, and every couple of weeks will really go to an effort to wrap a gift beautifully, and around Christmas and Easter I’ll always blog something I’ve crafted. My focus has shifted to crafting with my daughter recently, as she really loves it. I’m lucky that she can be occupied by it longer that any TV show. My mum tells me I was exactly the same when I was a kid. We will get the paints or textas, washi tape and cardboard out and make an animal or two a couple of times a week (she’s an animal lover).

What do you love about working for yourself and working from home?

The obvious would be that I can set my own hours, I’ll often schedule in some exercise first thing in the morning (which sets me up for a more productive day anyway), and I’ll make sure I make up for any lost time after Sunday is in bed that night.  I also love that I never know what project will be coming next, the diversity of the always changing brief really keeps me motivated and interested.

 

What 5 things are you grateful for?

1. My family’s health
2. Long hugs from my daughter
3. My grandma, who has been my biggest inspiration
4. Having a morning coffee every day in the beachside suburb where I live
5. Doing what I love, and calling it work

 

Want to see more of the ever talented Briar and her Interior Design business? Why not visit her on –

Website/Blog

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest