Home Love

Introduction

Spending my formative years on a banana farm in Queensland really gave my imagination lots of scope. Ours was a desolate family home in terms of decoration (but super-fun in terms of family life!). For colour I was left with not much more than the bananas (hence my general love for yellow) and beautiful clear blue sunny skies.

I'm convinced that keen observation might be the best attribute for a designer or stylist, and I have the same excited feelings now about redecorating my room as I did as a wide-eyed child. I'm also convinced that sharing is the best way to keep the world beautiful, as there is no point keeping it all to yourself! I'm a firm believer that when you're willing to share what you know, others share with you – it's the power of karmic knowledge.

There are dozens of decorating lessons in this book, some of which originally appeared in my Sydney Morning Herald/The Age 'Good Weekend' column 'DIY Home', but I couldn't stand the thought of dishing out old words, so I've added lots to each. Some of the other lessons are brand new, and cover topics I just had to write about (such as 'Hanging with the French' on page 112).

I write not only as a design professional and a stylist but also as someone who shares their home with three children (by the time HOME LOVE appears), a husband and a schnauzer. I love the indecently beautiful as well as the practical, and I believe that beautiful rooms are rarely accidental. Logic always underpins their success – along with the alignment of lots of decorative stars. I treat rooms with a very black-and-white attitude, and find that in my line of work there isn't a lot of room for 'grey' (unless it's a wall colour – Bauwerk 20/20, please!). So whether you're living solo in an apartment or decorating the family home, if you do it with conviction, you've taken a step in the right direction. I love making rooms with all my heart and dedicate this book to every stylist, designer and decorator who bring spaces to life.

Megan Morton