00:00:04
Speaker 1: This is an our media podcast. I mean, you've been through so many homes through your work and in your personal life, and having the knowledge and experience that you do, do you ever look at things in other people's homes and go, hmmm, that could have been done better?
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Simple answer, no.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: Ah, You you really are a dream.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: And I had this tiny little apartment. It was literally a typical London. It was on the ground floor of an old Victorian building. I had a living room in the front, a bedroom at the back, and a tiny little bathroom and a tiny, tiny little kitchen that you could barely swing a cat in. But it was mine. Yes, we will always set a beautiful table. Yes there will be candles. Yes, I must admit I do stress a bit about the right music and all that stuff. But at the same time I wanted to be a relaxed experience for the guests.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes with beautiful, functional window coverings designed to change your life and lifestyle. Today's set has been thoughtfully curated by oz Design, sharing life with you since nineteen seventy nine. You know those people who quietly change the way you see homes, then lady realize they've also quietly changed the way you see yourself at home. For me, that person is Neil Whittaker. In this episode of the Edit, I get to do something really special. I sit down with my former boss and longtime mentor and invite you into the kind, gently opinionated brain behind some of Australia's favorite interiors shows. This is the man who once walk past my desk. He clocked that someone senior had left their dirty dishes there, and Neil simply said, you shouldn't be doing their dishes. Just put them back on their desk. I did, and no one ever spoke of it again. Neil has spent decades helping us all understand what really makes a house feel like a home from Bell and Home Beautiful, to Love It, a List It, and his new show might reno rules. But in this conversation we get to see the person behind the judge, the brit who never turns on the big light unless he's dropped something on the floor, the collector who believes every piece of art should tell a story, and the country homeowner who's finally admitting it might be time to simplify. Neil has taught me so much over the years, and I genuinely wouldn't be here without his guidance. I really hope this episode shows you something new too about your own space, your own taste, and you're right to make a home that feels like you. Neil, welcome back to the edit.
00:03:04
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me back.
00:03:06
Speaker 1: I it might be a bit cheeky, but I'd like to invite myself over to your place.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: I all means, all means let's do it.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: Don't be alarmed. We can do it through an audio.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: Tour, right, Okay, so paint word pictures exactly.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: Okay, We're known for home tours at home beautiful. So I'm ringing your doorbell. It's the weekend. What can we see? What is the first thing we see?
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Can you open the door? If you are ringing my doorbell, that means you are standing at what we call the side front door as opposed to the front front door.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: What's the difference besides the location.
00:03:43
Speaker 2: Because our house is a very quirky, little sort of country style cottage I always describe as a patchwork quilt. I mean, I think the original part of the house, which is actually now really just our kitchen, I think dates back to about nineteen thirty eight, but other bits have been added over the decades. I think some in the seventies, some in the eighties, And as a result, we've literally got sort of two front doors, one at the side and one at the front. But the one that seems to be used the most is what we call the side.
00:04:14
Speaker 1: Front side front door.
00:04:15
Speaker 2: Now you're standing at the side front door and you're ringing the bell because we don't have a we don't have a buzz or anything. We have an old fashioned bell, and it means that you're also standing on our verandah. We have a beautiful wrap around veranda which is tiled. We've got balustrades, we've got wisteria overhanging, so at certain times of the year, particularly in early summer, is absolutely beautiful. It sounds adyllic ceiling fans. I mean, our veranda is like an outdoor room. It's like having a beautiful So that's where you're standing before you've even stepped foot into the house. Then you come into the house, open plan l shaped. We've got a living living area and a dining area. Art absolutely everywhere. David and I are obsessed with art, and we've collected art over the years, everywhere we have ever been in our lives art.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: How do you buy art? Do you choose guts?
00:05:14
Speaker 2: Just gut, absolute gut. It's instinct and it's immediate. And some of the some of the pieces that we own, you know, few of the pieces that we own are expensive and have come from galleries. The vast majority have come from flea markets, all sorts of different sources. And it's a real mix of paintings, photographs, summerre framed, unframed. It's a real yeah, it's it's a gallery. And we have art throughout the whole house. We have art in our bathrooms, we have art in the kitchen, we have art in all of the bedrooms.
00:05:54
Speaker 1: How do you know what to hang where?
00:05:56
Speaker 2: I would say it's instinct, which perhaps isn't very helpful, but we just have a gut feeling of what works in certain spaces.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: I think that's it. When you're creating a home, Actually, it doesn't matter what trends are or what the experts might say. It is what is pleasing to your eye, what makes it.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: And that's a nice segue l into something that I feel very strongly about. Actually, when it comes to putting art, in the home. Art to me tells a very different story, and a very independent story to everything else in the home. I know a lot of people like to sort of match their art to the rug, to the sofa, to the furnishings. That's not our style. Art for us has always stood alone. It's independent. It tells a completely different story visually and esthetically. And every piece of art that we own has a story attached to it. You know, if you were standing in front of our wall of art and you said, Neil, tell me about that one. Tell me about that one, I'd tell you where it came from, why we have what it means to us.
00:07:01
Speaker 1: Your art tells a story of your life, really.
00:07:07
Speaker 2: Does. Yeah, I think we worry far too much about finding art that is going to appeal to everyone. It's impossible to do that. I mean, I can guarantee l that what you love will be different to what I love. That's the nature of art. And you have to put that sort of fear of polarizing your family and your friends to one side and just choose what you love. Yes, because people will walk into your home and they'll say, oh, I'm not sure about that one, or they might not say that out loud, but they'll be thinking it doesn't matter. It's your art. And if you try and fill your home with art that is going to please everyone, you'll fail. You'll either fail or it will be the blandest home ever. Art is so so personal, it really is.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: So if art tells the story of your life, what would it say, where did you start buying or tell us about your journey of building home and your art collection.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: I'm hesitating because that's actually a huge question because I'm quite old. Workout where to start the story.
00:08:22
Speaker 1: What's the first home that you remember decorating and thinking, yes, this feels like me.
00:08:29
Speaker 2: I think the first home where I ever felt like that was the first apartment that I ever owned on my own in London, and it would have been late eighties, early nineties, and I suddenly found myself single. I've been in a longish relationship throughout my twenties, suddenly found myself single and I bought a tiny little apartment in Shepherd's Bush in West London, which funnily enough these days is actually very popular with Australians. They've migrated from Earl's Court, which used to be the Australian hang out to Sheppard's Bush, but that's by the bike from the bush to the bush. Yes, absolutely. And I had this tiny little apartment. It was literally a typical London sort of. It was on the ground floor of an old Victorian building. They had a living room at the front, a bedroom at the back, and a tiny little bathroom and a tiny, tiny little kitchen that you could barely swing a cat in. But it was mine, it was yours. And I remember painting it all white.
00:09:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I probably chose the wrong white. I probably would have chosen totally the wrong white for the cold London light. But it was all white and I put down sea grass matting throughout. I laid it like cop Oh, so you've always been chic, well, thank you. It was quite street actually, and also I wanted to sort of disguise the awful floorboards of the underneath that were all mismatched, so I just put sea grass matting down. And I remember I had a huge gilt mirror over the fire place in the living room, and then I only allowed one color throughout, and that was really like a real Eve climb blue.
00:10:07
Speaker 1: Oh, how fantastic for anyone listening. How would you describe Eve climb.
00:10:13
Speaker 2: Climb Blue, the most vivid blue you could ever imagine, is really the only way that I can describe that, so.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: That I can imagine teamed with the white and the gilt mirror and the sea grass.
00:10:26
Speaker 2: What was I on? I was on a bit of a Moroccan trip or something. It was something. There was obviously something going on in my head at the time. I mean, this was obviously long before I knew I was ever going to live in Australia. But I felt immensely proud of that apartment because it was mine and I hadn't had to sort of defer to anyone else, no one else's opinion, that's it, just mine.
00:10:49
Speaker 1: So how does that differ from the house you're in now where you do share it with David? And how do you negotiate decorating now with diplomacy?
00:11:02
Speaker 2: It's the honest answer to that. No, seriously. I mean David and I have been together a very long time, not twenty three years, and we do actually have very similar taste.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: That is handy.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: It's yeah. I mean when I say similar taste, we can always meet in the middle. I mean David, I think has a tendency towards the more decorative and definitely towards the more antique, whereas I sort of tend towards the more contemporary. But somehow we meet in the middle. You know, there's always an element of compromise, but it's a good compromise.
00:11:35
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you've had to concede to and say, well, all right, fine all the time?
00:11:40
Speaker 2: But then he does the same for me. I mean, David has a love of vintage plates, for example, and when we first when we first moved to our present home on the New South Wales south coast, he threw himself sort of wholeheartedly into the sort of country living. Yeah, and suddenly sort of everything had to be country, country, country, country, like enough of the country. But we used to have this wonderful old sort of opshop, like a market of secondhand vintage market in Bury, which sadly is no longer there, and I think David probably bought every vintage plate they had and put them on the walls. Yes, they're still there now. For me, it's too many, but he absolutely loves them, so that's fine. I think that's mostly, you know, and there are other things I'm sure in the house that he knows. I love that he maybe wouldn't have if he was living there on his own, but that's kind of how it rolls.
00:12:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. Do you believe in a forever home?
00:12:38
Speaker 2: Yes and no? Yes and no. I thought that the home that we were in was going to be our forever home when we bought it back in twenty eighteen. It was definitely with the forever home. It was the forever home concept. But we are thinking seriously about selling, not moving too far. Are staying in Bury, the little town that we live in, because we absolutely love it. But we've reached the stage in our lives where maybe we don't need to have quite so much land yep, quite so much work involved, So we are thinking of simplifying and maybe recreating what we have in a different house.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: So do you intend to downsize or in terms of house or just land?
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Just land? Okay, I think the house. Look, I'm not giving too much away here because I don't want to. I don't want to tempt fate a plans plans ahead. But the house will be, if anything, slightly larger for more plays currently no more, don't won't even go there. Well, but it won't have the two and a half acres of land that that we we now have to look after. And also we have a beautiful guest house on our at the moment that we do in twenty twenty two, which we're very proud of. But I think we need to simplify our lives as we get older. So maybe the next one will be forever.
00:14:13
Speaker 1: Home, moving into a new home and setting it up. What does being a homemaker mean to you?
00:14:21
Speaker 2: Being a homemaker for us means creating a home that is totally us. It is where we feel relaxed. It's creating a home that expresses our tastes, our interests, our life together, our travels, but sort of distilling all that into a contemporary home because what we love is to create a contemporary home within an old shell. I mean, both David and I love old houses. We do. We're not modern people in the respect we appreciate contemporary architecture, but we personally love old houses. But what we love to do is give those old houses a modern spin. Yes, and let's not forget they have to be dog friendly too, because we have important family members our dogs, yes, and we have to create a comfortable home for them too.
00:15:22
Speaker 1: Who do you have with you these days.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: We have two dogs. We have five year old Teddy Ted who's a Wymarana, yes, and we have six year old Graham, who's an Italian Greyhound.
00:15:34
Speaker 1: They are so sweet. I've seen pictures of them that absolutely gorgeous.
00:15:38
Speaker 2: One big ones more.
00:15:40
Speaker 1: How do you decorate with dogs in mind?
00:15:42
Speaker 2: You just have to go for it. You mustn't allow the dogs to hold you back, because there's always a solution. I mean, the way we deal with it is we do exactly what we want. We have the things in the house that we want. And you know, if we have to put rugs down on the sofa or towels down on on the rug when it's raining, so be it.
00:16:02
Speaker 1: That's okay. I was just going to ask, are they on the sofa on the bed?
00:16:06
Speaker 2: Of course they are.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: Oh, they're family.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: They are our dogs. They don't live by any rules. They are part of the family. And people do often say to me, you know, how do you have you know, how do you have a beautiful home with dogs? Yeah? Easy, You just don't allow the dogs to dictate anything. They just come on that journey with you. And yes, of course, every now and again you'll get muddy paws on the bed or on the sofa, but you deal with.
00:16:32
Speaker 1: It As design blends style and practicality to enhance every day living. The new Winter Collection embraces warm tones, sleek finishes, and smooth silhouettes, offering timeless pieces designed to transform your home throughout the cooler months. Thoughtfully curated, each peace layers comfort, character, and effortless style to create a welcoming, lived in feel. Balancing form and function, the collection helps you create a home that feels truly yours, whether refreshing a corner or reimagining your entire space. Discovered designs made to live in. Explore the Winter Collection in store or online with us Design A quick pause here. If Neil has just made you sideyree your down lights, your shears, or your throws, you're not alone. My favorite thing about this chat is how practical he is. This is a man who will happily admit he only turns on the big light to vacuum or to find something on the floor, and who still walks around his house every night switching lamps on and off, just because he loves the ritual. Be back in a bit, I'd like to shift gears for a minute, Neil, and move from homemaking into hosting and entertaining. Because I know that you have a background in food in your career as well, how does that come through in your home? How do you like to host and entertain.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: In a very cay is the honest answer. I mean I have a background in food, yes, but food publishing, yes, food magazines.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: Do you cook?
00:18:08
Speaker 2: David, my partner, is the cook. I mean, David actually was a professional chef oh wow, back in the day. So he's the practical one. He's the one that actually cooks beautifully. Unfortunately, David has been unwell for several years. The good news is that he's a lot better now, a lot better, but he's had a few rough years, poor thing, and he hasn't been doing much cooking. I've sort of taken over the pans for the last few years and we've kept things very simple. But we haven't really been doing much entertaining. But the good news is that we are back as entertainers now. Simple is the way to go, though for me it's got to be relaxed. I mean, yes, we will always set a beautiful table. Yes, there will be candles. Yes, I must admit I do stress a bit about the right music and all that stuff. But at the same time I want it to be a relaxed experience for the guests.
00:19:07
Speaker 1: And whose house do you love going to? Who do you think entertains well, you don't have to name names, but what are some experiences that you've had that you've thought this is great old friends?
00:19:20
Speaker 2: I mean, for me, it's always about the people, it really is. I mean, over the years, obviously I've attended many, many, many, many, many grand functions, and of course it's something that came with the job of being a magazine editor and a publisher. But these days I tend to only dine with David or with friends. Life is much more relaxed and much much less formal. So for me it's generally about the people. It's about the people and if the food's lovely too, then that's a bonus. But it's just spending quality time with good friends, and that's people here in Australia and when I get the chance to go back home to England as well.
00:20:08
Speaker 1: Now you've been through so many homes through your work and in your personal life, and having the knowledge and experience that you do, do you ever look at things in other people's homes and go, hmm, that could have been done better.
00:20:24
Speaker 2: Simple answer, no Ah, you are.
00:20:27
Speaker 1: You really are a dream.
00:20:28
Speaker 2: That's a very loaded question because one of the one of the big drawbacks of being a TV judge is that people assume that you judge when you're not judging. Yeah, and I've always said no, no, no, no, no, Please don't think I do that, because I really don't. I mean, I only do my judging when the cameras are rolling. A minute, the camera's stop rolling. I am no longer a TV judge and el it is amazing how in all the years I was doing the block, which is thirteen years, Yes, the invitations really dried up. Oh for that very reason, because people didn't want me coming to their home and judging them.
00:21:10
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's so sad.
00:21:12
Speaker 2: Very sad. Oh it really didn't make me happy at all. I was unhappy, but I knew that that was what was happening. So honest answer to your question is no, I absolutely don't. Everyone's home is different. Everyone's home is their home. If you come to my home, you'll probably see things you think, Oh my god, I can't believe they've got that. You know, no one's home is perfect. No, no one's home is perfect. I can guarantee that a home that is absolutely perfect in every respect is going to be bloody, boring.
00:21:44
Speaker 1: And really uncomfortable, I think.
00:21:45
Speaker 2: Really uncomfortable and lacking soul. A home for me is one that reflects the personality and love of its owners. Yes, one that feels layered, one that feels comfortable, one that feels relaxed. And I really don't care about you know, whether you've got the latest, this, that or the other. Yeah, I really don't.
00:22:07
Speaker 1: Well, I hope you get more invitations after people hear this.
00:22:10
Speaker 2: They've picked up a bit, they've picked up a bit, but once my RHNO rules goes out, they'll probably dry up again.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: So Neil tell me about as this is the edit? What is a tiny edit that you've made in your home that's made a big difference.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Do you know the one thing that I can't believe I left it so late in life to do it, that has made a huge difference is putting underfloor heating in our bathrooms. I mean obviously when we renovated. Yeah, you wouldn't be doing it unless you were renovating them. But I always imagine that that would be a very expensive thing to do, and of course it's actually not really no, not if you are already renovating your bathroom. Okay, but my goodness, it's wonderful. It's life changing in the colder months.
00:22:53
Speaker 1: That's been a dream of mine.
00:22:55
Speaker 2: I mean, our bathrooms in our home emitted. The aren't that huge, they're fairly smalloms. But just when we were renovating them, we suddenly thought, let's look into underfloor heating. And I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was into the reno, and my goodness, it punches above its weight in terms of the impact. But for me, I mean, look tiny edits will normally always involve light, because I am such a firm I mean quite apart from being a fan of lamps. I mean, the reason I'm such a fan of lamps is because I believe that light, more than anything else, has a transformative effect on the space and therefore the way we feel in that space absolutely so tiny edit for me will always be putting lamps in dark corners and changing the dynamic, changing the feel of a room through lamps, And it really doesn't have to cost much.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: And what makes your home beautiful.
00:23:50
Speaker 2: I think what makes our home beautiful is authenticity. And I don't mean that to sound like a sort of pompous, pretentious stand I think it's a very honest. It's not a home that is on trend in any way, shape or form. I always love to know what the trends are, but we do not follow trends. We fill our home with the things that we like, and sometimes that makes for an eccentric mix. I mean, we've always got that yin and yang of the old and the new, the contemporary, the vintage going on. But it's us and I think the more authentic a home is, the better it feels, and the more beautiful it is.
00:24:32
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more. Neil, thank you so much for coming back to the edit. It's just it's been so nice connecting with my mentor in this way. It's been an absolute joy. And can't wait to see the new TV show Thank You. We'll look out for the air date channel seven.
00:24:51
Speaker 2: Yes, sometime this year, is all I can tell you.
00:24:56
Speaker 1: Well know that I'll be watching thank you and not judging.
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Watching not judging that should be on my EITA at L. It's been such a pleasure. I love talking to you. Thanks for having me on a pleasure.
00:25:14
Speaker 1: I could happily sit and talk to Neil all day, and as you've probably gathered, we nearly did. Hearing him describe his first tiny London apartment with seagrass matting and you've climbed blue accents, or admitting that his biggest decore regret was a beautiful but totally impractical suspended fireplace that turned the room into a sauna. It was such a reminder that even the experts get it wrong. Sometimes they just keep editing like we do here at the edit. What I love most and what I hope you felt too, is his insistence on authenticity. That a home doesn't have to be on trend or match what you've seen on renovation shows to be beautiful. It needs to feel honest, layered and relaxed, a place where the are allowed on the bed, the art tells the story of your life, and the lamps quietly change the way you feel at the end of the day. If you'd like to see more of Neil's world, we've put extra photos, styling ideas, and a deeper dive into his home tour up on home Beautiful dot com dot au. You can find that link in our show notes, along with all our room for advice, dilemmas and Neil's solutions. Thank you so much for listening. We'd love to hear how you think we're going, so leave us a review or DMA set Home Beautiful. Let us know what you'd like to hear and who you'd like to meet. This episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes with beautiful, functional window coverings designed to transform your light and lifestyle. Thank you to OS Design for our beautiful set. Come visit the experienced team in store and see the collection for yourself.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: This is an ar Media podcast
Speaker 1: This is an our media podcast. I mean, you've been through so many homes through your work and in your personal life, and having the knowledge and experience that you do, do you ever look at things in other people's homes and go, hmmm, that could have been done better?
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Simple answer, no.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: Ah, You you really are a dream.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: And I had this tiny little apartment. It was literally a typical London. It was on the ground floor of an old Victorian building. I had a living room in the front, a bedroom at the back, and a tiny little bathroom and a tiny, tiny little kitchen that you could barely swing a cat in. But it was mine. Yes, we will always set a beautiful table. Yes there will be candles. Yes, I must admit I do stress a bit about the right music and all that stuff. But at the same time I wanted to be a relaxed experience for the guests.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes with beautiful, functional window coverings designed to change your life and lifestyle. Today's set has been thoughtfully curated by oz Design, sharing life with you since nineteen seventy nine. You know those people who quietly change the way you see homes, then lady realize they've also quietly changed the way you see yourself at home. For me, that person is Neil Whittaker. In this episode of the Edit, I get to do something really special. I sit down with my former boss and longtime mentor and invite you into the kind, gently opinionated brain behind some of Australia's favorite interiors shows. This is the man who once walk past my desk. He clocked that someone senior had left their dirty dishes there, and Neil simply said, you shouldn't be doing their dishes. Just put them back on their desk. I did, and no one ever spoke of it again. Neil has spent decades helping us all understand what really makes a house feel like a home from Bell and Home Beautiful, to Love It, a List It, and his new show might reno rules. But in this conversation we get to see the person behind the judge, the brit who never turns on the big light unless he's dropped something on the floor, the collector who believes every piece of art should tell a story, and the country homeowner who's finally admitting it might be time to simplify. Neil has taught me so much over the years, and I genuinely wouldn't be here without his guidance. I really hope this episode shows you something new too about your own space, your own taste, and you're right to make a home that feels like you. Neil, welcome back to the edit.
00:03:04
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me back.
00:03:06
Speaker 1: I it might be a bit cheeky, but I'd like to invite myself over to your place.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: I all means, all means let's do it.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: Don't be alarmed. We can do it through an audio.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: Tour, right, Okay, so paint word pictures exactly.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: Okay, We're known for home tours at home beautiful. So I'm ringing your doorbell. It's the weekend. What can we see? What is the first thing we see?
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Can you open the door? If you are ringing my doorbell, that means you are standing at what we call the side front door as opposed to the front front door.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: What's the difference besides the location.
00:03:43
Speaker 2: Because our house is a very quirky, little sort of country style cottage I always describe as a patchwork quilt. I mean, I think the original part of the house, which is actually now really just our kitchen, I think dates back to about nineteen thirty eight, but other bits have been added over the decades. I think some in the seventies, some in the eighties, And as a result, we've literally got sort of two front doors, one at the side and one at the front. But the one that seems to be used the most is what we call the side.
00:04:14
Speaker 1: Front side front door.
00:04:15
Speaker 2: Now you're standing at the side front door and you're ringing the bell because we don't have a we don't have a buzz or anything. We have an old fashioned bell, and it means that you're also standing on our verandah. We have a beautiful wrap around veranda which is tiled. We've got balustrades, we've got wisteria overhanging, so at certain times of the year, particularly in early summer, is absolutely beautiful. It sounds adyllic ceiling fans. I mean, our veranda is like an outdoor room. It's like having a beautiful So that's where you're standing before you've even stepped foot into the house. Then you come into the house, open plan l shaped. We've got a living living area and a dining area. Art absolutely everywhere. David and I are obsessed with art, and we've collected art over the years, everywhere we have ever been in our lives art.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: How do you buy art? Do you choose guts?
00:05:14
Speaker 2: Just gut, absolute gut. It's instinct and it's immediate. And some of the some of the pieces that we own, you know, few of the pieces that we own are expensive and have come from galleries. The vast majority have come from flea markets, all sorts of different sources. And it's a real mix of paintings, photographs, summerre framed, unframed. It's a real yeah, it's it's a gallery. And we have art throughout the whole house. We have art in our bathrooms, we have art in the kitchen, we have art in all of the bedrooms.
00:05:54
Speaker 1: How do you know what to hang where?
00:05:56
Speaker 2: I would say it's instinct, which perhaps isn't very helpful, but we just have a gut feeling of what works in certain spaces.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: I think that's it. When you're creating a home, Actually, it doesn't matter what trends are or what the experts might say. It is what is pleasing to your eye, what makes it.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: And that's a nice segue l into something that I feel very strongly about. Actually, when it comes to putting art, in the home. Art to me tells a very different story, and a very independent story to everything else in the home. I know a lot of people like to sort of match their art to the rug, to the sofa, to the furnishings. That's not our style. Art for us has always stood alone. It's independent. It tells a completely different story visually and esthetically. And every piece of art that we own has a story attached to it. You know, if you were standing in front of our wall of art and you said, Neil, tell me about that one. Tell me about that one, I'd tell you where it came from, why we have what it means to us.
00:07:01
Speaker 1: Your art tells a story of your life, really.
00:07:07
Speaker 2: Does. Yeah, I think we worry far too much about finding art that is going to appeal to everyone. It's impossible to do that. I mean, I can guarantee l that what you love will be different to what I love. That's the nature of art. And you have to put that sort of fear of polarizing your family and your friends to one side and just choose what you love. Yes, because people will walk into your home and they'll say, oh, I'm not sure about that one, or they might not say that out loud, but they'll be thinking it doesn't matter. It's your art. And if you try and fill your home with art that is going to please everyone, you'll fail. You'll either fail or it will be the blandest home ever. Art is so so personal, it really is.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: So if art tells the story of your life, what would it say, where did you start buying or tell us about your journey of building home and your art collection.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: I'm hesitating because that's actually a huge question because I'm quite old. Workout where to start the story.
00:08:22
Speaker 1: What's the first home that you remember decorating and thinking, yes, this feels like me.
00:08:29
Speaker 2: I think the first home where I ever felt like that was the first apartment that I ever owned on my own in London, and it would have been late eighties, early nineties, and I suddenly found myself single. I've been in a longish relationship throughout my twenties, suddenly found myself single and I bought a tiny little apartment in Shepherd's Bush in West London, which funnily enough these days is actually very popular with Australians. They've migrated from Earl's Court, which used to be the Australian hang out to Sheppard's Bush, but that's by the bike from the bush to the bush. Yes, absolutely. And I had this tiny little apartment. It was literally a typical London sort of. It was on the ground floor of an old Victorian building. They had a living room at the front, a bedroom at the back, and a tiny little bathroom and a tiny, tiny little kitchen that you could barely swing a cat in. But it was mine, it was yours. And I remember painting it all white.
00:09:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I probably chose the wrong white. I probably would have chosen totally the wrong white for the cold London light. But it was all white and I put down sea grass matting throughout. I laid it like cop Oh, so you've always been chic, well, thank you. It was quite street actually, and also I wanted to sort of disguise the awful floorboards of the underneath that were all mismatched, so I just put sea grass matting down. And I remember I had a huge gilt mirror over the fire place in the living room, and then I only allowed one color throughout, and that was really like a real Eve climb blue.
00:10:07
Speaker 1: Oh, how fantastic for anyone listening. How would you describe Eve climb.
00:10:13
Speaker 2: Climb Blue, the most vivid blue you could ever imagine, is really the only way that I can describe that, so.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: That I can imagine teamed with the white and the gilt mirror and the sea grass.
00:10:26
Speaker 2: What was I on? I was on a bit of a Moroccan trip or something. It was something. There was obviously something going on in my head at the time. I mean, this was obviously long before I knew I was ever going to live in Australia. But I felt immensely proud of that apartment because it was mine and I hadn't had to sort of defer to anyone else, no one else's opinion, that's it, just mine.
00:10:49
Speaker 1: So how does that differ from the house you're in now where you do share it with David? And how do you negotiate decorating now with diplomacy?
00:11:02
Speaker 2: It's the honest answer to that. No, seriously. I mean David and I have been together a very long time, not twenty three years, and we do actually have very similar taste.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: That is handy.
00:11:15
Speaker 2: It's yeah. I mean when I say similar taste, we can always meet in the middle. I mean David, I think has a tendency towards the more decorative and definitely towards the more antique, whereas I sort of tend towards the more contemporary. But somehow we meet in the middle. You know, there's always an element of compromise, but it's a good compromise.
00:11:35
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you've had to concede to and say, well, all right, fine all the time?
00:11:40
Speaker 2: But then he does the same for me. I mean, David has a love of vintage plates, for example, and when we first when we first moved to our present home on the New South Wales south coast, he threw himself sort of wholeheartedly into the sort of country living. Yeah, and suddenly sort of everything had to be country, country, country, country, like enough of the country. But we used to have this wonderful old sort of opshop, like a market of secondhand vintage market in Bury, which sadly is no longer there, and I think David probably bought every vintage plate they had and put them on the walls. Yes, they're still there now. For me, it's too many, but he absolutely loves them, so that's fine. I think that's mostly, you know, and there are other things I'm sure in the house that he knows. I love that he maybe wouldn't have if he was living there on his own, but that's kind of how it rolls.
00:12:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. Do you believe in a forever home?
00:12:38
Speaker 2: Yes and no? Yes and no. I thought that the home that we were in was going to be our forever home when we bought it back in twenty eighteen. It was definitely with the forever home. It was the forever home concept. But we are thinking seriously about selling, not moving too far. Are staying in Bury, the little town that we live in, because we absolutely love it. But we've reached the stage in our lives where maybe we don't need to have quite so much land yep, quite so much work involved, So we are thinking of simplifying and maybe recreating what we have in a different house.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: So do you intend to downsize or in terms of house or just land?
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Just land? Okay, I think the house. Look, I'm not giving too much away here because I don't want to. I don't want to tempt fate a plans plans ahead. But the house will be, if anything, slightly larger for more plays currently no more, don't won't even go there. Well, but it won't have the two and a half acres of land that that we we now have to look after. And also we have a beautiful guest house on our at the moment that we do in twenty twenty two, which we're very proud of. But I think we need to simplify our lives as we get older. So maybe the next one will be forever.
00:14:13
Speaker 1: Home, moving into a new home and setting it up. What does being a homemaker mean to you?
00:14:21
Speaker 2: Being a homemaker for us means creating a home that is totally us. It is where we feel relaxed. It's creating a home that expresses our tastes, our interests, our life together, our travels, but sort of distilling all that into a contemporary home because what we love is to create a contemporary home within an old shell. I mean, both David and I love old houses. We do. We're not modern people in the respect we appreciate contemporary architecture, but we personally love old houses. But what we love to do is give those old houses a modern spin. Yes, and let's not forget they have to be dog friendly too, because we have important family members our dogs, yes, and we have to create a comfortable home for them too.
00:15:22
Speaker 1: Who do you have with you these days.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: We have two dogs. We have five year old Teddy Ted who's a Wymarana, yes, and we have six year old Graham, who's an Italian Greyhound.
00:15:34
Speaker 1: They are so sweet. I've seen pictures of them that absolutely gorgeous.
00:15:38
Speaker 2: One big ones more.
00:15:40
Speaker 1: How do you decorate with dogs in mind?
00:15:42
Speaker 2: You just have to go for it. You mustn't allow the dogs to hold you back, because there's always a solution. I mean, the way we deal with it is we do exactly what we want. We have the things in the house that we want. And you know, if we have to put rugs down on the sofa or towels down on on the rug when it's raining, so be it.
00:16:02
Speaker 1: That's okay. I was just going to ask, are they on the sofa on the bed?
00:16:06
Speaker 2: Of course they are.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: Oh, they're family.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: They are our dogs. They don't live by any rules. They are part of the family. And people do often say to me, you know, how do you have you know, how do you have a beautiful home with dogs? Yeah? Easy, You just don't allow the dogs to dictate anything. They just come on that journey with you. And yes, of course, every now and again you'll get muddy paws on the bed or on the sofa, but you deal with.
00:16:32
Speaker 1: It As design blends style and practicality to enhance every day living. The new Winter Collection embraces warm tones, sleek finishes, and smooth silhouettes, offering timeless pieces designed to transform your home throughout the cooler months. Thoughtfully curated, each peace layers comfort, character, and effortless style to create a welcoming, lived in feel. Balancing form and function, the collection helps you create a home that feels truly yours, whether refreshing a corner or reimagining your entire space. Discovered designs made to live in. Explore the Winter Collection in store or online with us Design A quick pause here. If Neil has just made you sideyree your down lights, your shears, or your throws, you're not alone. My favorite thing about this chat is how practical he is. This is a man who will happily admit he only turns on the big light to vacuum or to find something on the floor, and who still walks around his house every night switching lamps on and off, just because he loves the ritual. Be back in a bit, I'd like to shift gears for a minute, Neil, and move from homemaking into hosting and entertaining. Because I know that you have a background in food in your career as well, how does that come through in your home? How do you like to host and entertain.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: In a very cay is the honest answer. I mean I have a background in food, yes, but food publishing, yes, food magazines.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: Do you cook?
00:18:08
Speaker 2: David, my partner, is the cook. I mean, David actually was a professional chef oh wow, back in the day. So he's the practical one. He's the one that actually cooks beautifully. Unfortunately, David has been unwell for several years. The good news is that he's a lot better now, a lot better, but he's had a few rough years, poor thing, and he hasn't been doing much cooking. I've sort of taken over the pans for the last few years and we've kept things very simple. But we haven't really been doing much entertaining. But the good news is that we are back as entertainers now. Simple is the way to go, though for me it's got to be relaxed. I mean, yes, we will always set a beautiful table. Yes, there will be candles. Yes, I must admit I do stress a bit about the right music and all that stuff. But at the same time I want it to be a relaxed experience for the guests.
00:19:07
Speaker 1: And whose house do you love going to? Who do you think entertains well, you don't have to name names, but what are some experiences that you've had that you've thought this is great old friends?
00:19:20
Speaker 2: I mean, for me, it's always about the people, it really is. I mean, over the years, obviously I've attended many, many, many, many, many grand functions, and of course it's something that came with the job of being a magazine editor and a publisher. But these days I tend to only dine with David or with friends. Life is much more relaxed and much much less formal. So for me it's generally about the people. It's about the people and if the food's lovely too, then that's a bonus. But it's just spending quality time with good friends, and that's people here in Australia and when I get the chance to go back home to England as well.
00:20:08
Speaker 1: Now you've been through so many homes through your work and in your personal life, and having the knowledge and experience that you do, do you ever look at things in other people's homes and go, hmm, that could have been done better.
00:20:24
Speaker 2: Simple answer, no Ah, you are.
00:20:27
Speaker 1: You really are a dream.
00:20:28
Speaker 2: That's a very loaded question because one of the one of the big drawbacks of being a TV judge is that people assume that you judge when you're not judging. Yeah, and I've always said no, no, no, no, no, Please don't think I do that, because I really don't. I mean, I only do my judging when the cameras are rolling. A minute, the camera's stop rolling. I am no longer a TV judge and el it is amazing how in all the years I was doing the block, which is thirteen years, Yes, the invitations really dried up. Oh for that very reason, because people didn't want me coming to their home and judging them.
00:21:10
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's so sad.
00:21:12
Speaker 2: Very sad. Oh it really didn't make me happy at all. I was unhappy, but I knew that that was what was happening. So honest answer to your question is no, I absolutely don't. Everyone's home is different. Everyone's home is their home. If you come to my home, you'll probably see things you think, Oh my god, I can't believe they've got that. You know, no one's home is perfect. No, no one's home is perfect. I can guarantee that a home that is absolutely perfect in every respect is going to be bloody, boring.
00:21:44
Speaker 1: And really uncomfortable, I think.
00:21:45
Speaker 2: Really uncomfortable and lacking soul. A home for me is one that reflects the personality and love of its owners. Yes, one that feels layered, one that feels comfortable, one that feels relaxed. And I really don't care about you know, whether you've got the latest, this, that or the other. Yeah, I really don't.
00:22:07
Speaker 1: Well, I hope you get more invitations after people hear this.
00:22:10
Speaker 2: They've picked up a bit, they've picked up a bit, but once my RHNO rules goes out, they'll probably dry up again.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: So Neil tell me about as this is the edit? What is a tiny edit that you've made in your home that's made a big difference.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Do you know the one thing that I can't believe I left it so late in life to do it, that has made a huge difference is putting underfloor heating in our bathrooms. I mean obviously when we renovated. Yeah, you wouldn't be doing it unless you were renovating them. But I always imagine that that would be a very expensive thing to do, and of course it's actually not really no, not if you are already renovating your bathroom. Okay, but my goodness, it's wonderful. It's life changing in the colder months.
00:22:53
Speaker 1: That's been a dream of mine.
00:22:55
Speaker 2: I mean, our bathrooms in our home emitted. The aren't that huge, they're fairly smalloms. But just when we were renovating them, we suddenly thought, let's look into underfloor heating. And I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was into the reno, and my goodness, it punches above its weight in terms of the impact. But for me, I mean, look tiny edits will normally always involve light, because I am such a firm I mean quite apart from being a fan of lamps. I mean, the reason I'm such a fan of lamps is because I believe that light, more than anything else, has a transformative effect on the space and therefore the way we feel in that space absolutely so tiny edit for me will always be putting lamps in dark corners and changing the dynamic, changing the feel of a room through lamps, And it really doesn't have to cost much.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: And what makes your home beautiful.
00:23:50
Speaker 2: I think what makes our home beautiful is authenticity. And I don't mean that to sound like a sort of pompous, pretentious stand I think it's a very honest. It's not a home that is on trend in any way, shape or form. I always love to know what the trends are, but we do not follow trends. We fill our home with the things that we like, and sometimes that makes for an eccentric mix. I mean, we've always got that yin and yang of the old and the new, the contemporary, the vintage going on. But it's us and I think the more authentic a home is, the better it feels, and the more beautiful it is.
00:24:32
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more. Neil, thank you so much for coming back to the edit. It's just it's been so nice connecting with my mentor in this way. It's been an absolute joy. And can't wait to see the new TV show Thank You. We'll look out for the air date channel seven.
00:24:51
Speaker 2: Yes, sometime this year, is all I can tell you.
00:24:56
Speaker 1: Well know that I'll be watching thank you and not judging.
00:25:02
Speaker 2: Watching not judging that should be on my EITA at L. It's been such a pleasure. I love talking to you. Thanks for having me on a pleasure.
00:25:14
Speaker 1: I could happily sit and talk to Neil all day, and as you've probably gathered, we nearly did. Hearing him describe his first tiny London apartment with seagrass matting and you've climbed blue accents, or admitting that his biggest decore regret was a beautiful but totally impractical suspended fireplace that turned the room into a sauna. It was such a reminder that even the experts get it wrong. Sometimes they just keep editing like we do here at the edit. What I love most and what I hope you felt too, is his insistence on authenticity. That a home doesn't have to be on trend or match what you've seen on renovation shows to be beautiful. It needs to feel honest, layered and relaxed, a place where the are allowed on the bed, the art tells the story of your life, and the lamps quietly change the way you feel at the end of the day. If you'd like to see more of Neil's world, we've put extra photos, styling ideas, and a deeper dive into his home tour up on home Beautiful dot com dot au. You can find that link in our show notes, along with all our room for advice, dilemmas and Neil's solutions. Thank you so much for listening. We'd love to hear how you think we're going, so leave us a review or DMA set Home Beautiful. Let us know what you'd like to hear and who you'd like to meet. This episode is brought to you by Luxeflex, transforming homes with beautiful, functional window coverings designed to transform your light and lifestyle. Thank you to OS Design for our beautiful set. Come visit the experienced team in store and see the collection for yourself.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: This is an ar Media podcast
