Hello!
My name is Matt Allison.
I go by many titles with over a decade of experience in the design industry. My work has been featured in various lifestyle publications including Home, House & Leisure, Elle Decoration, VISI, Real Estate, Good Taste & The Sunday Times.
Based in Sydney, Australia my approach to interior styling and design is clean and timeless. I believe in creating spaces that are simple and functional, yet practical enough to deal with the ever-growing demands of daily life.
Thank you for visiting.
Category Archives: Gardening & Landscaping
Meet Joe Paine
Image courtesy of Joe Paine
If you follow SA design Joe’s work will be familiar to you, though the face/name behind his products might not be, so allow me to introduce Joe Paine.
Image courtesy of Joe Paine
You’ll probably have seen his Kreep Planter, a modular planting system that was voted ‘Best outdoor product of 2009 voted by EDIDA’, which I first discovered in VISI.
I’ve been jonzing for one for the better part of a year, so now with the landscaping revamp underway I’ve decided to invite Joe into our home with not one but 2 in a customer configuration he whipped together for us.
Image courtesy of Joe Paine
Not wanting to stop there we ordered a Trihard stool set that is part bench, brolly holder and planter, or as we like to call it a bellyanter.
And since things always work better in three we ordered a fold feeder, which as Joe describes is
Inspired by paper origami birds, the fold feeder subtly resembles a perched Giant Eagle Owl. Bent from one sheet of special Origami steel, its construction is a bending break operator’s worst nightmare.
So there you have it, you now know Joe, Joe knows us and we are all one step closer to knowing Kevin Bacon.
Luscious landscaping
Images courtesy of Houzz.com
I tend to do things in phases. I wish I could wave a magic wand and it would all be taken care of, but budgets dictate that it’s the protocol to be followed.
Two years ago we landscaped our frontyard, a year ago we put in our lawn and veggie garden and are now looking at doing some hardscaping to it by adding a path and patio area with a little playhouse for Nathan and his soon to be sister.
I tend to give these things deadlines, always the same, Nathan’s birthday, which gives me till 17th June to complete it all.
I’ve already taken to buying some plants by making use of Stodels up to 50% off sale (ends May 6th, go, now!).
Being a self professed modernist I’m in total awe of the mid-century homes designed by Richard Neutra and Joseph Eichler, in fact I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Eichler’s work.
I’ve taken inspiration from them by using concrete pavers, stone chips and plants like flaxes, grasses and papyrus, as seen above. I love the overlapping of textures like stone, bark and raw cement.
While I’ve done the designs I’ve enlisting the help of our mate Anton Fourie of Stonescapes who worked with me on the first two phases of our garden to implement it all. We have just over a month to pull it together. I can’t wait