A timeless elegant interior by Journey Home Canberra
With design principles centred around timeless elegance, enduring quality and considered comfort, award-winning Interior Designer, Nadine Neilson, has styled exquisite homes across the country.
Establishing the Canberra-based business, Journey Home Interiors in 2012, Nadine’s work is synonymous with classic design, earning her Australia House and Garden magazine’s Top 50 Rooms Awards in 2018. Her work has been featured in countless magazines, as she creates forever homes for her enthusiastic clients.
Nadine’s design journey started as a founding member of Xavier Furniture, working alongside her parents, Wendy and Des.
We sat down to learn more about her design view, becoming a Canberra stockist for Xavier and her clients’ idea of style.
Tell us about how you became involved in interior design.
My background in design started with Xavier Furniture working as a wholesaler, choosing products, building ranges, and working in interior styling. Through Xavier, I’ve worked with some of Australia’s best designers.
The company started with my mother, Wendy, who’s still running Xavier, and my father, Des. It was wonderful working with my parents with a combined passion to bring a quality and style brand to Australia that was new and needed.
What styles are you and your clients drawn to?
Homes need to be cosy and have character. I’m passionate about East Coast American style with a French Provincial flavour. It’s elegant and luxurious, living outside the mainstream with its charm and personality.
Canberra has a lot of houses from the fifties, sixties, and onwards, so it’s a matter of blending classic style with the home design for a cohesive and beautiful fit.
What is the feedback from clients about Xavier Furniture?
When clients come to the Journey Home Interiors showroom they enjoy feeling the furniture, experiencing the luxurious fabrics and quality. They love that the pieces are both beautiful and comfortable. It’s not only about style, it’s very much about functionality.
They trust Xavier because the materials are high-end and stand the test of time. Clients are excited about seeing the pieces in their home and experiencing the mood that elegant, timeless furniture brings to a space.
What do you think is important in interior design?
Planning is imperative. I like to start any work with a furniture plan, understanding what pieces will fit the function of the space and give it purpose. The aesthetic is also considered so the room becomes an equally considered project of functionality and beauty.
There is a lot that goes on in the background to create a lovely room. It can take me 30 hours to design a room and that same amount of time to complete the styling, but it’s so rewarding when it comes together and I see the client’s delight and excitement to move into their new space and experience the room.