The Design Files Talks

Tamara DiMattina hasn’t bought anything new for more than 20 years. Instead, she’s been shopping for her clothing, shoes, furniture, and literally everything else, second hand! In this episode, we hear from the founder of Buy Nothing New Month about her sustainability series, The New Joneses, and all her advice for changing your attitude towards excessive consumption.

Sydney-based interior designer, product designer, and TV presenter has just wrapped up a five-year long renovation of her eclectic family home. In this episode, she shares how taking the time to find vintage lighting, experimenting with wallpaper, and working with salvaged materials helped bring a nautical-inspired character to the Bundeena abode.

Landscape architects Joel Barker and Hannah Pannell built their sustainable Perth family home on the smallest possible footprint — in order to save most of their block for the garden of their dreams. Hear why the resulting 110-square-metre home is one of the most energy-efficient properties we’ve ever featured, and how why building small was worth it.

Courtney Adamo recently finished her family’s beach house in Minnie Water. She sat down with Lucy Feagins to discuss the highs and lows of the design and build process — plus what she'd do differently if building a house again.

Georgia Frances King and Mete Erdogan are first-time renovators restoring an original 1970s brick veneer home in Melbourne’s north. In this episode, they share the updates they’ve made so far, what they’ve learned from YouTube tutorials alone, and how much it’s all cost!

In our last episode for the year, we speak with Julie and Vincent Fodera who are restoring one of Melbourne's oldest mansions, a historic homestead in Caulfield known as Heatherbrae. They share how they've been sympathetically renovating the grand abode and the importance of preserving heritage builds.

Melbourne couple Patrick and Ruby Shields bought their first home in Mount Evelyn in 2018. Since then the carpenter and interior designer have landed new jobs, gotten married, but they're still working on their renovation — five years later! Hear why they bought the house when it was essentially a building site, their love of second-hand furniture and why it's taken them so long to complete.

When furniture makers Al and Imogen Roberts found themselves priced out of Torquay’s real estate market, they decided to buy a block of land and build their sustainable dream home instead. They join us to share how the challenges of 'The Good Day House' project, the hidden costs that come with new builds, and why they decided to start from scratch rather than renovate!

We're back with more renovating stories, and today's episode reveals how TDF Talks host Lucy Feagins and her husband Gordy Johnson transformed their family's Blairgowrie beach shack with a hands-on approach. They speak to producer Christina Karras about the biggest costs, challenges and how they navigated working together on the project as a married couple.

In the final episode of our sustainability series, Momentum Energy’s managing director Lisa Chiba helps us understand how Australia will make the transition from fossil fuels to renewables!