In 2015, we visited the incredible Northern Rivers home of jewellery designer and landscape architect Lisa Hochhauser and her husband, Robert Bleakley. The couple’s home sits on the crest of a 120 acre hinterland property, surrounded by protected natural heath. At the time, work to cultivate ten acres of unprotected land for a residential garden had only recently been completed. 

Six years after our visit (and close to ten years since its initial completion), this garden has bloomed into full maturity. With a vision to return the land to the biodiverse wilderness it would have once been, Lisa and her team at LANDstudio set out to fill it with as much endemic vegetation as they could find. The lush sub-tropical garden now sits comfortably beside the modern family home, and acres of protected heathland stretching out towards Cape Byron on the horizon.

You might have noticed, if you follow us on Instagram, that I (Lucy) have been racing around all over the place recently – Sydney! Gippsland! Philip Island! However, one of the most memorable destinations I’ve had the great fortune to visit recently has been Flinders Island, a spectacularly beautiful island just off the North East Coast of Tasmania.

Along with my family, I was lucky to stay at Wombat Lodge, a cozy three bedroom farm stay property, located on a working cattle farm in rugged, beautiful Killiecrankie, towards the top end of the island. We spent a weekend exploring this truly remarkable part of Australia (that despite its remoteness, is only a one hour flight from Melbourne) and I’m happy report that all three of us came away totally smitten!

Stylist Shonel Bryant is a force to be reckoned with. Ten years after losing her own dear mum to stomach cancer, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, when her beautiful kids, Smith and Vogue, were just six and four years old. Despite all the fear and uncertainty this brought, Shonel is determined to be the success story . She shares her honest experiences through her platform Support Your Girls in the hopes of inspiring others and raising awareness about the importance of early detection.

From Shonel’s truly beautiful family home in Yandoit, Victoria, where she lives with her partner Luke and the kids, we had a candid conversation about her journey so far.

The Shed in Gerroa (90 minutes from Sydney) mixes coastal themes with a traditional country farmhouse vernacular. Situated on an acre of rolling farmland, the accommodation is nestled in its surrounding South Coast farmland with uninterrupted views to the ocean.

With simple, robust architecture, warm interiors, and a sunset outlook over the rolling waves and neighbouring Cambewarra Mountain, will you ever want to leave?

There’s no doubt about it: when it comes to protecting our planet, most of us are eager to do the right thing. But it can be hard to discern which products are actually sustainable and ethical, and those that are simply ‘green washing’.

In the home care department, Sydney-based brand Koala Eco are determined to be the positive choice for their customers. Using natural, non-toxic ingredients derived from Australian plants with natural antiseptic qualities, Koala Eco’s products are both effective and gentle, and as a massive bonus, they smell amazing!

Founders Jessica Bragdon and Paul Davidson believe passionately in their mission of helping to contribute to healthier homes, and a healthier planet. Here, they take us behind the scenes of Koala Eco to explain exactly how they’re doing it.

‘I consider myself a late career artist,’ says Carol Crawford. This mature blooming hasn’t…

For everyone out there that has ever underestimated the smarts and hustle it takes to make great internet content, we give you Sophia Athas. The UTS graduate spent her Law and Communications lectures editing videos on her laptop for her personal blog, Hatrik, before expanding it to a fully fledged business in her third year of uni. From there, she did years of unpaid work – building up a following and putting the money she made back into the business, before finally launching Hatrik House: a fully fledged creative agency.

At just 28 years of age, she’s been running the successful business for years – now employing seven full-timers to do all kinds of creative work for brands like Gucci, Chanel and Frank Body.

The self-taught entrepreneur, tastemaker and ultimate creative slashie talks about what it takes to push your side hustle into an über cool millennial marketing business, how to be a good boss, and how she keeps her finger on the pulse.

A beautiful home is something to behold, but a beautiful home surrounded by a beautiful garden (like yesterday’s home story!) is truly next level.

If you don’t have the chops to design and plant a garden yourself, it can be intimidating to know where to start. What’s actually involved in working with a garden designer? How long does it take? And the all-important question – how much does it cost?

When a reader asked us these questions recently, we realised we didn’t have the answers ourselves, so we asked a few of our expert friends to break down the entire process: landscape designer and Peachy Green founder, Fran Hale; founder and principal of Kathleen Murphy Landscape Design, Katheleen Murphy; landscape architect and director of Svalbe & Co, Katy Svalbe; landscape designer and director of Phillip Withers, Phil Withers; and Garden Life founder and director, Richard Unsworth.

Here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about working with a landscape designer!