About
Shaynna
Shaynna Blaze-Vaughan is a woman of many talents that have allowed her to weave an intricate career from design, teaching and public speaking, to an accomplished commercial artist. She even managed a career as an entertainer and jazz singer. Her first job as an interior designer twenty years ago saw her travel the country designing showrooms for a well-known retail company. Now armed with her vast life experience, passion for design and solving design problems Shaynna transforms commercial, private and retail premises working with budgets anywhere up to two million dollars. Shaynna’s unique talent of interpreting what her clients want, even if they don’t realise what that is themselves, has kept her in constant demand since she re-established her business, Blank Canvas Interiors, five years ago. Shaynna has lived in Melbourne most of her life and draws inspiration from its ever-changing seasons, diverse cultures, world class restaurants and a yearly calendar of art and music festivals. Selling Houses Australia is Shaynna's first television series and she was keen to get her hands on the interiors of the homes featured and get them ready for sale.
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What are the best pieces to buy when I move out?
It really doesn’t seem that long ago when I first moved out of home, all and my girlfriends and I had with us were the contents of our bedroom and boxes full of all the stuff our parents were glad to get rid of. We were so happy to have couches we could throw rugs over, as they were so ugly, but they were ours (even though they were our parent’s hand-me-downs). It was all about freedom as opposed to ‘of-the-minute’ furniture. Hard to believe seeing as though I had graduated in design and started up my own business in interiors. I feel like I’m talking as though I lived through the depression but the late eighties and early nineties was boom and bust in a modern kind of way. So where am I going on this?
It really doesn’t seem that long ago when I first moved out of home, all and my girlfriends and I had with us were the contents of our bedroom and boxes full of all the stuff our parents were glad to get rid of. We were so happy to have couches we could throw rugs over, as they were so ugly, but they were ours (even though they were our parent’s hand-me-downs). It was all about freedom as opposed to ‘of-the-minute’ furniture. Hard to believe seeing as though I had graduated in design and started up my own business in interiors. I feel like I’m talking as though I lived through the depression but the late eighties and early nineties was boom and bust in a modern kind of way. So where am I going on this?
Lighting would have to be one of the most overlooked parts of decorating in the planning of a home. I cant tell you the many times I have come into a home after the renovation and pointed out the missed opportunities of function lighting, ambient lighting and feature lighting that could have been included in the original design. When doing lighting after the fact it is either ‘make-do’ or costly changes to get the most out of the lighting plan.
Lighting comes in three areas - general, indirect and accent.
General is the functional aspect of the lighting, sometimes known as task lighting. These are the working areas or a space that has a specific function over a surface like a kitchen bench, a desk and filling areas such as the large expanses of floor space.
Lighting comes in three areas - general, indirect and accent.
General is the functional aspect of the lighting, sometimes known as task lighting. These are the working areas or a space that has a specific function over a surface like a kitchen bench, a desk and filling areas such as the large expanses of floor space.
With Sex in the City so prominent at the moment and the focus on fashions and shoes and so many changes, it begs to question: Where does it all go? If you constantly hear yourself saying “I haven’t anything to wear”, maybe it’s all there but you just cant find it!
When building a new wardrobe or fitting an existing one we spend so much energy wondering if the doors should be sliding or mirrored. Do we have timber, veneer or laminate? Do we have baskets or full drawers?
In fact, designing the wardrobe is all about the internals. The best wardrobes are designed around what you already have and will grow with you, not just a system to fill. The first and most important step is inventory, followed by culling and leaving room for future purchases.
When building a new wardrobe or fitting an existing one we spend so much energy wondering if the doors should be sliding or mirrored. Do we have timber, veneer or laminate? Do we have baskets or full drawers?
In fact, designing the wardrobe is all about the internals. The best wardrobes are designed around what you already have and will grow with you, not just a system to fill. The first and most important step is inventory, followed by culling and leaving room for future purchases.
Many people scramble for the holiday guides and seek sunny accommodation mid-year in fear of the dreaded oppressive onset of winter. Myself, maybe it is because of my love affair of Melbourne’s constant changing weather, find a certain romance that comes with autumn and winter.
I embrace the cold and the changes it brings to my home. Outside the windows I watch the ever-changing kaleidoscope as the leaves turn from green to golden yellow to burnt red and gracefully disappear to leave the barren architecture of the trees. Garden lighting highlighting these beauties give an alternate focal point in the evenings and a great show for when guests arrive. Nature’s way of creating interest is our signal to do the same inside. Out come the heavy knitted throws and deeper tones in scatter cushions, extra lighting in the form of deep red silk shades on table lamps and groupings of tall pillar candles in chocolate, cinnamon, caramel and vanilla.
I embrace the cold and the changes it brings to my home. Outside the windows I watch the ever-changing kaleidoscope as the leaves turn from green to golden yellow to burnt red and gracefully disappear to leave the barren architecture of the trees. Garden lighting highlighting these beauties give an alternate focal point in the evenings and a great show for when guests arrive. Nature’s way of creating interest is our signal to do the same inside. Out come the heavy knitted throws and deeper tones in scatter cushions, extra lighting in the form of deep red silk shades on table lamps and groupings of tall pillar candles in chocolate, cinnamon, caramel and vanilla.
This is a saying we have heard many, many times before but more often than I care to say, people tend to think it really is only a cliché. If ever you are going to convince someone to buy your home, you really don’t have a lot of time to gain his or her attention.
Starting from the outside, if you don’t have the right colours and style happening outside, potential buyers may just drive by and never even walk into the house and this is the first opportunity lost. By the time people get to the front door they have an expectation, so look at the colour scheme at the front of your house and how your garden supports the look of your home.
Front mats that scream ‘Welcome’ are saying, ‘Be my visitor, not my buyer’, so replace the mat with a neutral pattern or do away with it if not necessary.
Once that front door opens, that is where you really need to capture the buyer.
Starting from the outside, if you don’t have the right colours and style happening outside, potential buyers may just drive by and never even walk into the house and this is the first opportunity lost. By the time people get to the front door they have an expectation, so look at the colour scheme at the front of your house and how your garden supports the look of your home.
Front mats that scream ‘Welcome’ are saying, ‘Be my visitor, not my buyer’, so replace the mat with a neutral pattern or do away with it if not necessary.
Once that front door opens, that is where you really need to capture the buyer.
After many years of driving my parents crazy by forever rearranging my bedroom, my parents’ bedroom, shifting furniture around the lounge and endless artwork on walls, I discovered Interior Design was a career. It was an interest that I slowly gravitated towards in my final years of High School, and then progressed to design school. It wasn’t till I began working in the industry that I realised it was a passion- I just thought everyone did this! I am totally inspired daily by design. It has to do with the cutlery you hold, the function of a comfortable chair; the inspiration of texture and the patterns of nature. It is evident when you enter a hotel foyer, a shop, a home interior and how it affects your mood.
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