1960’s family home, Wahroonga, NSW. Photo via realestate.com.au
“We really wish we had known about Alistair’s fantastic House Calls service a year ago. In contrast to our previous experience with architectural services, Alistair cost effectively provided us with the direction and expertise to move ahead with our renovation. In our consultation with Alistair we were given workable solutions to some complex problems such as improving the internal and external flow of very quirky 1980s changes to a 1960 house. All while coming back to what the priorities were on our very very tight budget. We were so impressed with Alistair’s knowledge of midcentury design, we asked him to give us a colour consultation for painting our home. So here we are, confident that we are back on track with a vision for our home and some great professional contacts (and yes we are keeping the natural bricks, you’ll be glad to know) Highly recommended, you won’t look back. Thanks again, Lisa & Simon”
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Secret Design Studio
Secret Design Studio is a small, boutique building and interior design studio that specialises in retro homes of the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s.
Secret Design Studio received three vinyl tile samples from “Stick on Tiles Australia” and I have mixed feelings about this product. Each 30cm square tile has a paper backing that conceals the sticky back. The product made me think about honesty and dishonesty in materials for interior design. My test always involves putting a sample of the imitation product adjacent to the real thing to see how fake (or real) it looks.![]()
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In this case, the “terrazzo” pattern look is a failure, the pattern is too bold, the finish is too matt, and the colours look wrong. The other two are more “honest”, as they look like what they are – vinyl tiles. ![]()
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It is a product designed for the DIY and Flipper market, and I would not consider it in wet areas, or a kitchen splashback close to a heat source. Due to the lightness of the product its ideal application could be for refreshing a caravan floor which has lighter use than most domestic situations. As with any flexible flooring material so much depends on what is underneath, as the thinness of the tile will transfer any imperfections from beneath the tile.
