@alisa_lysandra / Photography: Jenah Piwanski
You would think churning out renovations on The Block would lead to a few design mishaps, but Lysandra Fraser — one half of the ‘Design Duo’, Alisa and Lysandra — has an entirely different décor regret.
On her episode of The Edit podcast, Lysandra revealed that, over the course of more than 13 years as an interior designer, one design regret stood out above the rest.
Listen to Lysandra’s full episode of The Edit podcast:
“When we did renovate my very first home [I did have] maybe a ‘finish’ regret,” she began. “We put this extension on — living, dining, kitchen — and we chose a shiny, porcelain tile for the flooring.”
“Oh, I see where this is going…” quipped The Edit host and Home Beautiful editor Elle Lovelock.
“It was awful!” Lysandra continued. “You could see every footprint, every reflection, and we had lots of natural light… We ended up just floorboarding over the top of it.”
Although Lysandra concedes that this was “before I really knew what I was doing”, we think one batch of shiny tiles isn’t too bad given her prolific professional run.
During her episode of The Edit, Lysandra spoke about her entire career journey, from her childhood to now. Prior to Lysandra’s career-defining turn on The Block 2013 — which she Alisa won —the twins were actually both policewomen with no design experience at all. Well, almost none.
Jumping back to her childhood, Lysandra revealed she and Alisa once painted the hallway in their home in purple suede-effect paint.
Growing up in public housing, Lysandra said she and Alisa were sometimes embarrassed of their home. “I think that’s where our [interior design careers] started,” she shared. “We were like, ‘how can we do little things that are going to make this house less embarrassing?’
“So, we convinced Mum to let us paint the hallway, in this, like, purple plum. And I think we put blue [suede paint] in the kitchen with these colourful gerberas in order to just feel not quite so embarrassed!”
Fast forward to 2024 and Alisa and Lysandra secretly renovated their mum’s home while the parents were away on holiday. “Growing up, our mum was a single mother who raised us entirely on her own without any family support. This renovation is our way of giving back to her, showing our appreciation for all the sacrifices she made for us,” the twins wrote on Instagram at the time.
Meanwhile, Alisa and Lysandra live side-by-side in their gorgeous Melbourne homes, adjoined by a backyard gate for the families to intermingle. On top of the sisters’ interior design studio, Alisa & Lysandra Interiors, they also have a thriving hand and body care business, al.ive body. We love our design duo, and we’re sure there aren’t going to be many ongoing regrets in this stellar career.
Watch Lysandra’s episode of The Edit, or listen to the podcast on your chosen platform:
