Have you ever wondered how television’s biggest design experts style their own homes? In this episode of The Edit alongside Editor Elle Lovelock, we sit down with design editor, author and beloved television judge Neale Whitaker for a unique conversation between two old friends who have a very special relationship.
Neale has spent decades shaping the way Australians think about our homes, first as the editor of some of the country’s most influential design magazines, and later as a familiar face on television judging some of the nation’s most ambitious homes. With his design background, it hardly comes as a surprise that Neale has some strict style rules for his own home.
“I love the ritual – and it is a ritual – of turning on and off lamps.”
Neale Whitaker
In this fun and inspiring conversation, Neale talks about why he almost never turns on the “big light”, his preference for warm globes over cool, his love of sheer curtains, candles and the one styling habit he would happily erase from Australian homes.
Along the way, we talk about how Neale developed a ‘portfolio career’, the types of brands he likes to work with and the thoughtful advice Neale once gave to Elle that still resonates in the workplace today.
Neale Whitaker answers your design dilemas
Neale also answers real design dilemmas from listeners, including:
- How to balance light and privacy in a ground‑floor apartment
- The best way to soften glare in a sun‑drenched open‑plan space
- How to zone lighting in one large room using layering and lamps
- Finding a truce when one partner wants a big TV and blackout curtains, and the other wants books, light and conversation
Consider it part design masterclass, part life philosophy and an invitation to learn about the home of one of television’s biggest faces of interior design.
“One of the things you have to be in life is kind.”
Neale Whitaker
Listen now: This episode of The Edit is available via the iHeart app, homebeautiful.com.au, or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch below or listen here.
The Edit podcast from the team at Home Beautiful is supported by OZ Design and Luxaflex.
A space to connect and belong to a growing group of our audience who want to go behind the scenes of our glossy pages to discover exactly what makes a house a home.
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