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Transforming a house into a home with Cherie Barber
March 14, 2025 | IN Together Magazine | BY AVID | 4 min read
Cherie Barber, widely known as ‘Australia’s Reno Queen’, is no stranger to turning a room from bland to beautiful. With her ongoing co-host role on Channel 9’s beloved Space Invaders TV show, Cherie has successfully revamped over 175 properties, harnessing a wealth of knowledge that has undoubtedly contributed to her star power.
For Cherie, turning a house into a home all comes down to finding your own personal style, your favourite colours, décor, cherished mementos and then creating spaces with those that reflect your personality. That way you’re living in an environment that truly reflects your identity and makes you feel happy at home.
Cherie Barber recently shared principles, techniques, and tips and tricks for transforming a home at the Waterford Home Show. And now, we’re excited to share these insider secrets with you, our AVID readers!
Whether you’ve bought a brand-new house, are looking to sell, or just want a room-makeover, keep reading for Cherie’s tricks of the trade.
Seek inspiration
Before you lock anything in it’s time for some home design research. Designing a new home or space can be overwhelming, that’s why seeking inspiration first, through websites like Pinterest, Houzz, and interior design magazines, is a great starting point.
Mood boards
A good way to capture your vision is by creating a mood board, done simply with free online mood boards. The images on your board should represent your ‘inspiration’ of how you want your whole home, and each individual room, to look and feel. Create your mood board by cutting and pasting images of design styles, furniture, colours, and textures that appeal to you helping you narrow down what style you’re really aiming to achieve.
One room at a time
While it’s important to masterplan the whole look of your home first, if you’re new to the world of interior design and styling, it may be best to tackle the rollout of your vision one room at a time, versus your whole house at once. This will be less stressful and generally more manageable.
Choose a colour scheme
Colour
Careful thought needs to be given to your paint colours as they can influence your emotions, your ability to focus and relax, right down to your overall moods. For your whole house colour palette, choose 3-5 colours as a base, going with neutral for larger areas, a complimentary colour for balance, then one or two accent colours.
Tip: Follow the interior designer colour rule of thumb – 60% (dominant colour), 30% (secondary) and 10% (accent).
Focal walls
Key focal walls can add visual interest, depth and personality to a room and are deliberately designed to stand out from other walls through the use of colour, material or artwork. Using products like VJ panelling for your feature walls instantly adds architectural interest and a designer look to any room on a relatively modest budget
Select key pieces of furniture
Identify your focal wall first that stabilises your design. Depending on the room you’re furnishing, it can be a great location for key décor or furniture. Start with your essentials (big pieces first) ensuring you always match furniture to the size of your room. Scale all your smaller pieces and accessories down from there.
Tip: Avoid pushing all your furniture right up against the walls. You’ll find your room will instantly feel bigger.
Add lighting
Layer your lighting with a mix of overhead, task and accent lighting to provide functionality and ambience. Remember, lighting can be a decorative element also so choose lights that blend harmoniously with the style you’re trying to create.
Incorporate textiles and textures
Select soft furnishings such as rugs, curtains, cushions, and throws to add colour, warmth, and comfort. Combine different materials like wood, metal, glass, and fabric to add depth and visual interest.
Accessorise
Personalise your space
Add artwork, photos, plants, and decorative elements that tie in with your desired style. Adding photos to fill blank walls, is an inexpensive way to make your home more personal. Don’t forget to leave some breathing room to avoid your space feeling cluttered.
Hand-me-downs
Consider repurposing hand-me-downs and sentimental pieces which can often add character to a room. This is a perfect way to honour and respect important pieces versus storing them in a box. They can also be the perfect conversation starter next time you have house guests!
