Rental As Anything

Renters Are Trusting TikTok’s Loui Burke More Than Their Landlord... and Bed Advice Like A Pro

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

If you’ve ever stood in a beige box of a rental property, staring at the vertical blinds and mystery downlights, wondering how on earth this is supposed to be “you,” this episode is your permission to start again. In part two of our chat with digital creator and “friend in home and hosting” Loui Burke, we move past Instagram-ready corners and get into the mechanics of making a temporary space feel like a real home you’re proud to invite people into.

Loui shares the three non‑negotiables he believes will transform any rental - no renovations, no landlord approval forms required: a properly sized rug, real window treatments, and light fixtures you can swap out and take with you when you leave. He explains why these are the quiet workhorses of a room, doing more for mood and cohesion than yet another cushion haul ever could, and how to approach them when you’re on a budget, short on storage, or not sure how long you’ll be staying.

For anyone overwhelmed by a modern “white box” home or apartment, Loui offers an unexpectedly brilliant styling hack alongside editor Elle Lovelock: treat your favourite flagship stores and boutique hotels as living moodboards. From Mecca and fashion flagships in Armadale or Paddington to carefully designed Airbnbs, Loui breaks down how to steal their ideas, colour palettes, materials, layout tricks, and translate them directly into your living room, bedroom or hallway. Genius! There’s also a very practical chat about foundational furniture in small spaces, why a modular sofa might save your sanity (and your stairwell), and how a tape measure is still the most underrated design tool you own.

Moments you’ll hear:

The simple, movable pieces that make any rental feel instantly more like home: rugs, lamps, light shades, and curtains you can take with you
How to “shop” Airbnbs, hotels and retail flagships for layout and material ideas when your place is just a featureless white box
Why thinking like a store designer, considering thresholds, shelving, and sightlines, can change the way you arrange even the smallest apartment
Smart, non‑boring advice on big furniture buys in rentals, from choosing modular sofas to measuring doorways so your dream couch doesn’t get stranded on the street

If you’re renting, in between homes, or just convinced your place is too bland to bother with, this episode is your blueprint for turning “for now” into something that finally feels like yours.

Thank you for listening ❤️

before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Home Beautiful community and DM us on Instagram.

👀 See more

Part 1 Loui Burke - Cheap and Cheerful Decorating

Great (easy) Ideas for Rented Apartments

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'The Edit' our new home:

Luxaflex - our beautiful 'studio home' curtains

Oz Design - furniture Australians love

Credits:

Our friend Loui Burke

Edited by Propod

Production by Thomas Crnkovic

Our wonderful Home Beautiful team

Learn More: HOME BEAUTIFUL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If You Grew Up Hiding Your House From Friends, You’ll Get This Episode With The Block's Lysandra Fraser

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:20:00 +0000

If you’ve ever looked at a glossy renovation and thought, “Must be nice to start with money,” this episode is the part no one usually tells you.

Lysandra Fraser first appeared in our lives in a police uniform, standing back-to-back with her twin sister, Alisa, on The Block audition tape, manifesting a win before they’d laid a single tile. They did, indeed, win twice - and became known for calm, quietly luxe interiors that looked like they belonged to people who had always lived that way. But in this conversation, Lysandra walks Editor Elle Lovelock through the bits that never made it into the reveal shots: growing up in Housing Commission with a single mum, secretly mortified to bring friends home, painting the hallway in suede‑finish purple to try and make it feel less “less than".

Lysandra talks about leaving the police force after reality TV, building a design business by sheer instinct (and zero formal training), and then selling her own dream house to fund al.ive BODY, the beauty and home brand she co‑founded with Alisa. For six years, while designing multi-million dollar homes for clients and being asked what it was like to be “a millionaire from The Block,” Lysandra was living in a friend’s dilapidated granny flat, followed by a three‑bedroom ’70s rental with apricot walls and floral carpet. This is not a sob story! More of a reality check on what risk actually looks like when you’re a single mum with two teenage boys and a public profile people project onto.

Moments You'll Hear

How two exhausted Adelaide cops with babies at home decided, one auction night, that they weren’t just applying for The Block, they were going to win it, and why they actually believed that.

The whiplash of going from Housing Commission to TV renovations to clients with Louis Vuitton “thank you” gifts, and the imposter syndrome that sits under it all.

The very un‑Pinterest path to interior design: no moodboards, no Pinterest, no Insta, just learning on the job, taking judge feedback on the chin, and then reverse-engineering a career out of it.

Why Lysandra now believes in “who, not how”: building a team of CAD wizards and specialists so she can stay in the lane she’s actually good at, instead of trying to be across everything.

A sensory tour of her current home: black, refined, functional and the mental gymnastics of describing it when you know people assume you’ve “always” lived like this.

What it really costs to launch a product brand from scratch, and why Lysandra thinks more founders should say out loud, “Yes, I sold my house for this.”

If you’re sitting in a neutral rental, doom scrolling renos and wondering how everyone else got so far ahead, consider this your reminder that the before shots of someone’s life are rarely on the grid.

Thank you for listening ❤️

before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Home Beautiful community and DM us on Instagram.

👀 See more

Lysandra Fraser website

The Famous Farmhouse Home that Lysandra and Alison made

Lysandra Fraser on Insta

Great (easy) Ideas for Rented Apartments

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'The Edit' our new home:

Luxaflex - our beautiful 'studio home' curtains

Oz Design - furniture Australians love

Credits:

Edited by Propod

Production by Thomas Crnkovic

Our wonderful Home Beautiful team

Learn More: HOME BEAUTIFUL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So You Want Your Home to Feel Like You (Not a Display Home)? Start Here with James Treble

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 11:30:00 +0000

If you’ve ever stood in the middle of your place, scrolling inspo pics and thinking, “I have no idea where to start,” this episode is your shortcut to a home that actually feels like you live there - not like you borrowed it from a display village.

Design and real estate expert James Treble (yes...you’ve seen him give excellent advice on The Living Room and his own reno series) sits down with Editor Elle Lovelock to decode how to turn any house, yes, even the ugly red‑brick, asbestos‑ridden one, into a calm, character‑filled home with a story. He starts with the artwork he literally pulled off his own wall, explains why your partner’s signed footy jersey still counts as “art”, and shows you how to build an entire colour scheme from one picture, op‑shop find or kids’ drawing.

From there, James walks you through his Central Coast renovation: the bright yellow double doors, the breeze‑block wall, the terrazzo‑look tiles and the decision to completely flip the kitchen, bathroom and entry layout because “you do not have to stick to the original floor plan.” He breaks down which eras of Australian houses are secretly goldmines, how to know if a place has good bones within 30 seconds at an open home, and why you should almost always start with a hallway or bedroom before you even think about the kitchen.

Moments you'll hear:

Why “homemaking” is making a comeback and how to tell your own story at home without spending a fortune.

James’s simple method for using art as your colour roadmap (including what to do if your partner’s taste is…challenging).

A tour of his once‑hideous red‑brick house and the exact moves that turned it into a light, layered, mid‑century‑inspired haven.

The eras and house types he’d buy in a heartbeat, and the structural red flags that should have you walking straight back out the door.

How to create an overarching “story” (coastal, modern farmhouse, mountain escape) so every room decision stops feeling random.

Why having two bathrooms is the new non‑negotiable and clever ways to carve one out of a laundry or awkward corner.

If you’re renting, renovating or just itching to repaint one room and see what happens, this episode will give you the confidence, language and starting points to finally make your home look like the life you’re actually living inside it.

Thank you for listening ❤️

before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Home Beautiful community and DM us on Instagram.

👀 See more

James Treble Website

More than a 'Granny Flat', leveraging the opportunity with extra space and James Treble

How to identify the architectural style of your house

Great (easy) Ideas for Rented Apartments

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'The Edit' our new home:

Luxaflex - our beautiful 'studio home' curtains

Oz Design - furniture Australians love

Credits:

Edited by Propod

Production by Thomas Crnkovic

Our wonderful Home Beautiful team

Learn More: HOME BEAUTIFUL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just Because You Can: Wendy Moore on Leaving and Starting Again and Letting Yourself Be Human

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 19:51:01 +0000

In this heartfelt episode, interior designer and TV host Wendy Moore sits down to share the real story behind her career pivots, from editing Home Beautiful to running Foxtel’s lifestyle channels and fronting Selling Houses Australia. She opens up about the emotional weight of leaving a team she loved after 13 years, and what it takes to walk away from something successful when it no longer feels right.

Wendy also takes us inside her latest chapter, The Interiors Edit, and the investment property renovation she is quietly turning into a content and business engine. From repainting an entire exterior at the last minute to rallying a whole community on site, she shares the messy, unglamorous realities behind those glossy “after” shots and why quick, brave decisions often make the most beautiful rooms.

If you are dreaming of a renovation, Wendy breaks down the non-negotiables: a detailed budget, a mood board you actually use, and a brutally honest check-in on what you can reasonably do yourself. She talks trends warmer colours, layered textures, and homes that feel lived-in rather than styled to perfection and why emotional first impressions matter more than any single piece of furniture.

Away from the tools and paint charts, Wendy reflects on balance, burnout and the mantra that guides her now: “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” She is frank about the toll of constant work, the guilt of being pulled between set and family, and the boundaries she’s learned to draw so there is still space for curiosity, creativity and being present at home.

This episode is for anyone standing on the edge of a big change of career, home or both and wondering if it’s too late to pivot. Wendy’s story is a reminder that luck usually looks a lot like hard work, that starting again can be the most generous thing you do for yourself, and that the best interiors are less about perfection and more about how they make you feel when you walk through the door.

Thank you for listening ❤️

before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Home Beautiful community and DM us on Instagram

👀 See more

Wendy Moore Articles

Selling Houses Australia: 40 design ideas to steal from last season

The incredible transformations on this season of Selling Houses Australia

Inside the festive home of interiors expert Wendy Moore

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'The Edit' our new home:

Luxaflex - our beautiful 'studio home' curtains

Oz Design - furniture Australians love

Wendy Moore- The Interiors Edit

Credits:

Edited by Propod

Production by Thomas Crnkovic

Our wonderful Home Beautiful team

Learn More: HOME BEAUTIFUL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Your Home Chic or Cheap...and would TikTok's Loui Burke be able to tell? Hacks from the expert in affordable.

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 21:47:50 +0000

If you’ve ever stood in the aisles of Kmart or Ikea holding a candle and whispering to yourself, “cheap or chic?” this one’s for you. We all need a chic friend to help steer us in the right direction when choosing the 'posh bits' to make our home feel luxe, and that's our friend Loui.

In this episode of The Edit, we go full home core with digital creator Loui Burke, the man the internet now knows as your “friend in home and hosting”. Loui has quietly built a career that, from the outside, might look like fluffing cushions for a living. But... inside, it’s down to over a decade of clever styling, strategy and saying no to brands that don’t fit. Plus, Loui shares a specific theory we can all learn from about rugs, window treatments, and why your living room still feels unfinished.

Alongside our friendly host and Home Beautiful editor, Elle Lovelock, Loui talks us through the long - not actually overnight - path from photography student to creative director to full-time content creator. He also reveals why his work has always revolved around the same obsession: how things come together in a room, not just how they look in a shot. There are Aje and Adairs era styling jobs, kidswear campaigns shot in Italy and Copenhagen, and the week he was offered a “proper job” at Broadsheet and, instead, decided to back himself and the algorithm - a huge leap of faith in oneself we can all relate to.

We get into the business side: how Loui thinks about mini‑series like “Cheap or Chic” as marketing strategy, not just vibes; why he refuses to gatekeep high‑street finds; and the way he decides which brands get a spot on his grid (hint: it’s about fabrics, fabrication and whether his audience can actually afford it, not just the logo). He also makes a surprisingly passionate case for Belgian linen, tone‑on‑tone monogramming and floating shelves and offers a very diplomatic verdict on leopard print.

Underneath the pretty pictures, there’s sound philosophy: everyone deserves access to good design, homewares are where you experiment with trends (not the sofa), and scale is the thing most people get wrong – especially when big‑box furniture is secretly sized for teenagers. Loui's advice, now immortalised on the internet, is "When in doubt, go bigger." Rugs, curtains, sofas. Your cottage, your terrace, your budget may protest, but your rooms will finally make sense.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

The origin story of ‘your friend in home and hosting’
How Louis went from studying photography to chasing what was happening “on the other side of the camera”, fell for interiors over fashion, and stitched together styling, marketing and content into one multi‑hyphen job title.
What a content creator actually does all day
The not‑so‑glam reality behind the reels: strategy, brand decks, long‑term collaborations and why his work has always been “connected” to his training, rather than a pandemic fluke.
High/low interiors that actually work
Why he loves mixing premium Australian furniture (think GlobeWest, Fenton & Fenton, Rachel Donath) with Big W tableware and Target awning‑stripe bedlinen – and the fabric rules he refuses to bend on.
The three things every living room needs
Louis’ non‑negotiables: a generous rug, real window treatments and a light shade – and why most people blow the budget on the sofa and forget the pieces that actually make a room feel like home.
Cheap or chic, decoded
How his viral series started as a growth tactic, why alliteration matters on Instagram, and the styling fundamentals he’s trying to smuggle into your feed under the guise of “don’t do that, do this."
Trend court: monograms, scallops, leopard, floating shelves
Rapid‑fire verdicts on which details feel timeless, which are “traditional‑transitional”, and which should probably never make it onto your bed sheets.
The scale lesson you probably need
Why medium‑sized everything is killing your rooms, how oversized furniture transformed his parents’ tiny Hunter Valley cottage, and the simple rule he swears by: if you’re hesitating, size up.

If you’re currently staring at a too‑small rug, a nervous little console and a naked window, wondering why it’s not giving “home”, Louis is here with a ruler, a reality check and permission to buy the bigger size.

Thank you for listening ❤️

before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Home Beautiful community and DM us on Instagram

👀 See more

The Target Edit: How to style your space with just $50

How to Make Your Home Look Expensive

Luxury Look On A Budget

The biggest Christmas trends of 2025, according to Loui Burke

You're Doing Trends Wrong. Let's Fix That. (There Are Two Forecasts: Trends & Weather)

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'The Edit' our new home:

Luxaflex - our beautiful 'studio home' curtains

Oz Design - furniture Australians love

Loui Burke on TikTok | Instagram | YouTube

Credits:

Edited by Phil Calloway

Production by Thomas Crnkovic

Our wonderful Home Beautiful team

Learn More: HOME BEAUTIFUL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.