Brisbane-based Anna Spiro first developed a following with her Absolutely Beautiful Things blog, showcasing her layered and pretty style, with a focus on beautiful fabrics, a mix of colours and patterns, old and new, and always fresh flowers. Her Brisbane store Black & Spiro is now also her digital home, where it's possible to see her projects and order the wallpaper she created for Porters Paints. In her first book, she explains how she developed her own style, and shares her ideas about how to create your own unique and interesting look. 

It has only been in the last few years that I have truly developed my own sense of style. At about the age of thirty, I started to establish some sense of the different things and looks I loved, and to understand how to bring them all together beautifully and in a balanced way within a space. I've had to evaluate my influences and try different things before I've had the confidence to run with what I really love.

I have always been very wary of heading full steam ahead with one particular theme, such as the Balinese look, the Hamptons look or the Hollywood Regency look - going wholeheartedly into any one of these means the scheme eventually dates. Instead, I have always tried to throw in a bit of every style so that the look will stand the test of time. To prevent it getting tired or needing a major and expensive overhaul after a few years, this style of decorating can evolve and be updated along the way.

A few years ago, I arrived at a place when I just thought, 'This is what I love, this is what I want, and this is what I will do.' I have always used lots of bright colours in an eclectic way, but believe my style has now matured into a more 'collected' style of brights as accents mixed with antiques, modern and vintage art, textiles and texture, which can be found in the likes of timber, glass and ceramics.

There are a few common elements in every room I create:

• Antique furniture, such as a table, sideboard or chest of drawers, to ground the colourful fabrics I use.


• A mix of fabrics in different patterns and colours.


• A specific underlying colour that will pull everything together.


• A surprise element, such as a vibrantly patterned lampshade or quirky vintage piece of furniture or even a collection of Staffordshire dogs displayed in a vignette on a table. It's all about the unexpected.


• A mix of expensive and inexpensive pieces. For example, a cushion collection looks wonderful when you throw a cheap ready-made cushion into the mix or include a vintage fabric. This makes it look less contrived and a little more effortless.


• White painted walls as a backdrop for the entire mismatch. That way, there's some cohesiveness to the room.


• A collection of art which is added to over the years and which may comprise a mix of valuable pieces and paintings created by children.

Extract from the book Absolutely Beautiful Things by Anna Spiro & photography by Sharyn Cairns and Felix Forest (portrait by Jared Fowler).

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