Three rooms, photographed by the people who live in them.

No stagingNo stylistClient phones only

An empty loft before the scheme — Before

The same loft furnished from the plan — After

01 · Alberta Street loft

An empty rental, eleven days and $4,180.

Nothing in the room but a radiator and a sofa Marguerite already owned. The plan was built around that sofa, which set the palette and saved $1,400 on day one.

Budget: $4,180
Pack delivered: Day 11
Pieces sourced: 23 from 9 suppliers
Kept: 4, including the sofa

A bare bedroom with a ceiling fan before the scheme — Before

The same bedroom finished in green and linen — After

02 · Sellwood house

A bedroom that had been beige for nine years.

The brief was one line: make it darker without making it smaller. Two revision rounds went on the wall colour alone, which is what the rounds are for.

Budget: $2,310
Pack delivered: Day 12
Pieces sourced: 14 from 6 suppliers
Kept: 7, including the bed

An empty room with a large window before the scheme — Before

The same corner as a working home office — After

03 · Rose City corner

A spare corner, working by the end of the month.

A small-room package, $545. Desk height was checked against the client’s chair before anything was specified, which is the one measurement people never think to send.

Budget: $1,240
Pack delivered: Day 8
Pieces sourced: 9 from 5 suppliers
Kept: 2, including the chair

About these photographsIssued 2026

Taken by the clients. Every after photograph on this page was sent to us on a phone, weeks after the pack shipped. Nothing here was styled, lit or shot by a photographer.
Rooms are still lived in. If a cushion is crooked or a cable shows, that is the room working rather than the room posing.
Not every piece is ours. Clients keep things, change their minds and buy the alternate. What you see is the plan as it survived contact with a household.
Budgets are what was spent. Furnishing totals, not design fees, and not what the room would cost at full price if every alternate were ignored.

Alcovea Studio LLC · three of the 142 rooms drawn since 2019