Dream home inspired a couple’s dream careers

It was building their coastal family home that led Rebecca and Damien Leijer into their dream careers.

Together, they worked on “Project Felix”, a little timber cabin in Torquay, a captivating coastal home that garnered the attention of design magazines and local news.

At the time Rebecca was working in interior design and decorating and Damien, a registered builder and carpenter, had taken long service leave to build the house.

Rebecca said following the unexpected amount of industry press and online coverage of their home project, their audience grew quickly, prompting the couple to embrace the compatibility of their career paths, and start a combined project.

So, in 2020, the Torquay-based couple decided to open Leÿer Design Studio.

“Being our family home, it completely encapsulates everything that we are and what we love,” Rebecca said.

“It’s our brand and our creativity combined.”

“I felt that my style of interiors better suited homes in coastal areas more so than the city, designing within this lifestyle and environment was something I also loved doing.

 

“We’re known for our pared back and simple approach to interiors, we don’t believe you have to go over the top with expensive materials to achieve a great result. There is so much value to be found in simply refining your finishes with neat little details as a way to achieve a great outcome.”

Nowadays, the pair work together from their Torquay studio, and Damien is studying architectural building design.

“We work with clients who have finalised their plans with a draftsperson or architect, we can also provide advice on the overall layout and flow prior to a client finalising their plans,” Rebecca said.

“Once the plans are in a good spot, we begin with mood boards and concepts for each space, as well as an overall look and feel for the home.

“We then take your project through the rest of our design phases, which can include everything from selecting interior finishes, such as tiles, stone, hardware, tapware and carpet, all the way through to assisting with joinery design and providing 3D renders and elevations.”

Rebecca said this was always her favourite part.

“My mind is always buzzing with ideas. I work from my studio, which is in our back garden, and there is nothing I love more than spending a few hours pulling together material boards for my clients. When it all comes together, it is the most satisfying feeling.

“I do a lot of 3D visualisation work for my clients, designing their main spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms, and laundries and render them into photo-realistic images – it is an incredibly valuable tool to see your home like that prior to commencing any building work. Knowing that all of the selections we’ve made look beautiful together makes you really confident with your choices and my clients all enjoy this process so much.”

For interior decoration clients, they follow a similar process.

“Once the concepts are finalised, we provide fully budgeted shopping lists of all items researched and sourced for their home.

“Both services finish with an optional styling day at the end, where we come in with our team and completely transform their home with everything that we have selected and style it professionally for them to enjoy. It’s a really exciting day when the clients get to see their home come to life after months of dreaming about it!

Rebecca describes her style as textured, layered, organic, relaxed.

“My days are always different as the projects I work on are all at various stages of design and construction. I like working on a few projects at the same time as I find when I’m researching for one, I’ll spot something that will work well for another project.

 

Rebecca said the design studio team is intentionally small to keep the business personal, with just the couple and one other stylist, Bree Flack, and external contractors for larger projects.

“Bree has amazing experience working as a stylist in-house with large clients in the past such as Country Road.

“We have some beautiful projects reaching completion over the coming months that we’re very excited to showcase.”

 

Looking forward, Leÿer Design Studio will begin to focus more and more on styling and interior design projects.

“Our business has grown organically over the last few years and we’ll continue to fine tune our interior design and decoration offering,” Rebecca said.

“We’re also launching a styling arm of the business.

“This will be offering photoshoot styling to serve builders, architects and other designers who want to have their projects professionally styled and photographed for awards submissions, marketing campaigns, websites and social media.

“The end result for our clients will be beautifully styled, photographed and edited imagery that is ready to show to their audience.

“We’ll also provide a service for the homeowner who wants to refresh one or several spaces in their home, or someone who is hiring out their home for Airbnb over the holidays and wants to make it stand out.

“We’ll refresh the space, offering shopping lists of items we know will work and a styling day to bring it all together.”

For the latest on the Leÿer Design Studio journey, follow them on Instagram at @leyer_td .