twice blessed

Bec and Marissa Karagiorgos are a formidable pair, siblings who share a love affair with fashion and styling. Along with their stylish and timeless clothing range, the TWICE BLESSED Fashion & Lifestyle blog has become a destination that hosts content on how to style, care and integrate their clothing into your lifestyle. When Bec undertook a renovation of her home, she selected some gorgeous tiles from National Tiles for her bathroom and laundry update.

Tell me a bit about your background and how you got involved in styling and design?

Both Bec and I have always loved fashion and design – starting our studies in a double degree of Communication Design and Business at University. We eventually decided to just stick to a Degree in Business (Marketing) however, we always saw ourselves as ‘creative’ Marketers. Alongside this, we were lucky enough to work for some iconic Australian Fashion Designers where our ‘passion for fashion’ so to speak, and love for styling really could be explored.

S atin c o n

Sienna Decor B ia

How did ‘Twice Blessed’ come into being – what is the business founded on and how has it grown and evolved?

Twice Blessed sprung into being during our last semester of University. Our parents both having had several businesses of their own – so when our dad saw our passion for fashion and styling, alongside our newfound business and marketing knowledge, he challenged us to start an online shop. Now eight years on Twice Blessed has evolved to us travelling all over the world to attend International Fashion Weeks, purchasing our own homes with our husbands; renovations, interior design and lifestyle content.

What drives your passion for styling and design?

Creating a visually cohesive outfi t or home or space just makes sense to us. When colours, tones and textures in a space or outfi t balance out together it can create a sense of completeness.

You have a defi nite design aesthetic - can you describe your style and what infl uences your design choices?

Our style is chic comfort. Our personal fashion style as well as design style in our homes refl ect that. Warm and inviting tones, textures, and shapes contrasted with bold blacks, and close attention to detail.

Who are your go-to designers and what stores do you recommend for fi nding the best items that suit your design aesthetic for both budget and high-end renovations?

Some of our favourite designers are Leanne Ford, Kelly Wearstler and Steven Cordony. Some of our favourite stores to shop for key items that will really transform your space are National Tiles, Reece Bathrooms and Coco Republic. Just as we would pull together an outfi t, our key items would be the ones we have invested the most into, and they’re usually the pieces that make the most impact. For example, plain white cabinetry almost become invisible when you have invested into striking, design focussed tiles. Like a plain white tee, it wouldn’t really matter if you got it from UNIQLO or Givenchy, it’s still a plain white tee! But when you style it with a beautifully tailored blazer, or handbag – it transforms itself to build a beautiful outfi t.

What trends in design are you noticing at the moment?

We’ve noticed that a lot of darker, moodier colours are being brought back into home design. Usually colours like blacks, deep greens and the like are frowned upon for spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms, as they are traditionally thought to ‘close in’ a space, but we’re just loving seeing it fi lter through into the everyday persons home design. Bec’s kitchen cabinetry is actually black, and we both have (several) black feature walls in our individual homes!

Tell me about your home renovation?

My husband and I purchased our 2-brm unit several

years ago, and as it was liveable we decided to pause any planned renovations until we were ready to start a family, which happened more quickly than expected! We wanted to keep the layout as similar to the original as possible, to avoid additional costs of moving pipes or adding too many additional walls. But we opened up two walls to create a simplicity and fl ow within the space. The kitchen and bathroom renovations took up 70%+ of our intended budgets in those spaces. We only have one room for our Bathoom and Laundry, so plan was to make it as chic and ‘Euro Laundry’ as possible. Our theme was light and bright – but still a little bougee and chic.

What elements were important to you when designing this home for your family.

Keeping things practical (like storage, cleaning friendly, etc) but with style and fl air in the home. We opted for very large 600 x 600 tiles which both my husband and I are obsessed with. Having the gold and black elements from our fl oor tiles tie into the black and gold doorstoppers, black handles and tapware really made the design style seamless.

What styling advice would you offer to homeowners who are looking to update their home without a major renovation?

A neutral white paint to create a blank canvas and 3-4 key design elements to make it pop. But select one of those elements to be the hero in every room. For our bathroom, it was 100% our fl ooring tiles, and everything (door handles, benchtop, fi xtures and fi ttings) else complements nicely. twiceblessed.com.au

IMAGE REQUIRED

IMAGE REQUIRED

design tip

Before you start any renovation or demolition, it’s great to plan the theme of your design so that you have a clear vision. I created my own mood board from Pinterest, as well as products I liked from the stores I was planning to shop from to get a visual sense of how it would all work together. Another tip, if you’re pressed for time like I was – base your selections on product availability so that you’re not caught out in love with a style but having to wait more time than you can afford for it to become available.