Subscribe 
Perfectly Playful: Inside Claudia Lambert’s Colourful and Personalised Home
Interior designer Claudia Lambert’s home fuses fun and functionality, alongside her own personal style and hard-won design principles.
Interior designer Claudia Lambert of Claudia Lambert Interiors has curated some of Sydney’s most design-forward homes. Known for her use of colour, art and sculptural features, unsurprisingly she’s not one for traditional design conventions. Regarding her own home, this fusion of practicality and playfulness is exactly what you can expect.
The Space Lift
A distillation of her design philosophy, Claudia’s personal space is rich with lessons for interior lovers, starting with her approachable theory of the “space lift”. It’s a term she uses to describe the idea that a full-scale renovation isn’t required to shift the feel of a room or create a meaningful change in a space. Claudia elaborates, “People often assume the answer is to rip everything out, when sometimes the bones are perfectly good; the room just needs another point of view. It can be paint, moving the furniture, changing the scale of an artwork, adding one extraordinary chair or lamp, taking things away, or simply using what you already own differently.”
“My own house is probably the best example of it because I’ve continually done that here,” she continues. “I haven’t treated the house as a finished design project frozen at one moment in time. It changes. I move art, repaint, swap pieces between rooms and rethink things. A home should be allowed to evolve with the people living in it.”
Where to Start When Decorating a Room
Offering a word of advice for those unsure where to start in their own homes, Claudia notes that in place of settling on a style, she tends to begin a room’s journey with objects, art and furniture. “There are vintage pieces, contemporary pieces, things I’ve had forever, things I’ve found quite randomly, and things that probably shouldn’t work together but somehow do. I’m much more interested in that tension than having everything belong to the same era or aesthetic.”
The Sitchu Edit: Shop The Look
Hermes Avalon III Throw Blanket in Rouge
IKEA Pendant Lamp Shade
Bonnie & Neil Zebra Chocolate Linen Cushion
Loving This Tour of Claudia Lambert’s Bright & Colourful Home? You Might Also Like…
The Best Occasional Chairs That Will Have You Sitting Pretty
How to Use Colour in Interiors
As for the use of colour, Claudia notes that, while for her it is instinctive, those a little more frightened by the notion can achieve a vibrant home without a full-blown colour commitment. “Don’t think you need colour everywhere for a house to feel colourful. In my house there are actually large areas that are quite neutral, and that gives the stronger colours somewhere to land. My advice is not to dilute a colour you really love because you’re scared of it. One strong pink wall can be much more
sophisticated than adding ten little pink accessories around a room. Commit to it, then give it some space. And don’t feel you have to repeat a colour endlessly for it to ‘make sense.’”
Claudia goes on to explain, “The pink in my bedroom changes completely depending on the light. It has this slightly dirty, sophisticated quality rather than feeling sugary or overtly feminine. And then I put that enormous black-and-white artwork against it, which completely changes the conversation. The black gives the pink some toughness. That’s often how I use colour, finding the thing that stops it becoming too pretty.”
The Sitchu Edit: Shop The Look
West Elm Parsons Ceramic Side Table
Space Furniture Fysallida Vase
Claudia Lambert Shaping Spaces Book
Why Editing Matters in Interior Design
Central to Claudia’s approach is that a home is never finished. Nor should it be. “That’s probably one of my favourite things about having collected over time; the house is never really finished.” A caveat, however, is that a good edit is essential for the collector. “I’ve learnt that a room often becomes stronger when you remove something rather than add something else.”
“After years of collecting, editing becomes as important as buying. Not everything I own needs to be out at once. I’ll move something from one room to another, and suddenly it feels completely new again,” she adds.
Leaving us with a final word of wisdom, Claudia points out, “A house must be lived in. Full stop. I have two boys, so nothing here can be so precious that everyone is terrified of touching it.” She adds, “For me, comfort doesn’t mean compromising aesthetically. The sofa can be incredibly comfortable and have a beautiful shape. A dining chair can be sculptural, and somewhere you actually want to sit through dinner. I think the best interiors don’t make you choose between the two.”
Project Credits
Interior Design & Styling: Claudia Lambert Interiors
Photographer: Hannah Blackmore
Book: Shaping Spaces by Claudia Lambert, available at all good book stores
FAQs
A space lift is interior designer Claudia Lambert’s term for refreshing a room without a full renovation. Rather than ripping everything out, she believes the existing bones are often perfectly good and the room simply needs a new point of view. A space lift might involve repainting, rearranging furniture, changing the scale of an artwork, introducing one standout chair or lamp, removing items, or using pieces you already own in a different way. Claudia applies the approach continually in her own home, treating it as a space that evolves rather than a finished project.
Start with objects, art and furniture rather than settling on a single style, according to interior designer Claudia Lambert. She builds rooms around pieces she loves, mixing vintage and contemporary finds, long-held possessions and things discovered by chance. Claudia is less interested in everything belonging to one era or aesthetic and more drawn to the tension created when pieces that shouldn’t work together somehow do. For anyone unsure where to begin, this object-led approach offers a more personal starting point than choosing a defined look and trying to fill a room to match it.
You don’t need colour in every room for a home to feel colourful. Claudia Lambert keeps large areas of her house fairly neutral, which gives stronger colours somewhere to land. Her advice is to commit to a colour you love rather than diluting it out of fear; one strong pink wall, she says, can be far more sophisticated than ten small pink accessories scattered around a room. Once you’ve committed, give the colour space to breathe, and don’t feel obliged to repeat it endlessly throughout the house for the scheme to make sense.
Editing stops a collected home from feeling cluttered and keeps it fresh. Claudia Lambert says that after years of collecting, editing becomes as important as buying, and a room often becomes stronger when you remove something rather than add another piece. Not everything you own needs to be on display at once. Rotating objects between rooms, or putting some away for a while, can make familiar pieces feel completely new again. It also supports her belief that a home is never truly finished and should evolve alongside the people living in it.
Yes. Claudia Lambert believes the best interiors don’t force a choice between comfort and aesthetics. As a mother of two boys, she insists a house must be lived in, so nothing in her home is so precious that people are afraid to touch it. For her, comfort never means compromising on design: a sofa can be incredibly comfortable and beautifully shaped, and a dining chair can be sculptural while still being somewhere you want to sit through dinner. Choosing pieces that are both functional and visually striking allows a home to work hard for everyday family life.
Loved this tour of Claudia Lambert’s sleek and colourful home? You might like to take a peek at our other recent home tours.
