Hollie, Jacqui & Amelia Brooks
Cofounders, Audenza Home
London, England
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Instagram: @audenzahome | audenza.com
Proud DIY Moment
Jacqui: I made a hanging planter from a beautiful copper colander.
Creating a Space That Actually Works For You
Amelia: I think it’s really important to consider how you’re going to use a space, before starting to design. By thinking about how I want a room to feel, I ensure that the space feels right for the user. For instance, I love color, pattern and texture, but I wouldn’t want that in a bedroom or office environment. I want my bedroom to be restful and peaceful, so I use paler colors and less pattern. But I want my living room to feel cozy, inspiring and to be the absolute essence of my personal style.
Don’t Limit Yourself to Just One Style
Jacqui: We all have quite eclectic tastes and love everything from Hollywood glam to tropical to Art Deco. I think often people think you need to limit your home to just one style, but we love to use a different style in each room.
Design Hack We Love
Jacqui: Adding a tray to a styled vignette will instantly make it more cohesive. This can be either with items styled on top of the tray, or with the tray propped up behind the vignette. I use this one simple trick frequently in my own home.
Something you wish you’d known in business when you started?
Amelia: I wish we’d have realized the importance of recognizing our small “wins” along the way. As business owners, it can be so easy to focus on the things that haven’t gone as well as you’d hoped. But in order to find the perseverance to carry on, you have to recognize how far you’ve come. We now keep a “success jar.” Every time we have a win or do something we’re proud of, we write it down and add it to the success jar. Each month we then read them to remind ourselves of everything we’ve achieved.
Work/life balance as an entrepreneur
Hollie: It’s always tricky to find balance; I’m not sure if there ever is a “solution” to this! But one thing that’s helped me greatly is meditation. It really helps me to switch off from the day and allow myself to be present when I’m home and spending time with friends and family.
Biggest challenge with your home
Amelia: I have recently just bought my first home—a small Victorian terraced house. Designing and decorating a small home definitely has its challenges—one being that I love so many things, but can’t possibly fit them all in! In a small room, you have to be careful not to overwhelm the space; a maximalist or more-is-more approach can very easily turn to “clutter” in a small room! So the key for me is to edit down to only the pieces I truly love.
Top Tips for Choosing a Color Scheme:
1. Inspiration is everywhere. Perhaps there is a piece of fabric you love, or a painting, or even a piece of china. Use it as inspiration for a color scheme, even if it’s not to be used in that room.
2. Think about the balance of colors (i.e., the proportion of each color you use) and whether it should be an accent color or the main color. An amazing website called Design Seeds has a vast array of color palettes for inspiration.
3. Think about how you want the room to feel. Calm and relaxing? Vibrant and stimulating? A cocoon of warmth?
4. Always think about the natural light in that particular room. Paint large pieces of lining paper in your chosen colors and masking tape them to the walls to see how they look in different lights. Paint color can change according to the light throughout the day.
The 411
Audenza is a UK-based, award-winning online homeware boutique, created to add edge, style and interest to the homes of interesting people. The company was founded by mother and daughters Jacqui, Hollie & Amelia Brooks in 2012.