Interior decorating for luxurious spaces with personality
Instagram or Pinterest are often the go-to source when looking for interior design inspiration, but algorithms mean their ideas can feel cookie cutter and prescriptive. Now, talented interior decorator and designer Lin Wang is helping people to create homes that feel more like home.
In the world of interior decorating and design, Lin Wang is looking to do something brighter.
“I enjoy adding colour, pattern, texture and personality to spaces,” Lin says, a statement that captures the interior decorator and designer’s approach to transforming bare rooms into luxurious, tranquil and inviting spaces.
For Lin, the principal and owner of Linlin Interiors, interior design is a journey of discovery; each project begins with a deep dive into how her clients live, their needs, their dreams and personalities.
She also applies her Feng Shui principals to designs at a client’s request.
Most of her clients are from Adelaide’s upmarket suburbs, owners of newly acquired or newly built homes that need an injection of warmth and personality, or homes that need a ‘refresh’.
Some owners have made a start by themselves, but then hit a bump in the design road; others have bought a home worth many millions and want to heighten its sense of luxury.
Drift off to sleep in serene surrounds
In one home in Wattle Park, Lin was brought in soon after its purchase to work on the interior design and custom furnishings throughout, including the master bedroom, open plan living and dining room, children’s bedrooms and the transformation of a spare room into a state-of-the-art home theatre.
But not all clients start from a blank slate.
“One project I finished in Kensington Park, my client said she was so glad she found me,” Lin shares. “She’d bought some expensive pieces that didn’t work together and felt she was wasting a lot of money.”
You might like
Working on the open plan living and dining area and adding eye-catching lighting and accessories, Lin was able to bring it together for the ecstatic client.
She says it’s proof that great design isn’t about spending more – it’s about spending wisely.
And, in times like these, keeping a budget under control is something she’s more than qualified to do.
Fresh, feminine and playful decor
After carving out a conventional career in banking and accounting, she has blossomed with an interior design practice that celebrates individuality, creativity and personal connection.
The journey wasn’t exactly linear. Lin says from age eight, she was “captivated by interior design” after discovering a book on the subject, but growing up in a traditional Chinese family, she understood early on that her passion would take a backseat to more practical career considerations.
But creativity can’t be confined by spreadsheets and balance sheets and, while working full-time in banking, Lin nurtured her design dreams and completed her interior design qualifications.
Lin’s process is interactive, starting from the first consultation at the client’s home where she also helps clients to identify their interior decorating style.
“I’ll bring my laptop and share some ideas and mood boards,” she says.
She uses 3D design software that includes countless style options for couches, chairs, coffee tables and more, meaning her precisely rendered designs give a good impression of the outcome.
“I can show people what their room looks like before they purchase anything,” Lin says. “For example, if they want a particular wallpaper or tile, I can take a snip of that image and drop it into the 3D software to show how it will look before they commit to buying.”
Once the design is set, there are several shopping trips where clients don’t just select furniture and accessories, they experience it.
Entrance area of a Gulfview Heights home by Linlin Interiors
Lin encourages them to sit on couches, feel textures and build confidence in their own style and selections.
This experience – often complete with an impromptu croissant stop – is part of the genuine care she puts into her work and relationships with clients, transforming what could be a transactional experience into a warm, memorable journey.
“I had a few clients that missed the shopping trips, they missed time we spent together,” she says.
Shopping solo can be frustrating and confidence-sapping and Lin says her role is also to “build confidence, bring things together and give clients love and care”.
Being approachable and responsive to client needs – Saturday consultations are no trouble – is important to her.
If they can’t find a piece in-store or online, Lin is able to organise it to be custom-made by local, interstate or overseas sources, whether it’s furniture, rugs, lighting or accessories.
“Or sometimes, when we go to stores, the client and I might see something a bit surprising that we fall in love with,” she says.
“Then we just buy it and I’ll adjust the 3D model to accommodate that furniture piece.”
Accessing interior decorating trade discounts offered to Linlin Interiors, Lin can also deliver savings to clients and help them achieve more within their budgets.
The dining room of one of Lin’s clients
Lin describes her own interior decorating style as leaning into colours, patterns and textures. “I’m a bit bold, but not crazily bold!” she shares.
Her clients often reference and lean toward timeless styles that exude luxury, such as Transitional, Hollywood regency, coastal, French provincial, art deco and mid century modern.
But she steers away from trends that are likely to have mass appeal for a year or so and then are quickly gone. Boucle being one.
“I don’t follow trends,” Lin explains. “I go with my gut.”
This philosophy translates into interiors that feel relaxing and inviting, and spaces that tell stories rather than mimicking magazine spreads.
Nor is she interested in staging homes for sale. “The staging we see nowadays is quite simple, modern, a touch rustic, but I wouldn’t call it a classic style, and some of it’s not functional for day-to-day living,” she says.
“I want to focus on creating luxury homes, adding chandeliers, velvet and giving clients something where their guests say, ‘Wow!’”
Whether it’s sourcing a pair of unique gilded chairs from a local upholsterer or creating bespoke wallpaper for the ceiling of a child’s bedroom, Lin’s designs are about creating moments of joy and surprise – and reflecting the unique personalities of the home’s inhabitants.
Learn more at Linlin Interiors.
